Amateur Radio is about fun, radio communications, technology, experimentation, self-training, friendship and emergency communications.

Do you have a mind-blowing idea you would like to share with the community?

The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 is inviting you to come with a game-changing idea, which increases awareness of amateur radio. We are looking for your cool idea or project which you think is part of the future of amateur radio.

Make a team, share your idea, present your proposal, and bring this to reality.

This is the time to present the amateur radio with a different perspective, and we are looking for you!

The best proposals will be rewarded, don’t miss this opportunity!

The challenges
Challenge #1
Do you know that Guglielmo Marconi was the first radio amateur operator? He was born in 1874 and we are celebrating the 150^th anniversary of his birth. Marconi made some of the most revolutionary inventions of the last centuries, they totally changed the speed of communication in a real global manner, and permitted a totally different way of living.
Are you aware that radio amateurs are active on exploring the possibilities of radio waves following Marconi’s footsteps?

We would like to know how his inventions changed and are still changing your life.

Share and explain it in a fun way, in which you believe it will be attractive and known by more people.

Hint: we are not looking for a long plain text but for content to share on social media and reaching a huge audience. Make use of reels, pictures, etc.. No limits on creativity!

Challenge #2
Use your imagination, what will amateur radio look like in 10 years? Yes, we are talking about the future. Amateur radio is changing, in the past we never heard about satellites, digimodes or SDR. And these are just a few examples. We ask you to share a cool idea or project which you believe will be changing amateur radio but is also fun to share. This could be in the direction of a technology project, experimentation or digital development.

Don’t be limited ! We ask you to share your ideas which are contributing to the amateur radio community.

The HAMChallenge is a call for ideas: the best proposal will be rewarded and brought to life!

HAMChallenge 2024 Rules – deadline to submit your ideas is 1^st of November 2024

After careful consideration and review of all submissions, the judging committee came to a final decision:

Winner Challenge #1 – HAVE FUN, GO ‘HAM’
Dora HA7DR and Marton HA7MA. Teamlead Rajmund HA2UF

This is a fun amateur radio card game, for every age. The goal of the game is to be the first player to construct your own amateur radio station by collecting all six items. These items are necessary to make your debut as HAM operator.
Watch the movie for the full rules of this game:

You can easily start using this game at home, or at any other youth event. Rules and cards are available to print out.

Winner Challenge #2 – SPB144, a Special Beacon Project on 144 MHz
Mathias DH4FAJ and Andreas DJ5AR

Mathias and Andreas presented their idea SPB144:

For many decades radio amateurs are fascinated by the large variety of propagation modes in the 144 MHz band. From tropospheric ducting to different kinds of ionospheric reflections and combinations out of it so much is possible. The invention of digital modes and software defined radio equipment led to contacts, we only could dream about in the past. Experiences with a Synchronized Beacon Project in the 50 MHz band led to the idea to introduce a Special Beacon Project in the 144 MHz band to explore propagation modes on special paths with setups of beacons using digital modes and a net of automated receivers, monitoring ²⁴⁄₇ and uploading any receptions of interest to public available servers in the internet. This opens the potential for systematic analysis and citizen science.

Want to know more? The full application of Mathias and Andreas is available.

The judging committee has decided to give a special prize to Robert DJ4FF, for his efforts in developing his submissions for challenge #2.
Congratulations to all winners!

More about HAMChallenge 2023

Within HAMChallenge IARU R1 is looking for cool ideas or projects which you think is part of the future of amateur radio. Amateur Radio is about fun, radio communications, technology, experimentation, self-training, and friendship.
Everyone got the chance to come with a game-changing idea, which increases awareness of amateur radio. In this year’s challenge, 2 categories were opened up.

*the judging committee decided to only award the top candidates, the submissions with potential to make a significant contribution to the future of amateur radio

Have you already submitted your idea for HAMChallenge 2023? Did you receive a confirmation email? If not, reach out to us again via hamchallenge@​iaru-​r1.​org
Due to a technical error, we have not received all submissions. The technical issues has been resolved by now.

