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Challenges

Challenges are timed competitions that run inside a club. They're a fun way to motivate members to get on the air, whether it's a weekend sprint or a month-long marathon. A live leaderboard tracks everyone's progress in real time.

How Challenges Work​

Every challenge has a goal and a way to win. There are two types:

  • First to Goal -- The first member to reach a target QSO count wins. For example, "First to 50 QSOs."
  • Most by Deadline -- The member with the most QSOs when the clock runs out wins. For example, "Most QSOs by Friday at midnight."

Your QSOs are scored automatically. Every contact you log while a challenge is active counts toward your total -- no extra steps required.

[SCREENSHOT: Active challenge card showing standings and countdown timer]

Participating in a Challenge​

  1. Open your club's page and tap the Challenges tab.
  2. Find an active challenge and tap it to view the details, rules, and current standings.
  3. Start logging QSOs. Each contact you log is automatically counted toward every active challenge in that club.
tip

You can participate in multiple challenges at the same time. Every QSO you log counts toward all active challenges in all of your clubs.

Creating a Challenge (Admins)​

Only club admins can create challenges.

  1. Navigate to your club and tap the Challenges tab.
  2. Tap Create Challenge.
  3. Give the challenge a name (e.g., "Weekend CW Sprint").
  4. Choose the challenge type:
    • First to Goal -- Set a target QSO count.
    • Most by Deadline -- Set an end date and time. You can pick a specific date or set a duration (e.g., "3 days from now").
  5. Tap Create to launch the challenge. All club members can start competing immediately.

[SCREENSHOT: Create Challenge form showing type selection and goal fields]

info

For Most by Deadline challenges, all times are stored in UTC and displayed in each member's local timezone. You don't need to worry about timezone math -- Hamtrax handles it.

When a Challenge Ends​

  • First to Goal -- The challenge ends the moment someone hits the target. The winner is determined instantly.
  • Most by Deadline -- The challenge ends at the exact deadline. The member with the highest count wins. In case of a tie, the member who reached their score first takes it.

Completed challenges stay on your club page so you can look back at past results.

warning

QSOs logged after a challenge's deadline are not counted, even if they were in progress before the deadline passed.

  • Clubs -- Set up your club before creating challenges.
  • Manual Logging -- Learn how to log the QSOs that feed into challenge scores.