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The NAQCC October 2026 Challenge NAQCC Monthly Challenges are originated and information regarding rules, ideas, or suggestions go to Gary K1YAN. Email him at  .Challenge results and the Challenge App (the online Challenge tracking and reporting application) is administered by Charlie N1AOK. Email him with any questions at  PLEASE SEND ALL CHALLENGE SUBMISSIONS TO CHARLIE!!! (If you use the online Challenge App, it will automatically send it to him). LINKS: Challenge App: http://naqcc.wb5rvz.org Challenge Worksheet: challenge_tracker.pdf THE DONUT CHALLENGE  PREMISE: Whether you spell it donut or doughnut, it is one of the most popular treats ever. Good luck finding someone over two or three years old who has not eaten one. So, how did this donut thing start? As you might guess, the early versions were not exactly what we enjoy today. They were however dough fried in oil. Ancient Greek and Roman cooks would fry up strips of dough and coat them with honey or perhaps fish sauce. There is no accounting for taste. In medieval times, Arab cooks fried small blobs of dough and drenched them in a sweet syrup to flavor them. The Arab version migrated to northern Europe in the 1400s and became quite popular. Sugar was an expensive and hard to come by commodity so fillings like meat and mushrooms were used in some of these fried dough balls. Not exactly what we think of as a donut, but it was a step along the way to get us where we are today. Fried dough made its way to America with the Dutch settlers and the Pilgrims. Egg yolks were added to the basic batter to make a firmer and richer donut. The problem with this was the donut often didn't cook through and left a blob of raw dough in the center. The familiar donut hole hole fixed this problem. Who had the great idea of the donut hole? Nobody really knows for sure, but, one popular candidate for the idea is, oddly enough, a sea captain. As the story goes, in 1847, Captain Hanson Gregory, a Dutch sailor, set sail with a batch of his mom's donuts. A sudden storm caught him at the ship's wheel, donut in hand. Needing both hands to man the wheel, he parked his donut on one of the spokes of the wheel, making a hole in the center of it. This removed the raw center and the donut hole was born. Maybe true, maybe not, but a good story in any case. They caught on in America in a big way and made appearances in both WWI and WW2. Salvation Army ladies, known as the "Doughnut Girls", cooked and handed out fresh doughnuts to the troops in WWI. The ladies, known as the "Doughnut Dollies", followed suit during WW2, much to the delight of the troops. The popularity of the treats passed out by the Doughnut Girls were the basis for the WW I nickname of "doughboy" for the American troops. How big is the donut market today? There are countless donut shops across the world but one of the big guns in the business has to be Dunkin' Donuts. It began in 1948 as the Open Kettle. Two years later the owner renamed it Dunkin' Donuts. By 1963 there were 100 locations and 1979 saw 1,000 shops operating. Today there are more than 5,000 shops in 40 countries with nearly 2 million customers a day. TIME FRAME: The first day of the month 0000Z through the last day of the month 2400Z. RULES: Just make these words from calls of stations you work, subject to the General Challenge Rules. FRIED DOUGH WITH FISH SAUCE MUSHROOM FILLING UNCOOKED CENTER CAPTAIN HANSON GREGORY WW2 DOUGHNUT DOLLIES The 90 total letters contain these 21 different letters: A C D E F G H I K L M N O P R S T U W Y 2 You can use each letter in a call TWICE. For example you could use K3WWP for 2 K's, 4 W's, and 2 P's. Subsequent QSO's with the same station cannot be used for additional letters. For example, no matter how many times you work K3WWP, you can only use his call for 8 of the letters in the words. See General Rule #5 for more details on what callsign letters can be used. If you need some help with your alphabet challenge record keeping take a look at our Alphabet Tutorial page for everything from some great pencil & paper methods to fully computerized tools. AWARDS: A certificate and Participation Point go to everyone making all the words and submitting their report before the deadline. A Participation Point goes to everyone making at least 1, but not all the words and submitting their report before the deadline. YOU MUST COMPLETE AND SUBMIT AT LEAST ONE WORD TO RECEIVE A PARTICIPATION POINT! LOGS: For your report, list the words you made and the station used for each letter in the word. The number of stations listed must be the same as the number of letters in each word, even though you use the same station for more than one letter as in: WORD - K3WWP N2OD WA8REI N2OD NEXT - NF8M W8REI N8XMS K9EYT (Note how N2OD is listed for both the O and D.) You may also include comments about the challenge. Please preface any comments you want posted with "SOAPBOX:" so we will know what you want posted and what is private. Send your results as text in the horizontal format shown above to Charlie N1AOK at: charlie.wilber AT gmail.com (You must type that address into your email program.) Subject must read: (your call) NAQCC (month year) Challenge For example: K3WWP NAQCC October 2026 Challenge All entries must be RECEIVED before the 10th of the following month at 2400Z. |