On April 30th, 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 1st 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 3rd 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.
