January 25, 2026 by Frank Karnauskas

 

In this edition:

 

The AMSAT(R) 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.

T

he news feed on http://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 .

 

Sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List. Join this list at: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

 

FO-29 Operating Schedule for February 2026

The FO-29 Control team sometimes receives requests regarding the operation of Fuji No.3, but as they have already reported, more than a quarter of a century after its launch, the situation remains unstable. They regret that they are unable to operate Fuji No.3 in accordance with your wishes under these circumstances, and they ask for your understanding and continued use of her.

 

During February, the control team plans to send a command to turn on the transponder at the following times, but please be advised that if it is not turned on for more than 2 minutes after they start sending the command, they will terminate the command work.

 

February
6th 23:14-
7th 22:19-
13th 22:03-
14th 22:53-
20th 22:36-
21st 23:27-
27th 23:10-
28th 22:12-

 

Note: FO-29 will enter full sunlight around March 9.

 

Editor’s note: Full sunlight will hopefully allow continuous operation of FO-29’s linear transponder.

Sources (Japanese only):
https://www.jarl.org/Japanese/3_Fuji/fuji3-202210.htm

 

[ANS thanks JARL for the above information.]

 

 

Join AMSAT & Download a Free Copy
“Getting Started with Amateur Satellites”

 

 

Membership Renewals Also Qualify.(Renew at any time.)
Limited Time Offer!
https://launch.amsat.org/Membership

 

 

ESA-Led CCSDS Competition Registration Now Open

David Johnson, G4DPZ, AMSAT-UK Honorable Secretary reminds everyone that the ESA-led Competition, in collaboration with AMSAT-UK, AMSAT-DL, CCSDS, and Goonhilly Earth Station, is now open to European and Canadian teams and individual participants.

 

Entrants will work on real space communication standards, including CCSDS and LunaNet protocols. The European Space Agency (ESA) is launching a pilot program on behalf of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS). This outreach initiative aims to strengthen engagement with the European amateur satellite and academic communities.

Participants may choose to develop implementations for either of these CCSDS protocols:

 

LunaNet Signal-In-Space (LSIS-AFS)
Defines how lunar orbiters or surface systems broadcast a unified navigation and timing signal to support future missions on and around the Moon. Develop a functional concept or prototype demonstrating signal design, transmission, interpretation, or application for lunar missions.

 

Space Communications Session Control (CCSDS 235.1)
Defines how space missions establish, manage, and conclude communication sessions between spacecraft and ground systems. Create a practical, interoperable reference implementation aligned with the CCSDS 235.1 standard.

 

Winners will receive an invitation to attend a CCSDS conference, where they will present their results to the international CCSDS community.

 

An in-person workshop at Goonhilly Earth Station will be available to interested participants, providing a unique environment for collaboration, expert guidance, and accelerated development.

 

Register and learn more: https://esa-competition.amsat-uk.org/about

 

[ANS thanks David Johnson, G4DPZ, AMSAT-UK Honorable Secretary for the above information.]

 

 

The 2026 Coins Are Here!
Help Support GOLF-TEE and FoxPlus!

Presidents' Club 2026 Coin


Annual memberships start at only $120
Join the AMSAT President’s Club today and help
Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/

 

 

Help Wanted: Feature Story Editors & Video Editor

Sharing news of AMSAT activities, especially the work of the AMSAT Engineering Department, is an important function that supports AMSAT’s information and education mission. It is also an important tool for retaining current members, recruiting new members and for fund raising.

 

Frank Karnauskas, N1UW, AMSAT VP-Development is asking, “Do we have two volunteers who can step up and spend just a few hours a week to help keep our information channel flowing?

 

“For the Feature Story Editors, we have a pool of information that we’ve collected from Hamvention and Symposium presentations that can be quickly converted into short stories for publication in the ANS Weekly Bulletins and into feature stories for The AMSAT Journal. We typically start with a video or at least an audio recording of the presentation which you would convert into a written transcript using an application that we provide. The editor then uses the transcript and the author’s original PowerPoint slides to create the final articles.

 

“We also have the need for someone to write press releases for other AMSAT activities such as Educational Resources, the Youth Initiative, annual reports and so on.

 

“For the Video Editor, again we have a collection of videos from presentations that simply need opening titles to be added and a bit of “tuning up” inside the presentations themselves. There is no need for expensive software or especially super high power computers. Free software that is remarkably powerful but easy-to-learn is available. If a person is interested we would also welcome someone to create promotional video shorts or other programs they are willing to create.

 

“We’re not asking anyone for a life-long commitment to these positions. Anyone who is willing to say, ‘Hey, I can do five or ten stories’ would be a hero in my book.”

 

Persons interested in learning more about how they can make an important contribution can contact Frank at volunteer [at] amsat [dot] org.

 

[ANS thanks Frank Karnauskas, N1UW, AMSAT VP-Development for the above information.]

 

 

Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store.

 

M2 LEO-Pack Antenna

When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/

 

 

Using Neural Networks to Recover Satellite Signals

Edwin Temporal has shown how his proprietary neuromorphic engine, GhostHunter (Anti-LIF), is being used to recover satellite data buried in the noise floor, which typical DSP methods would fail to do.

