• [ANS] ANS-186 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

    From Paul Stoetzer via ANS@3:633/10 to All on Sat Jul 4 20:31:33 2026
    *AMSAT *News Service *ANS-186*
    *July 5, 2026*

    In this edition:

    - AMSAT President Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, Featured on Ham Radio
    Workbench Podcast
    - MarmotSat: Student-Built Canadian CubeSat Brings Open-Source Amateur
    Experiments to VHF and 10 Meters
    - OSCARLOCATOR Web Generator Turns Live Elements Into Printable Tracking
    Sheets
    - Recent IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Activity
    - Amateur Radio Payloads Aboard SpaceX Transporter-17
    - AMSAT at Moon Day, Dallas ? Saturday, July 18, 2026
    - Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for June 5, 2026
    - ARISS News
    - AMSAT Ambassador Activities
    - Satellite Shorts From All Over

    The AMSAT? News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and informat
    ion
    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/ ------------------------------
    AMSAT President Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, Featured on Ham Radio Workbench Podcast

    AMSAT President Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, is the featured guest on episode
    266 of the Ham Radio Workbench podcast, released June 30, 2026, and
    available at https://www.hamradioworkbench.com/podcast.

    In a wide-ranging discussion, Glasbrenner talks with the Workbench crew
    about AMSAT and amateur radio in space, drawing on the operating and institutional perspective he brings as AMSAT President. The episode's show notes point listeners toward a number of accessible on-ramps to satellite
    work, including the WA5VJB ?Cheap Yagis? wooden-boom antenn
    a design, Elk
    log-periodic antennas for satellite use, and AMSAT itself at https://www.amsat.org. The hosts also note that Glasbrenner is interested
    in hearing from potential payload providers, and that listeners inspired to
    get more involved can inquire about becoming an AMSAT Ambassador.

    Recent AMSAT presentations have offered a preview of the themes Glasbrenner tends to cover. In appearances over the past several months he has
    described AMSAT as a volunteer, educational organization dating to 1969, highlighted the continued operation of AO-7 more than five decades after launch, and outlined the GOLF-TEE mission ? a 3U CubeSat carrying a
    30 kHz
    linear transponder, a 10 GHz high-speed experimental downlink, and improved three-axis attitude control. Listeners looking for an approachable
    introduction to where AMSAT is headed will find the Workbench episode a
    good place to start.

    Give it a listen at https://www.hamradioworkbench.com/podcast.

    *[ANS thanks the Ham Radio Workbench podcast and Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA,
    AMSAT President, for the above information]*
    ------------------------------
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    ------------------------------
    MarmotSat: Student-Built Canadian CubeSat Brings Open-Source Amateur Experiments to VHF and 10 Meters

    A new student-built CubeSat carrying an unusually varied amateur radio
    payload is set to reach orbit this month, and its team is actively inviting amateurs around the world to take part. MarmotSat, a 3U CubeSat designed
    and built in-house by students at the University of Victoria (UVic) Centre
    for Aerospace Research (CfAR), is manifested on the SpaceX Transporter-17 rideshare mission, targeted to launch from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, no earlier than July 7, 2026, into
    a sun-synchronous orbit.

    MarmotSat, whose name stands for Mission for Atmospheric Radio Measurements with Open-source Technology Satellite, measures the standard 3U form factor
    of 340 by 100 by 100 mm. It is British Columbia?s submission to the
    Canadian Space Agency?s CubeSats Initiative in Canada for STEM (CUB
    ICS)
    program, and it also features major contributions from volunteers on the
    UVic Satellite Design (UVSD) engineering team. The mission has two primary objectives: to train Highly Qualified Personnel by giving undergraduate and graduate students hands-on experience designing, building, testing, and operating a spacecraft; and to support the UVic Propagation Laboratory?
    ??s
    research into the structure and composition of the ionosphere. Both the satellite and its ground station in Victoria were designed, assembled,
    tested, and operated by students, with the sole exception of the commercial CubeSpace attitude determination and control system.

