Paul Stoetzer

AMSAT News Service

ANS-215
August 3, 2025

In this edition:

• AMSAT Symposium Call for Papers & Presentations
• AMSAT-UK Tests FM Transponder for Jovian-1 Satellite
• AO-123 FM Transponder to Enter Continuous Service
• HamTV Installed On ISS
• NOAA-15 and NOAA-19 to be Decommissioned
• GridMasterMap Satellite Top 100 Rovers August 2025 Rankings
• VUCC Satellite Standings for August 1, 2025
• DXCC Satellite Standings for August 1, 2025
• Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for August 1, 2025
• ARISS News
• AMSAT Ambassador Activities
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

The news feed on https://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

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AMSAT Symposium Call for Papers & Presentations

Proposals for Symposium papers and presentations are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite community. We request a tentative title of your paper or presentation as soon as possible, with final copy submitted by October 8th for inclusion in the Symposium Proceedings.

Proposals for presentations at the Symposium do not require a paper. Presentations will be recorded and made available on AMSAT’s YouTube Channel and transcribed and published with its slides in the Proceedings.

Proposals should be sent to Frank Karnauskas, N1UW via [email protected]

[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]

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The 2025 AMSAT President’s Club Coins Are Here!
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight
Help Support GOLF and Fox Plus.
Join the AMSAT President’s Club today!

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AO-123 FM Transponder to Enter Continuous Service

The FM transponder on AO-123 has been activated on periodic basis since its launch in late 2024. Beginning this weekend, it is expected to enter continuous service if no issues are observed.

AO-123 (ASTRU-1) is a 12U Cubesat mission designed by Russian and Chinese university students for education and amateur radio. The amateur radio station provides telecommand uplink and telemetry / digital image downlink.

A new SDR based transceiver was developed for ASRTU-1 to provide communication and experiment resources to radio amateurs, including a V/U FM transponder, a UHF telemetry downlink and a 10.5G image downlink.

The uplink is 145.850 MHz with a 67 Hz CTCSS tone and the downlink is 435.400 MHz.

[ANS thanks the AO-123 team for the above information]

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HamTV Installed On ISS

On July 29th, Jonny Kim installed the repaired HamTV module in the ISS’s Columbus module. Originally operational from mid-2015 until its failure in 2018, the repaired module was returned to the ISS earlier this year.

Shortly after installation, reports of successful carrier reception were received from Europe. Carrier transmission is expected to continue for a few days.

HamTV transmits live MPEG-2 video using a DVB-S signal on 2395 MHz, primarily for educational contacts.

[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]

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NOAA-15 and NOAA-19 to be Decommissioned

NOAA has announced the decommissioning of NOAA-15 and NOAA-19. NOAA-15 will be decommissioned on August 12, 2025 and NOAA-19 will be decommissioned on August 19, 2025.

These two remaining satellites in the NOAA Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) Constellation are far beyond their primary mission design life. All have incurred subsystem and instrument degradation or failures and have entered a “twilight phase” where failure modes are increasingly likely. NOAA has completed End of Life (EOL) testing activities for NOAA-15 and NOAA-19 and will commence the decommission process shortly. NOAA-18 had previously been decommissioned on June 6, 2025 at 1740 UTC.

Many amateur satellite enthusiasts have copied the APT weather data from NOAA’s POES satellites over the years. With a strong signal at 137 MHz, these satellites have served as a gateway to satellite reception. The decommissioning of these satellites represents an end of an era.

[ANS thanks NOAA for the above information]

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GridMasterMap Satellite Top 100 Rovers August 2025 Rankings

The August 2025 rankings for the Top 100 Rovers (Mixed LEO/MEO/GEO) in satellite operations, as determined by @GridMasterMap on Twitter, has been released. The ranking is determined by the number of grids and DXCC entities activated, taking into account only those grids where a minimum number of QSOs logged on the gridmaster.fr website have been validated by a third party. Grid numbers do not directly reflect the exact number of activations. Satellite operators are encouraged to upload their LoTW satellite contacts to https://gridmaster.fr in order to provide more accurate data.

