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The NAQCC March 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 FP-45 LIBERATOR PISTOL  PREMISE: During the course of WW II German forces occupied a number of countries. Often the native populations wanted to resist, but found themselves without the arms to do so. In March of 1942, the US Army came up with the idea of mass manufacturing a cheap, simple weapon that could be supplied to an occupied country to aid the resistance. The theory being, that it would be used to kill off occupying forces and obtain their weapons for later use. The weapon proposed, the FP-45 Liberator, was a small, single shot, .45 caliber pistol, with a short, unrifled barrel, suitable for close up, ambush type, encounters. Being designed for a limited number of shots, about 50 total, allowed the use of stamped metal parts to speed manufacture and kept the price down. The cost per unit was about $3.50 in 1942 dollars. In eleven weeks, in the fall of 1942, General Motors Guide Lamp division assembled one million pistols. Fridigdaire, the refrigerator company, reamed out the barrels since GM did not have the necessary tooling for the job. It was said that the guns were manufactured faster than they could be loaded. Five hundred thousand pistols were shipped to England for insertion into European countries. The effort fell to the British Special Operations Executive. They were not in control of the project, which resulted in a lack of interest on their part. One argument against the project was that a Whitley bomber, the plane to which the project would fall, could only carry 600 pistols per mission. The required airpower to deliver all 500,000 pistols could not be mustered without serious impact on other more critical missions. The FP-45 had very limited distribution in Europe. Most were deployed in Greece, China and the Philippines. The remaining 500,000 remained in the United States and were eventually disposed of. 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. FP45 LIBERATOR RESISTANCE WEAPON STAMPED METAL GM GUIDE LAMP DIVISION FRIGIDAIRE WHITLEY BOMBERS The 84 total letters contain these 23 different letters: A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U V W Y 4 5 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 March 2026 Challenge All entries must be RECEIVED before the 10th of the following month at 2400Z. |