    The mission builds directly on the experience of ORCASat, UVic?s ea
    rlier 2U
    CubeSat and British Columbia?s first student-built satellite to rea
    ch
    orbit. ORCASat, which flew under the Canadian CubeSat Project and deorbited
    in July 2023, gave more than 25 full-time co-op students and over 150
    part-time student volunteers direct spacecraft experience, and it flight-qualified the UHF telemetry, tracking and command scheme that
    MarmotSat reuses.
    A rich amateur payload

    For amateurs, the interesting part of MarmotSat is its payload, which marks
    the debut of the Modular CubeSat Radio (MCR), an open-source, GNU Radio-compatible software-defined radio platform developed by the team.
    Built around a low-power HF SDR derived from the Hermes Lite 2, the MCR for this mission includes the SDR, an onboard computer, a camera, HF and VHF RF front ends, and simple wire antennas: a base-loaded half-wave tape-measure
    whip for HF and a half-wave tape-measure dipole for VHF.

    The amateur payload supports four distinct experiments, and the team
    stresses that it is available to all properly licensed operators worldwide. Because several functions share the same frequencies, the experiments are mutually exclusive and never run simultaneously. The published frequencies
    are a VHF digipeater uplink and downlink on 145.875 MHz; a CW telemetry
    beacon on both 145.875 MHz and 29.410 MHz; and a DVB-S2 digital video
    beacon and a linear-frequency-modulation sounding downlink, both on 29.410
    MHz in the 10-meter amateur satellite allocation. A separate telemetry, tracking and command subsystem operates on 436.125 MHz; that UHF link is
    kept independent of the amateur payload for reliability and is not intended
    for general amateur use, though its telemetry may be receivable in the
    Pacific Northwest.

    The four amateur experiments give operators a range of ways to participate:

    The CW telemetry beacon transmits spacecraft health data on HF and VHF at
    15 words per minute, sending the callsign VA7UVS in plain text followed by encoded telemetry. It can be copied by ear or with digital aids such as CW Skimmer, and requires only a modest 10-meter or VHF antenna and a
    CW-capable receiver or a low-cost SDR.

    The VHF digipeater is a two-way store-and-forward and real-time
    communication experiment intended to work like the well-known IO-117 (GreenCube) digipeater, but on VHF rather than UHF. The team notes it is designed to be compatible with the hardware and software amateurs already
    use for GreenCube operation.

    The DVB-S2 digital video experiment lets amateurs receive live imagery from
    the onboard camera as a digital television signal on 10 meters, following
    the QO-100 wideband operating conventions. It is a deliberately
    challenging, noise-sensitive experiment; the team recommends it only for operators at quiet rural locations and only on passes above about 35
    degrees elevation.

    The citizen-science experiment transmits a linear-frequency-modulated
    waveform, similar to CODAR, on 10 meters. Amateurs can record these transionospheric soundings and submit them to a central repository, contributing to the Propagation Lab?s study of how the ionosphere
    ?s
    structure may correlate with terrestrial phenomena including earthquakes
    and human-caused climate change.

    In keeping with the mission?s open-source philosophy, the team has
    released
    supporting designs and tools to the community, including a 10-meter
    turnstile antenna suitable for space reception and a GNU Radio flowgraph
    for decoding the DVB-S2 video, with recording-format and data-submission details for the citizen-science experiment to be published around launch. Getting involved

    The MarmotSat team is inviting experienced stations to help commission the amateur experiments and is offering selected operators early access to the payload; amateurs interested in taking part are asked to contact the team through the UVic Propagation Laboratory with a brief description of their capabilities. Amateur radio information for the mission, including the frequency table, equipment recommendations, and experiment details, is maintained on the Propagation Lab?s satellite page at https://www.propagationlab.ca/satellite/, and general mission information
    is available at https://www.marmotsat.ca.

    As always, amateurs planning to receive MarmotSat should watch for orbital elements and any updates to the experiment schedule after deployment, which
    the team expects to publish once commissioning is complete in the third
    quarter of 2026.

    *[ANS thanks the University of Victoria Centre for Aerospace Research, the
    UVic Propagation Laboratory, and the MarmotSat team for the above
    information]*
    ------------------------------
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    ------------------------------
    OSCARLOCATOR Web Generator Turns Live Elements Into Printable Tracking
    Sheets

    Following last week's introduction of the browser-based OSCARLOCATOR Web Simulator, a companion tool is now online that closes the loop between the on-screen simulator and the classic paper tracker. The OSCARLOCATOR Web Generator, at https://oscarlocator-pdf.n8hm.radio, produces printable
    base-map, range-circle, and path-arc sheets ? the physical componen
    ts of
    the traditional OSCARLOCATOR ? as vector PDFs generated entirely in
    the
    browser.