Updated: 2025-08-01

1	ND9M	26	KX9X	51	KE0WPA	76	KM4LAO
2	NJ7H	27	DJ8MS	52	KE0PBR	77	VE7PTN
3	UT1FG	28	KG5CCI	53	JK2XXK	78	N4UFO
4	JA9KRO	29	ON4AUC	54	PR8KW	79	PT2AP
5	N5UC	30	N5BO	55	EB1AO	80	AA8CH
6	DL6AP	31	K8BL	56	XE1ET	81	VE1VOX
7	OE3SEU	32	KE4AL	57	LU4JVE	82	FG8OJ
8	DP0POL	33	KB5FHK	58	W7WGC	83	PT9BM
9	F5VMJ	34	AC0RA	59	EA4NF	84	YU0W
10	WI7P	35	PA3GAN	60	N6DNM	85	KI7UXT
11	K5ZM	36	JO2ASQ	61	SM3NRY	86	N6UTC
12	LU5ILA	37	F4BKV	62	W8LR	87	KJ7NDY
13	N6UA	38	VE3HLS	63	KI7QEK	88	AF5CC
14	W5PFG	39	KI0KB	64	W1AW	89	K0FFY
15	N9IP	40	VA3VGR	65	AA5PK	90	JM1CAX
16	WY7AA	41	KI7UNJ	66	VE1CWJ	91	PS8BR
17	HA3FOK	42	HJ5LVR	67	KE9AJ	92	W8MTB
18	DL2GRC	43	LA9XGA	68	F4DXV	93	KB2YSI
19	AK8CW	44	BG7QIW	69	DL4EA	94	N4DCW
20	AD0DX	45	N7AGF	70	AD7DB	95	KG4AKV
21	N4AKV	46	VK5DG	71	SP5XSD	96	WD5GRW
22	AD0HJ	47	DF2ET	72	N8RO	97	DK9JC
23	ND0C	48	K7TAB	73	M1DDD	98	N0TEL
24	BA1PK	49	JL3RNZ	74	VA7LM	99	VE3GOP
25	WD9EWK	50	XE3DX	75	HB9GWJ	100	WA9JBQ

[ANS thanks @GridMasterMap for the above information]

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VUCC Satellite Standings for August 1, 2025

VUCC Satellite Award/Endorsement Change Summary for July 01, 2025 to August 01, 2025.

Call	1-Jul	1-Aug
K8DP	1738	1750
S57NML	1028	1500
EA2AA	1085	1100
W8LR	910	911
W9FF	545	558
AG4W	438	524
JH1NHK	440	500
N6PAZ	479	495
KE7RTB	300	338
K5WO	270	304
OH3DP	176	226
NK0S	170	171
N0RC	151	170
KT8O	100	153
W5HI	New	150
KG5IPA	New	135
9V1EO	New	133
WB5TX	110	128
DM2RM	New	115
WI5D	New	100

Congratulations to the new VUCC Satellite holders.

KG5IPA is first VUCC Satellite holder from DM61
9V1EO is first VUCC Satellite holder from Singapore and OJ11
DM2RM is first VUCC Satellite holder from JO63

[ANS thanks Jon Goering, N7AZ, for the above information]

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DXCC Satellite Standings for August 1, 2025

DXCC Satellite Award/Endorsement Change Summary for July 01, 2025 to August 01, 2025.

Call	1-Jul	1-Aug
F6BKI	209	211
MI0ILE	125	200
YO2CMI	184	185
OG7D	166	176
YO3APJ	165	170
EA2AA	161	162
SP3AU	144	149
IK7FMQ	130	141
DL2QB	136	139
JH4UYB	125	126
CT1EEB	112	113
I4DOR	101	109
DG7RO	103	104

[ANS thanks Jon Goering, N7AZ, for the above information]

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Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for August 1, 2025

Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. TLE bulletin files are updated daily in the first hour of the UTC day. New bulletin files will be posted immediately after reliable elements become available for new amateur satellites. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/.

This week there are no additions or deletions to the AMSAT TLE distribution.

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

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Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase an M2 LEO-Pack from the AMSAT Store!

When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.

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ARISS News

Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.

Scheduled Contacts

Sultanov International Aerospace School, Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, direct via TBD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled crewmember is Sergey Ryzhikov
The ARISS mentor is RV3DR

Contact is go for Mon 2025-08-11 07:45 UTC (***)

Many times a school may make a last minute decision to do a Livestream or run into a last minute glitch requiring a change of the URL but we at ARISS may not get the URL in time for publication.  You can always check https://live.ariss.org/ to see if a school is Livestreaming.