 

To recover the signals, Edwin uses trained Spiking Neural Networks (SNN). SNNs are artificial neural networks that draw further inspiration from nature by incorporating the ‘spiking’ on/off behavior of real neurons. Edwin writes:

 

“My engine has successfully extracted and decoded structured data from high-complexity targets by mimicking biological signal processing:

In the database, Edwin shows how his Anti-LIF system has recovered CW Morse code telemetry and QPSK data from noisy satellite signals.

 

While Edwin’s Anti-LIF is proprietary, he is offering proof of concept decoding. If someone has a 250MB or less IQ/SigMF/Wav recording of a signal that is buried in the noise floor, they can submit it to him via his website, and he will run Anti-LIF on it for analysis.

 

Advanced readers interested in AI/neural network techniques for signal recovery can also check out his white paper on TechRxiv, https://tinyurl.com/ANS-025-Neural-Networks where he shows signal recovery from signals buried in WiFi noise, as well as results from use in ECG and Healthcare applications.

 

[ANS thanks RTL-SDR.com for the above information.]

 

 

2025 President’s Club Members Contribute $90,379

AMSAT President, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA thanks 2025 President’s Club members who, together have donated an amazing $90,379. It is because of these especially generous donors that AMSAT has the resources to Help Keep Amateur Radio in Space. With the FoxPlus and GOLF-TEE satellites nearing flight readiness, AMSAT especially appreciates these contributions to help purchase flight-proven parts, specialized software licenses, test fees, shipping and travel costs. It just couldn’t be done without their support.

 

Contributors include:

 

Diamond ($10,000+)
Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Bill Byrom, N5BB
Walter Wittenberg, K0CEH

 

Titanium ($4,800+)
Alan Biddle, WA4SCA
William Brown, K9LF
Bruce Paige, KK5DO

 

Platinum ($2,400+)
Steve Belter, N9IP
Ray Crafton, KN2K
Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
Douglas Tabor, N6UA
James Tittsler, 7J1AJH

 

Gold ($1,200+)
Dwight Ausssieker, K9QJ
Burns Fisher, WB1FJ
Mark Hammond, N8MH
Kenneth Hensey, WA9ARE
John Kludt, K7SYS
Glenn Miller, AA5PK
Mary Lou Monteiro

 

Silver ($600+)
Warren Fugate, W3WE
Mark Johns, K0JM
Joseph, Lynch,N6CL
Jason Schwarz, N4JJS
Scott Shaheen, WB8OOJ

 

Bronze ($300+)
Keith Baker, KB1SF
Cox Science Center & Aquarium
Edward Krome, K9EK
Donald Pettigrew, K9ECT
Bruce Semple, WA3SWJ
Barbara Simpson, KA5CFB
Thomas Talley, K0CFI
Dave Taylor, W8AAS
Chris Trainor, N1KET

 

Core ($120+)
Mitch Ahrenstorff, AD0HJ
Alan Boggs, K7IIV
Richard Dittmer, KB7SAT
Ronald Gilbert, N0XRG
David Hartrum, WA3YDZ
Oimo Kako
John Larrick, N3FL
Brian Lopeman, KI7WXP
Doug Papay, K8DP
Carlos Picoto, AD7NP & Maria Picoto, KJ7TIM
William Pesci, N4WLP
Tim Pierce, N9PN
Larry Schroeder, KD4HSL
Martin Shinko, KB3AEV
Philmore Smith, W1EME
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
David Vine, WA1EAW
Wayne Wagner, AG1A
Jim Wilmerding, W2NNU

 

[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information.]

 

 

Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!

 

Zazzle Flag

25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear

 

 

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 26, 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/.

 

The following satellite has been removed from this week’s AMSAT TLE distribution:

 

ZIMSAT 2 NORAD Cat ID 61783 Decayed from orbit on or about 19 Jan 2025.

 

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

 

 

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.

 

 

Upcoming Contacts


+ Conn Magnet Elementary School, Raleigh, NC., direct via K4EB.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The scheduled crewmember is Chris Williams, KJ5GEW.
The ARISS mentor is Robert Koepke,AA6TB .
Contact is go for Friday, January 30, 2026 at 15:21:05 UTC
Watch for Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/@connmagnetes.

 

+ Lyceum No. 23, Kaliningrad, Russia, direct via TBD.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS.
The scheduled crewmember is Sergey Mikaev.
The ARISS mentor is A.R.C. Energia, RV3DR.
Contact is go for Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 10:45 UTC.

 

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.

 

The packet system is also active (145.825 MHz up & down).

 

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

 

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.]

 

 

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 News Logo

+ February 13-15, 2026
Hamcation 2026
Central Florida Fairgrounds and Expo Park
Colonial Drive
Orlando, Florida
AMSAT will have a table and many items available for purchase
Contact Dave Jordan, AA4KN to volunteer n4csitwo@bellsouth.net

 

+ March 21, 2026
Midwinter Madness Hamfest 2026
Maple Grove Radio Club
Buffalo Civic Center
1306 County Rd 134
Buffalo, Minnesota 55313
https://k0ltc.org/midwinter-madness/
K0JM, AD0HJ, KE0PBR

 

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

 

 

Satellite Shorts From All Over

 

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

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

 

 

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

 

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

 

This week’s ANS Editor, Frank Karnauskas, N1UW.
f.karnauskas [at] amsat [dot] 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.