    Like the simulator, the generator is the work of AMSAT Executive Vice
    President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, and produces the same vector output as the OSCARLOCATOR export in his OrbitDeck
    <https://github.com/prstoetzer/OrbitDeck> desktop application. Nothing is uploaded to a server: the tool fetches only current AMSAT GP orbital
    elements and, if the operator asks, their location. It runs offline once loaded.

    *The OSCARLOCATOR Web Generator, showing the station, satellite, and sheet-option controls on the left and a live preview of the base map for
    AO-73 on the right, along with the orbital readout and PDF download and
    print controls*

    To build a set of sheets, the operator sets a station by Maidenhead grid square, by latitude and longitude, or via browser geolocation, then selects
    a satellite from a list populated automatically from AMSAT's GP element
    data. The map projection can be a polar azimuthal-equidistant sheet ?
    ?
    chosen automatically for the northern or southern hemisphere, or forced to North or South ? or a QTH-centered azimuthal map. The output can be
    produced as a two-sheet set, pairing a base map with the range circle drawn
    at the operator's station plus a separate path-arc transparency, and an
    option keeps the overlay transparencies free of text so all the how-to-use instructions live on the base map. An advanced panel allows manual entry of orbital elements ? inclination, mean motion, eccentricity, argument
    of
    perigee, and RAAN ? for cases where the operator wants to plot a sp
    ecific
    orbit by hand, and provides an optional CORS-proxy override for fetching
    the AMSAT bulletin data.

    Coastlines are drawn from Natural Earth 110m data. The sheets must be
    printed at 100% / actual size so that the base map and the transparency overlays register correctly when stacked. The result is a genuine, working paper tracker keyed to current elements ? a satisfying bridge betwe
    en the
    pre-computer era of satellite operating and modern on-demand data.

    The OSCARLOCATOR Web Generator is available now at https://oscarlocator-pdf.n8hm.radio, and serves as a companion to the OSCARLOCATOR Simulator at https://oscarlocator.n8hm.radio.

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

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    *Recent IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Activity*

    Every amateur satellite that expects to transmit in the amateur-satellite service bands is asked to obtain a frequency coordination from the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) before launch. The IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel reviews each request, checks the proposed frequencies against existing band plans and other coordinated missions, and
    ? where the mission fits the definition of the amateur-satellite se
    rvice
    and names a licensed amateur as the responsible operator ? recommen
    ds
    frequencies intended to minimize mutual interference. The running status of applications is maintained on the AMSAT-UK-hosted status pages at https://iaru.amsat-uk.org/index.php, and it is worth a periodic look for operators who like to know what may be arriving on the bands.

    Over roughly the past month the panel's public status list has continued to turn over, with the two most recently updated entries both coming from long-running university programs in Europe.

    The most recent update, dated June 23, 2026, is UPMSat-3, developed by the Instituto Universitario de Microgravedad ?Ignacio Da Riva?
    (IDR) of the
    Universidad Polit‚cnica de Madrid (UPM). UPMSat-3 continues a program
    that
    reaches back to UPMSat-1 in 1995 and UPMSat-2 in 2020. The new spacecraft
    is a roughly 22-kilogram microsatellite ? smaller than its predeces
    sors but
    a substantial step up in capability ? whose primary science mission
    is
    imaging of the cosmic microwave background, alongside a suite of low-cost in-orbit technology demonstrations for Spanish companies and research
    centers and continued work on attitude determination and control
    algorithms. UPMSat-3 has been selected to fly on the Isar Aerospace
    Spectrum launcher from And?ya, Norway, and the program continues to bu
    ild
    hands-on engineering experience for students in UPM's Master's Degree in
    Space Systems (MUSE).

    The panel's prior update, dated June 4, 2026, is FramSat-1.5, a 3U CubeSat
    from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the
    student organization Orbit NTNU. FramSat is a scaled evolution of Orbit
    NTNU's earlier SelfieSat, and the FramSat effort is closely tied to the ambition of launching ?the first satellite from Norwegian soil?
    ?? from the
    new spaceport at And?ya. FramSat carries a UHF amateur downlink ?
    ? SatNOGS
    lists a 435.141 MHz 9k6 FSK (AX.25/G3RUH) transmitter marked IARU
    coordinated ? supporting telemetry and an experimental sun-sensor p
    ayload
    built by students.