As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.

The crossband repeater continues to be active (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down),  If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.

Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.

The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]

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Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get an AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space

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AMSAT Ambassador Activities

AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, says,

“Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let me know by emailing me at k6lcsclint (at) gmail (dot) com or calling me at 909-999-SATS (7287)!”

Clint has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences.

Scheduled Events

August 16-17, 2025
Huntsville Hamfest 2025
Von Braun Center South Hall
700 Monroe St. SW
Huntsville, AL 35801

August 21-24, 2025
Northeast HamXposition (HamX) & New England ARRL Convention
Best Western Royal Plaza & Trade Center
181 Boston Post Road W
Marlborough, MA 01752
http://www.HamX.org
W1EME, WD4ASW, WB1FJ

September 6, 2025
Greater Louisville Hamfest
Paroquet Springs Conference Centre
395 Paroquet Springs Drive
Shepherdsville, KY 40165
W4FCL

October 16, 17, 18, 19, 2025
AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting and 43rd Annual AMSAT Space Symposium & Annual General Meeting
Holiday Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport North
1515 North 44th Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85008
Details at https://www.amsat.org/2025-symposium/

Interested in becoming an AMSAT Ambassador? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

For more information go to: https://www.amsat.org/ambassador/

[ANS thanks Bo Lowrey, W4FCL, Director – AMSAT Ambassador Program, for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts from All Over

+ The JARL command station for FO-29 plans to activate FO-29’s linear transponder at the following times. The satellite will remain active from the listed times until the satellite’s undervoltage control switches off the transponder (thanks to JARL):

Aug 1 23:44～
Aug 3 00:34～
Aug 9 00:18～　23:23～
Aug 16 00:52～　23:57～
Aug 30 00:16～　23:21～

+ The SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the ISS launched on August 1st. The crew includes three amateur radio operators: Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, Zena Cardman, KJ5CMN, and Kimiya Yui, KG5BPH. Included in the cargo is HDMI adapters to enable HamTV to utilize more cameras aboard the ISS. (Thanks to NASA, SpaceX, and ARISS).

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Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

• Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
• Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate.
• Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
• Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Editor,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm [at] arrl.net

ANS is a service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, 712 H Street NE, Suite 1653, Washington, DC 20002

AMSAT News Service

ANS-201
July 20, 2025

In this edition:

• 2025 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Underway
• Discuss Amateur Satellite Topics on Digital Voice Reflectors
• AMSAT-UK Supports Student Payload on Sub-Orbital Launch from Oman
• Comments on AST & Science, LLC Application to Use 430-440 MHz Due July 21
• May/June 2025 Edition of The AMSAT Journal Now Available
• Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for June 6, 2025
• ARISS News
• AMSAT Ambassador Activities
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

The news feed on https://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

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2025 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Underway

The nomination period for the 2025 AMSAT Board of Directors Election ended on June 15, 2025. The following candidates have been duly nominated and their candidate statements can be found at link that follows:

• Barry Baines, WD4ASW
• Jerry Buxton, N0JY
• Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA
• Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
• Douglas Tabor, N6UA

As four seats on the Board of Directors are up for election this year, the four candidates receiving the largest number of votes shall be declared elected to the seats. The candidate receiving the next largest number of votes shall be declared the First Alternate. The voting period opened on July 15, 2025 and shall conclude on September 15, 2025. Results will be announced no later that September 30, 2025.

AMSAT members may review the candidate statements and cast their ballots at https://launch.amsat.org/2025-BoD-Election

[ANS thanks Douglas Tabor, N6UA, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information]

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The 2025 AMSAT President’s Club Coins Are Here!
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight
Help Support GOLF and Fox Plus.
Join the AMSAT President’s Club today!

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AMSAT-UK Supports Student Payload on Sub-Orbital Launch from Oman

A team of 6 students from the University of Surrey, the University of Portsmouth and the University of Southampton are integrating equipment they designed, manufactured and tested to a 12m high Stellar Kinetics Kia-1 rocket in Southern Oman.