Deadline to submit is coming closer! Deadline: 1 July 2023

We are looking for your ideas! We are inviting you to take part in one of the HAMChallenges:

Amateur Radio is about fun, radio communications, technology, experimentation, self-training, and friendship.

Do you have a mind-blowing idea you would like to share with the community?

The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 is inviting you to come with a game-changing idea, which increases awareness of amateur radio. We are looking for your cool idea or project which you think is part of the future of amateur radio.

Make a team, share your idea, present your proposal, and bring this to reality. This is the time present the amateur radio with a different perspective, and we are looking for you!

The best proposals will be rewarded, don’t miss this opportunity!

The challenges

Challenge #1
Oriented to young persons and/or participants without amateur radio license
What is amateur radio? Many people haven’t even heard about it. This should change! Amateur radio is about radio communications, technology and experimentation, but also about friendship, self-training and fun.
Be creative, why would like to learn more about HAM radio? What makes you curious?
Share and explain amateur radio in a fun way, in which you believe it will be attracted and known by more people.
Hint: ideas to share on social media and reaching a huge audience. Make use of reels, pictures, etc.. No limits on creativity!

Challenge #2
Oriented to licensed amateur radio operators
Use your imagination, what will amateur radio look like in 10 years? Yes, we are talking about the future. Amateur radio is changing, in the past we never heard about satellites, digimodes or SDR: And these are just a few examples. We ask you to share a cool idea or project which you believe will be changing amateur radio but is also fun to share. This could be in the direction of a technology project, experimentation or digital development.

Don’t be limited ! We ask you to share your ideas which are contributing to the amateur radio community.

HAMChallenge 2023 Rules – deadline to submit your ideas is 1^st of July 2023

On April 30^th, the first edition of “IARU Region 1 Hamchallenge” has been announced which is an initiative to bring new ideas to the Amateur Radio community.

After careful consideration and review of all the participants’ proposals, in addition to having an interview with them to present their ideas, the judging committee came to a final decision:

The 1^st place goes to 5B4AHZ Nestor and HB9FEU Christian (ex aequo).

Nestor presented the “Ham Radio Escape Room” project, the idea came during the Covid-19 crisis, when people needed to find a way to have fun remotely, while actual, physical escape rooms were closed. The radio-based escape room can be played in a very similar way to a virtual escape room with amateur radio themes/stories where teams playing the game can also communicate via radio rather than a webcam.

Christian presented “A public database of fun projects for innovation”, a public database of fun projects for innovation and technology-oriented hobbyists with no or little experience and equipment. The project description may include an indication of the level of complexity and the required time, prerequisite knowledge, required equipment, etc.

Both projects received the applause of the IARU Reg. 1 Executive Committee and a warm thanks for their involvement in amateur radio future activities.

The 3^rd place goes to IU2FRL Luca and his team with their “UrgentSat” project, describing a simple carry-on luggage that can be transported to schools or public demonstrations and providing a brief demonstration of the incredible capabilities of the Ham Radio World, how using cheap and second-hand tools can achieve great distances reliable communications.

The transmissions are directed to the QO-100 satellite, a geostationary device with massive ground coverage capable of repeating SSB voice and both wideband and narrowband digital streams (including high quality video channels).

This project combines multiple sciences interconnected, creating an interesting environment to approach new users in the communication technologies at any level.

Guy ZS6GUY wins the “Youth prize” for “A Workbook that will showcase various aspects of the hobby”. The proposed workbook is designed to help newcomers by increasing their knowledge of different aspects of our hobby and this workbook can become a valid tool for mentors to teach some of the most common amateur radio activities.

The IARU Region 1 EC looks forward to preparing the second edition of the Hamchallenge in 2023, in the meantime, IARU Region 1 is in touch with the winners to provide them further assistance to bring their projects into reality.