    Both missions are representative of the bulk of IARU coordination traffic: student- and university-led educational spacecraft, most in low Earth
    orbit, that give the next generation of engineers direct experience with spacecraft communications while adding new signals for the amateur
    community to hunt. Developers planning a mission are reminded that
    coordination should be requested as early in the design process as
    possible, while frequencies can still be changed in response to the panel's recommendations.

    Application forms and contact information are available at https://www.iaru.org/reference/satellites/, and the coordination status
    list is at https://iaru.amsat-uk.org/index.php.

    *[ANS thanks the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel for the above information]*
    ------------------------------

    [image: SDR Gen 2 Ad - 2026]
    ------------------------------
    Amateur Radio Payloads Aboard SpaceX Transporter-17

    SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, July 7, 2026, for the launch of its
    Transporter-17 dedicated rideshare mission, with a 95-minute window opening
    at 07:10 UTC (12:10 a.m. PDT) from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg
    Space Force Base, California. A backup opportunity is available on July 8
    at the same time. The Falcon 9 will carry a large collection of small satellites ? deployment provider Exolaunch alone has manifested 49
    spacecraft on the flight ? into a sun-synchronous orbit, and among
    them are
    several carrying amateur radio payloads. As with all Transporter missions, deployments will be spaced out over a period of time after launch rather
    than occurring all at once, and it may be days or weeks before individual satellites are commissioned and heard.

    As of this writing the full manifest is still being cataloged by the
    amateur community, and operators coordinating reception through the Libre
    Space Foundation's SatNOGS network are working to add the new spacecraft
    and their transmitters to the SatNOGS database. Amateurs are encouraged to
    help by submitting satellite and transmitter suggestions. The confirmed
    amateur payloads with IARU-coordinated frequencies are summarized below;
    more may be identified as the manifest firms up.
    MarmotSat

    MarmotSat, the 3U CubeSat built by students at the University of Victoria Centre for Aerospace Research, is the headline amateur payload on the
    flight and is the subject of a separate feature in this issue. It carries
    the debut of the open-source Modular CubeSat Radio and supports four
    amateur experiments: a VHF digipeater and CW telemetry beacon on 145.875
    MHz, a CW telemetry beacon and a DVB-S2 digital video beacon on 29.410 MHz,
    and a linear-frequency-modulation ionospheric-sounding downlink on 10
    meters for amateur citizen scientists. Its IARU-coordinated downlinks are 29.410 MHz, 145.875 MHz, and 436.125 MHz (TT&C). The team hopes MarmotSat
    will become Canada's first official OSCAR-designated satellite. See the
    full article elsewhere in this bulletin for details and for how to take
    part in commissioning.
    Maveric

    Maveric is a 3U CubeSat from the University of Southern California's Space Engineering Research Center, with Anthony Planinac, K6FCF, as the
    responsible operator. The satellite carries two identical commercially available multispectral imagers, each of which will photograph an LCD
    screen positioned in front of the camera with the Earth and sky as a
    backdrop. The mission's goals are a mix of science and technology
    development, including magnetic-field measurements and the testing of new algorithms for real-time onboard processing of optical imagery.

    For amateurs, Maveric uses a 9,600 bps UHF downlink employing GMSK
    modulation with Golay framing. The IARU has coordinated a downlink on
    437.575 MHz. The satellite is bound for an approximately 590 km polar
    orbit. Reception reports and telemetry decodes from the amateur community
    are, as always, valuable to the mission team during commissioning.
    Other payloads of note

    Also aboard Transporter-17 is LabSat IoT, a 34-cm CubeSat developed by the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Palermo in Argentina, together
    with COPITEC and FUNDETEC. LabSat IoT is a technology-demonstration
    platform for satellite Internet-of-Things and cellular (NTN) connectivity
    to remote areas, using in-flight-reconfigurable software-defined radios.
    Its experiments operate in IoT and mobile-satellite bands rather than the amateur-satellite service, so while it is a noteworthy student-built
    spacecraft on the same flight, it is not an amateur radio mission and does
    not carry an IARU-coordinated amateur payload.

    The mission also includes numerous commercial and government smallsats ?
    ??
    among them Firesat-1, -2, and -3, and a wide range of Earth-observation and technology-demonstration spacecraft from more than twenty countries ?
    ? that
    do not use amateur frequencies.