The launch from Etlaq Spaceport, to an anticipated altitude of 500km, will be the first flight of the 2 stage Kia-1 rocket and is one of 5 planned test flights from Etlaq this year. The spaceport is located at 18 degrees latitude overlooking the Indian Ocean, making it an ideal location for launching vehicles into multiple orbits, including equatorial orbit, sun-synchronous orbit, polar orbit, medium Earth orbit, and geostationary orbit. The Spaceport should be fully operational by 2027.

The Universities payload, known as Jovian-O, will test a student designed 6U CubeSat deployment pod and its payload. The battery powered ‘satellite’ will not completely deploy from its pod, but remain tethered to it. However it will capture video and still images of the deployment process verifying correct operation of the pod. It will also flight test hardware from the imaging payload DAVE (Dual Aperture for Viewing Earth), which will fly on the future Jovian-1 orbital mission along with an AMSAT-UK educational outreach and U/V FM transponder.

The images transmitted from Jovian-O during this sub orbital test flight use 500kb/sec QPSK. AMSAT-UK provided a high gain 4W 435MHz amplifier for the mission and a deployable 435MHz antenna. Data will be received at Etlaq by the student’s portable ground station.

For more information, visit www.etlaq.om/launches/duqm-2 and https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/uk-students-launch-international-space-mission.

You can also follow @EtlaqSpace and @stellarkinetics on X.

 

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]

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Comments on AST & Science, LLC Application to Use 430-440 MHz Due July 21

The FCC is currently considering an application by AST & Science, LLC for authorization to operate a total of 248 satellites in low-earth orbit. As part of this application, AST seeks to utilize the 430-440 MHz band for telemetry, tracking, and telecommand (TT&C) operations. Although their request indicates that the use of these frequencies is limited to communication with earth stations outside of the United States during its initial post-launch period and in emergency situations, the utilization of amateur radio bands for commercial purposes is obviously of major concern to amateur radio organizations and operators worldwide.

As part of the consideration process, the FCC is accepting public comment through July 21st. Over 600 individuals, many of them amateur radio operators, have already filed comments opposing AST’s request, as has AMSAT-DL. AMSAT is also preparing comments to be filed in this proceeding. Anyone may file or review comments through the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/search-filings/results?q=(proceedings.name:(%2225-201%22)). The proceeding number is 25-201.

[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President, for the above information]

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May/June 2025 Edition of The AMSAT Journal Now Available

The May/June 2025 edition of The AMSAT Journal is now available. The AMSAT Journal  is a bi-monthly digital magazine for amateur radio in space enthusiasts, published by the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT). Each issue is your source for hardware and software projects, technical tips, STEM initiatives, operational activities, and news from around the world. Join AMSAT today to get immediate access to the latest issue and archived issues of The AMSAT Journal.

Inside the Current Issue:

• Apogee View – Robert Bankston, KE4AL
• Educational Relations Update – Alan Johnston, KU2Y
• 2025 AMSAT Board of Directors Election
• New CubeSat Features and Capabilities – Alan Johnston, KU2Y
• Hamvention Wrap-up: Engineering Update
• AMSAT Youth Initiative Update – Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
• Dick Jansson, KD1K – Keith Baker, KB1SF/VA3KSF

AMSAT members can access the current issue and archived issues at https://launch.amsat.org/The_AMSAT_Journal

[ANS thanks Joe Kornowski, KB6IGK, The AMSAT Journal Editor-in-Chief, for the above information]

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Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for July 18, 2025

Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. TLE bulletin files are updated daily in the first hour of the UTC day. New bulletin files will be posted immediately after reliable elements become available for new amateur satellites. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/.

This week there are no additions or deletions to the AMSAT TLE distribution.

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

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Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase an M2 LEO-Pack from the AMSAT Store!

When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.

---

ARISS News

Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.

Scheduled Contacts

No contacts currently scheduled. The ARISS SSTV event will continue until July 20, 2025 at 18:00 UTC.

Many times a school may make a last minute decision to do a Livestream or run into a last minute glitch requiring a change of the URL but we at ARISS may not get the URL in time for publication.  You can always check https://live.ariss.org/ to see if a school is Livestreaming.

As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.

The crossband repeater continues to be active (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down),  If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.

Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.

The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]

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Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get an AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space

---

AMSAT Ambassador Activities

AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, says,

“Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let me know by emailing me at k6lcsclint (at) gmail (dot) com or calling me at 909-999-SATS (7287)!”

Clint has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences.

Scheduled Events

August 21-24, 2025
Northeast HamXposition (HamX) & New England ARRL Convention
Best Western Royal Plaza & Trade Center
181 Boston Post Road W
Marlborough, MA 01752
http://www.HamX.org
W1EME, WD4ASW, WB1FJ

September 6, 2025
Greater Louisville Hamfest
Paroquet Springs Conference Centre
395 Paroquet Springs Drive
Shepherdsville, KY 40165
W4FCL

October 16, 17, 18, 19, 2025
AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting and 43rd Annual AMSAT Space Symposium & Annual General Meeting
Holiday Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport North
1515 North 44th Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85008
Details at https://www.amsat.org/2025-symposium/

Interested in becoming an AMSAT Ambassador? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

For more information go to: https://www.amsat.org/ambassador/

[ANS thanks Bo Lowrey, W4FCL, Director – AMSAT Ambassador Program, for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts from All Over

+ AMSAT Field Day submissions are due on July 29, 2025. For more details on submitting your Field Day results, visit https://www.amsat.org/field-day/ (Thanks to Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards).

+ Peter Goodhall, 2M0SQL, has launched a website for his Zenith Satellite Tracker project. The Zenith Satellite Tracker is a web-based real-time satellite tracking application with pass predictions and radio hardware integration. It can be used online or self-hosted on your home network. Details are available at https://zenithtracker.org. (Thanks to Peter Goodhall, 2M0SQL).

+ The Axiom-4 mission concluded its 18 day stay at the International Space Station, splashing down on July 15, 2025 (Thanks to NASA).

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Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

• Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
• Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate.
• Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
• Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Editor,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm [at] arrl.net

ANS is a service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, 712 H Street NE, Suite 1653, Washington, DC 20002

AMSAT News Service

ANS-159
June 8, 2025

In this edition:

• Nominations Close Soon for 2025 AMSAT Board of Directors Election
• NOAA-18 Decommissioned
• Request for Expression of Interest for futureGEO Project
• SO-125 FM Transponder Activated
• Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for June 6, 2025
• ARISS News
• AMSAT Ambassador Activities
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

The news feed on https://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

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Nominations Close Soon for 2025 AMSAT Board of Directors Election

AMSAT solicits nominations for the 2025 AMSAT Board of Directors election, scheduled to take place in the third quarter of the year. The nomination period closes on June 15th.

The seats of the following four incumbent Directors expire in 2025 and will be filled by this year’s election:

• Barry Baines, WD4ASW
• Jerry Buxton, N0JY
• Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA
• Zach Metzinger, N0ZGO

Further, up to two Alternate Directors may be elected for one-year terms. A valid nomination for Director must be written and requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT member. Written nominations, with the nominee’s name, call sign, and contact information, as well as the nominators’ names, call signs, and contact information, should be sent to the AMSAT Secretary:

Douglas Tabor, N6UA
1133 Verlan Way
Cheyenne, WY 82009

AMSAT bylaws require that the nomination be written and in the form specified by the Secretary, who has elected to accept written nomination materials via postal mail or in electronic form, including email or electronic image of a paper document. Fax transmissions cannot be accepted.

Email nominations may be sent to dtabor [at] amsat [dot] org.

Regardless of the means used, petitions must be received by the Secretary no later than June 15th. The Secretary will verify the qualifications of candidates and nominating members or Member Societies as petitions are accepted and will notify candidates whether their nominations are in order by the end of June.

[ANS thanks Douglas Tabor, N6UA, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information]

---

The 2025 AMSAT President’s Club Coins Are Here!
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight
Help Support GOLF and Fox Plus.
Join the AMSAT President’s Club today!

---

Request for Expression of Interest for futureGEO Project

As part of AMSAT-DL’s  cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA) to prepare a future geostationary amateur radio payload project (“futureGEO”), a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) was recently sent to national AMSAT organizations, amateur radio associations and qualified experts worldwide.

The aim is to identify potential partners who would like to actively participate in the definition and development of a new amateur radio payload for a future geostationary satellite. Contributions should include innovative technical ideas, experiences from previous missions (e.g. QO-100) as well as concrete proposals for payloads, experiments and educational initiatives.