    Operators wishing to receive the amateur payloads should watch for orbital elements to be published after deployment and match them to each spacecraft using the beacon signals. Frequency and status details for coordinated satellites can be confirmed on the IARU coordination status pages at https://iaru.amsat-uk.org, and reception can be coordinated through the
    SatNOGS network. ANS will report on successful deployments and the opening
    of the new satellites' amateur payloads as information becomes available.

    *[ANS thanks SpaceX, Exolaunch, the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel, the University of Victoria, the University of Southern California,
    and the Libre Space Foundation for the above information]* ------------------------------
    AMSAT at Moon Day, Dallas ? Saturday, July 18, 2026

    AMSAT Ambassador Tom Schuessler, N5HYP, writes:

    ?Hello AMSATters in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

    ?We are coming up quickly toward the annual STEM event held by the
    Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field called ?Moon Day.
    ? This
    year it will be Saturday, July 18th. Hours are from 10 AM to 4 PM. Always
    held around the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing, it is a fun public
    event showcasing astronomy, space science and technology, suitable for
    young and old alike. Last year it drew almost 1500 visitors. See https://flightmuseum.com/events/moonday/ for more information.

    ?I have been representing AMSAT and amateur radio satellites at Moo
    n Day
    for many years now. We have an exhibit table right next to the Dallas
    Amateur Radio Club where we show off the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator, the Fox CubeSat engineering model, talk about orbits and footprints and this year,
    hope to have materials to hand out for kids from the AMSAT youth
    initiative, BuzzSat. Of course we feature the ISS as a great example of
    amateur radio in space. The CubeSat Simulator gives the ability to have a
    ?Get your picture taken by a satellite? photobooth experien
    ce. We also try
    to offer several voice satellite passes out in the parking lot to show off amateur radio space communications.

    ?Besides all the regular exhibits, attendees can attend various sem
    inars
    and hear talks by astronauts.

    ?The museum has wonderful exhibits, including the Apollo 7 command
    module.
    This year there is a new exhibit on the Hindenburg which looks very interesting.?

    *[ANS thanks Tom Schuessler, N5HYP, AMSAT Ambassador, for the above information]*
    ------------------------------
    Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for July 3, 2026

    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/ <https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/>.

    There are no changes to this week's TLE distribution.
    General Perturbations Data Support

    AMSAT is pleased to announce that modern forms of what are called General Perturbations data are being disseminated via modern formats including
    JSON, XML and KVN at https://newark192.amsat.org/gpdata/current/. The
    reason this change is being made is that we are running out of 5-digit
    catalog numbers and the TLE format is not viable for satellites launched
    after July of this year. See https://celestrak.org/NORAD/documentation/gp-data-formats.php for details.

    These data are presently considered in beta test for the next two months
    while hosted on the test server newark192.amsat.org, and we are very open
    to community feedback at webmaster at amsat.org. Testers may experience
    outages and errors while we make improvements. We intend to put this into production on our main web server in July as we expect that satellites
    launched after this summer will require one of the new formats to
    accommodate longer object numbers. AMSAT will continue to publish TLE
    bulletins for satellites launched before July 2026 indefinitely.

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

    *No contacts currently scheduled*

    Many times, a school makes a last-minute decision to do a Livestream or
    runs 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 remains configured in the Columbus Module (145.990
    MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down). If a crewmember decides to pick up the microphone and turn up the volume, you may hear them on the air?so
    keep
    listening, as you never know when activity might occur.

    Kenwood D710GA in the Zvezda Service Module ? Call sign RS?ISS
    . Please note
    we?re still in the process of troubleshooting and testing this radi
    o. APRS
    is currently active on 437.825 MHz. Feel free to check out status reports
    at https://ariss-usa.org/ARISS_APRS/.

    Ham TV is currently transmitting a test signal at 2395.00 MHz.