In particular, amateur radio organizations whose countries are members of the ESA or which are in the planned visibility range (footprint) are addressed. This means Canada, Europe, North and South America, and Africa.

Call for expressions of interest (RFEI) for futureGEO project

Unfortunately, we have noticed that not all contact details in the “AMSAT International Directory” are up to date. (Editor’s note: International AMSAT organizations should submit updated contact information for key leaders to info at amsat.org to update this directory) If you are an organization that has not received an RFEI but would like to actively participate, please contact us directly.

→ Request for Expression of Interest – RFEI “futureGEO” – Invitation Letter (PDF)

→ Future Amateur Goestationary Payload Definitions – WORK TO BE DONE (PDF)

 The deadline for expressions of interest is June 30, 2025.

We look forward to your feedback and hope for committed international cooperation on this forward-looking project!

Editor’s note: The AMSAT Board of Directors and senior leadership will be submitting an expression of interest. A geostationary amateur radio satellite with a North American footprint has been sought for a very long time and AMSAT is committed to providing AMSAT-DL with any support that we can provide in this endeavor.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information]

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SO-125 FM Transponder Activated

On the evening on June 5, 2025, the SO-125 FM transponder was activated for the first time. AMSAT-EA intends to activate the FM transponder on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays moving forward. Initial reports are that the satellite’s transponder works well. QSOs have been made via the satellite in all regions of the world.

The satellite has a 145.875 MHz uplink and a 436.666 MHz downlink. The NORAD ID for Keplerian elements is 63492.

AMSAT has submitted a request to the ARRL to have SO-125 added to the LoTW configuration file for LoTW QSO confirmations.

SO-124 (HADES-R) continues in 24 hour operation with a 145.925 MHz uplink and a 436.888 MHz downlink. Wednesdays are reserved for digital modes.

Updates on AMSAT-EA’s satellites can be found at https://x.com/eb1ao and https://x.com/AmsatSpain.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-EA for the above information]

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Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for June 6, 2025

Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. TLE bulletin files are updated daily in the first hour of the UTC day. New bulletin files will be posted immediately after reliable elements become available for new amateur satellites. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/.

IRIS-A  NORAD Cat ID 51044 Decayed from orbit on or about 05 JUN 2025

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

---

Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase an M2 LEO-Pack from the AMSAT Store!

When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.

---

ARISS News

Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.

Scheduled Contacts

School in the Aznakaevsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan, Tatarstan, Russia, direct via TBD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled crewmember is Sergey Ryzhikov
The ARISS mentor is RV3DR

Contact is go for Sun 2025-06-08 09:05 UTC

Mountain Creek State High School, Mountain Creek, Queensland, Australia, via IK1SLD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS
The scheduled crewmember is Takaya Onishi KF5LKS
The ARISS mentor is VK4KHZ

Contact is go for: Mon 2025-06-09 08:10:45 UTC 47 deg

Many times a school may make a last minute decision to do a Livestream or run into a last minute glitch requiring a change of the URL but we at ARISS may not get the URL in time for publication.  You can always check https://live.ariss.org/ to see if a school is Livestreaming.

As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.

The crossband repeater continues to be active (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down),  If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.

Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.

The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]

---

Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get an AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space

---

AMSAT Ambassador Activities

AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, says,

“Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let me know by emailing me at k6lcsclint (at) gmail (dot) com or calling me at 909-999-SATS (7287)!”

Clint has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences.

Scheduled Events

June 21, 2025
Rochester Amateur Radio Association Hamfest 2025
Barnard Fire Field
410 Maiden Lane Rochester, NY 14616
KB2YSI

September 6, 2025
Greater Louisville Hamfest
Paroquet Springs Conference Centre
395 Paroquet Springs Drive
Shepherdsville, KY 40165
W4FCL

October 16, 17, 18, 19, 2025
AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting and 43rd Annual AMSAT Space Symposium & Annual General Meeting
Holiday Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport North
1515 North 44th Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85008
Details at https://www.amsat.org/2025-symposium/

Interested in becoming an AMSAT Ambassador? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

For more information go to: https://www.amsat.org/ambassador/

[ANS thanks Bo Lowrey, W4FCL, Director – AMSAT Ambassador Program, for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts from All Over

+ The FCC has denied AST Space Mobile’s request to use 430 MHz -440 MHz for telemetry operations, noting “There is no space tracking or space telemetering allocation in the 430-440 MHz frequency range.” (Thanks to AMSAT-DL and the FCC for the information)

+ A paper by Hope Lea, KD2L, and Ruth Willet, KM4LAO, entitled “Empowering the Next Generation Through Space Communication” was selected best in “The Next Generation” part of the SpaceOps 2025 conference in Montreal. This paper discussed ARISS and YOTA. AMSAT congratulates them on their outstanding work! (Thanks to ARISS for the information)

+ The FCC’s #FridayFlashback on X this past week highlighted amateur radio. View FCC amateur radio ads from years past in the thread at https://x.com/FCC/status/1931024023023984709

 

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Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

• Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
• Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate.
• Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
• Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Editor,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm [at] arrl.net

ANS is a service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, 712 H Street NE, Suite 1653, Washington, DC 20002

AMSAT News Service

ANS-145
May 25, 2025

In this edition:

• Dick Jansson, KD1K, Former AMSAT Vice President – Engineering, SK
• Nominations Open for 2025 AMSAT Board of Directors Election
• Updated Digital Edition of Getting Started With Amateur Satellites Now Available
• HADES-ICM FM Repeater to Be Active Weekends Beginning in Mid-June
• Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for May 23, 2025
• ARISS News
• AMSAT Ambassador Activities
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

The news feed on https://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

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Dick Jansson, KD1K, Former AMSAT Vice President – Engineering, SK

It is with sadness that AMSAT notes the passing of  Richard M. (Dick) Jansson, KD1K (formerly WD4FAB) a long time Vice President – Engineering for The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) on May 13, 2025. He was 94.

During his working career, Dick held a variety of engineering positions with Sperry Corporation including helping to develop, construct, and evaluate instrumentation for advanced supersonic and hypersonic aircraft, including the X-15, at NACA (the forerunner of NASA). Dick also worked at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory where he designed, developed and tested space navigation and guidance instruments for the Apollo program. Later, as a Senior Staff Engineer for Honeywell, he created thermal designs for electro-optical instrumentation on several critical US space projects including Explorers 33 and 35, as well as the Apollo and Skylab programs for NASA. Dick then went on to transfer his expertise to the Martin Marietta Corporation, where he was active in the design and testing of miniature closed-cycle cryogenic coolers for infrared detectors on several Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) applications.

After his retirement from Martin Marietta, Dick performed thermal and mechanical design, computer thermal analyses, and material selection functions on a wide variety of AMSAT spacecraft including OSCARs 10 and 13, as well as the MICROSAT series. He was heavily involved in the thermal, structural and mechanical design of the AMSAT Phase 3D satellite (which later became AMSAT-OSCAR 40 on orbit). And, for his work on a number of AMSAT spacecraft over the years, Dick was honored by the Dayton Hamvention with their prestigious Technical Excellence Award in 1993.

Dick was first licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator in 1972, and held an Extra Class license. For many years, he resided in Maitland, Florida with his loving wife, the former Mary Sweeney of Washington, DC who predeceased him. The Janssons were the proud parents of three children: Katherine, Carole and Edward.

A memorial service for Dick set to be held at St. Luke’s Church in Oviedo, Florida at 10:00 AM on June 4^th, 2025.

---

The 2025 AMSAT President’s Club Coins Are Here!
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight
Help Support GOLF and Fox Plus.
Join the AMSAT President’s Club today!

---

Updated Digital Edition of Getting Started With Amateur Satellites Now Available

Newly revised in May 2025, this definitive reference is written for the new satellite operator by Gould Smith, WA4SXM, but includes discussions for the experienced operator who wishes to review the features of amateur satellite communications. The new operator will be introduced to the basic concepts and terminology unique to this mode. Additionally, there are many practical tips and tricks to ensure making contacts, and to sound like an experienced satellite operator in the process.

The digital edition of the book is available from the AMSAT store for $15.

[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]

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HADES-ICM FM Repeater to Be Active Weekends Beginning in Mid-June

AMSAT-EA expects to activate the HADES-ICM FM repeater on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays starting in mid-June.