    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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    ------------------------------
    AMSAT Ambassador Activities

    [image: AMSAT Ambassador News Logo]

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

    *July 18, 2026*

    *Moon Day*Frontiers of Flight Museum
    6911 Lemmon Avenue
    Dallas, TX 75209
    https://flightmuseum.com/events/moonday/
    N5HYP

    *October 8-11, 2026*
    *44th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Membership Meeting*
    Crowne Plaza JAX Airport
    14670 Duval Road
    Jacksonville, FL 32218
    Details to follow

    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/ <https://www.amsat.org/ambassador/>

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

    ------------------------------
    Satellite Shorts from All Over

    + AMSAT Field Day 2026 ran June 27?28 alongside the ARRL event. Ope
    rators
    enjoyed access to more than 10 transponders/repeaters. FM voice limited to
    one QSO per bird (including ISS); linear birds (AO-7, RS-44, etc.)
    supported multiple contacts. The ISS repeater was noted as one of the
    busiest ?stations? during Field Day. Many operators reporte
    d successful
    satellite QSOs. Logs due to KK5DO by July 28. See https://www.amsat.org/field-day/ for submission details (ANS thanks AMSAT
    for the information)

    + Fuji-OSCAR 29 (FO-29 / JAS-2) continues to reward operators during its extended full-sunlight season. Because the Japanese satellite's onboard batteries failed years ago, its V/U inverting linear transponder operates
    only when the solar panels are illuminated. The current full-sunlight
    period runs through mid-November 2026, during which continuous transponder operation on illuminated passes should be possible. The transponder is
    SSB/CW only (uplink 145.900?146.000 MHz LSB, downlink 435.800?
    ?435.900 MHz
    USB). Operators are reminded to keep uplink power to the minimum needed and
    to ensure the downlink signal does not exceed the CW beacon level, so the limited resource can be shared by as many stations as possible worldwide.
    (ANS thanks AMSAT and JARL for the above information)

    + PARUS-T2 and RIDU-Sat 1 launched June 23 at 2125 UTC; both appear dead or non-functional per latest reports. PARUS-T2 carried APRS on 145.825 MHz.
    Other active/testing birds include HADES-SA (SO-127) with SSDV/CODEC2/FSK, Lilium-4 (APRS + V/U repeater), and RS83S (Lobachevsky) sending images on 436.320 MHz with experimental X-band. Upcoming: UNNE-1B (HADES-E2) targeted
    for October 2026 with FM voice, FSK, APRS, and CODEC2 capabilities. (ANS
    thanks AMSAT Upcoming Satellites
    <https://www.amsat.org/upcoming-satellites/> for the information)

    + NASA astronauts Chris Williams (EV1, red stripes) and Jessica Meir (EV2) conducted a ~6.5?7 hour spacewalk on June 30 starting ~8:35 a.m. ED
    T / 1235
    UTC. They successfully replaced a malfunctioning wrist joint on the
    Canadarm2 robotic arm (the joint had shown elevated motor current on May
    27). This was Williams? second and Meir?s fifth spacewalk.
    Live coverage
    was widely available on NASA+, YouTube, and other platforms. Preview
    conference held June 25. ARISS systems were powered down around the EVA and restored July 1. (ANS thanks NASA and ARISS for the information)

    + SpaceX conducted several Falcon 9 Starlink missions in the past week, including a West Coast launch on June 24 and additional missions on/around
    June 28. More launches are scheduled for early July. These continue rapid expansion of the Starlink broadband constellation. (ANS thanks SpaceX for
    the information).

    + A June 24 report highlighted that NASA?s aging infrastructure at
    Kennedy
    Space Center and other facilities will require more than $1 billion in
    upgrades to safely support the cadence of Artemis lunar missions. The
    watchdog emphasized risks to launch schedules and safety if investments are
    not made. (ANS thanks Space.com <https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/nasas-aging-infrastructure -cant-handle-artemis-launches-without-usd1-billion-in-upgrades-watchdog-war

    for the information)

    + Astronomers released one of the largest and most detailed images of the
    Milky Way yet, containing over 60 million stars and revealing dozens of exoplanet systems. The image provides unprecedented data for studying
    galactic structure and stellar populations. (ANS thanks Space.com <https://www.space.com/astronomy/galaxies/this-is-the-largest-and-most-deta iled-image-of-our-milky-way-with-over-60-million-stars-and-50-exoplanet-sys tems>
    for the information)

    + NASA and partners updated the 2026 ISS manifest: Soyuz MS-29 launches
    July 14 carrying NASA astronaut Anil Menon and two Roscosmos cosmonauts.
    SpaceX Crew-13 moves to mid-September. CRS-35 (SpaceX) and NG CRS-25
    targeted for fall/winter with significant cargo including Roll Out Solar Arrays. (ANS thanks NASA for the information)
    ------------------------------
    Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

    In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

    - Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
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    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] amsat.org <http://amsat.org>*

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


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