The satellite has a 145.875 MHz uplink and a 436.666 MHz downlink. The NORAD ID for Keplerian elements is 63492.

SO-124 (HADES-R) continues in 24 hour operation with a 145.925 MHz uplink and a 436.888 MHz downlink. Wednesdays are reserved for digital modes.

Updates on AMSAT-EA’s satellites can be found at https://x.com/eb1ao and https://x.com/AmsatSpain.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-EA for the above information]

---

Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for May 23, 2025

Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. TLE bulletin files are updated daily in the first hour of the UTC day. New bulletin files will be posted immediately after reliable elements become available for new amateur satellites. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/.

IO-117 NORAD Cat ID 53106  Non operational
AAUSAT2 NORAD Cat ID 32788 Decayed from orbit on or about 20 MAY 2025

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

---

Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase an M2 LEO-Pack from the AMSAT Store!

When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.

---

ARISS News

Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.

Scheduled Contacts

Oryol City, Russia, direct via TBD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled crewmember is Alexey Zubritsky
The ARISS mentor is RV3DR

Contact is go for Tue 2025-05-27 13:50 UTC

Royal Moroccan Air Academy, Marrakech, Morocco, direct via CN8ERA

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS
The scheduled crewmember is Nichole Ayers KJ5GWI
The ARISS mentor is IN3GHZ

Contact is go for: Wed 2025-05-28 12:55:36 UTC 72 deg

Yonezawa 5th Junior High School, Yonezawa, Japan, direct via 8N7Y5JH

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS
The scheduled crewmember is Takaya Onishi KF5LKS
The ARISS mentor is 7M3TJZ

Contact is go for: Thu 2025-05-29 09:23:02 UTC 26 deg

Watch for Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/live/V2bcwHEEigY

Atkarsk, Saratov region, Russia, direct via TBD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled crewmember is Sergey Ryzhikov
The ARISS mentor is RV3DR

Contact is go for Thu 2025-05-29 13:55 UTC

Starominskiy District, Russia, direct via TBD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled crewmember is Kirill Peskov
The ARISS mentor is RV3DR

Contact is go for Sat 2025-05-31 10:35 UTC

Many times a school may make a last minute decision to do a Livestream or run into a last minute glitch requiring a change of the URL but we at ARISS may not get the URL in time for publication.  You can always check https://live.ariss.org/ to see if a school is Livestreaming.

As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.

The crossband repeater continues to be active (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down),  If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.

Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.

The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]

---

Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get an AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space

---

AMSAT Ambassador Activities

AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, says,

“Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let me know by emailing me at k6lcsclint (at) gmail (dot) com or calling me at 909-999-SATS (7287)!”

Clint has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences.

Scheduled Events

June 21, 2025
Rochester Amateur Radio Association Hamfest 2025
Barnard Fire Field
410 Maiden Lane Rochester, NY 14616
KB2YSI

September 6, 2025
Greater Louisville Hamfest
Paroquet Springs Conference Centre
395 Paroquet Springs Drive
Shepherdsville, KY 40165
W4FCL

October 16, 17, 18, 19, 2025
AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting and 43rd Annual AMSAT Space Symposium & Annual General Meeting
Holiday Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport North
1515 North 44th Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85008
Details at https://www.amsat.org/2025-symposium/

Interested in becoming an AMSAT Ambassador? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

For more information go to: https://www.amsat.org/ambassador/

[ANS thanks Bo Lowrey, W4FCL, Director – AMSAT Ambassador Program, for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts from All Over

+ Peter Goodhall, 2M0SQL, has developed PortablePlanner.com, a web application that allows portable satellite operators to calculate their transmit and receive frequencies and find mutual passes. The web application can be added to your home screen on iOS and Android devices and can be used offline. This application can help portable satellite operators easily determine what frequency to transmit and receive at on a linear transponder satellite when operating without computer control (Thanks to Peter Goodhall, 2M0SQL)

+ Two new AMSAT Rover Awards have been issued – #88 to Torsten, DG7RO, and #89 to Sean, KK7OVF. For more information on AMSAT’s awards programs, visit https://www.amsat.org/awards-2/ (Thanks to Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards)

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Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

• Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
• Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate.
• Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
• Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Editor,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm [at] arrl.net

ANS is a service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, 712 H Street NE, Suite 1653, Washington, DC 20002