Via AMSAT: ANS-095 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

April 5, 2026

In this edition:

• 44th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Membership Meeting Announced
• ARISS Solicits School Contacts for 2007
• VUCC & DXCC Standings April 2026
• ​ARISS and AMSAT: On Track to Track Artemis 2
• GridMasterMap Satellite Top 100 Rovers April 2026 Rankings
• Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for April 3, 2026
• ARISS Plans SSTV Event for April
• Ambassador Events
• ARISS News
• Satellite Shorts from All Over

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.

The 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/

44th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting Announced

Save the dates October 8-11, 2026 for the 44th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Membership Meeting. The site of the meeting will be in Jacksonville, Florida at the Crowne Plaza JAX Airport.

While an exact schedule will be available in the weeks ahead, you can tentatively plan on this Symposium and Annual Membership meeting per the customary format:

Thursday, October 8, 0800-1700: Board of Directors Meeting
Friday, October 9, 0800-1100: Board of Directors Feeing
Friday, October 9, 1300-1700: Symposium Presentations
Saturday, October 10, 0800-1500: Symposium Presentations
Saturday, October 10, 1500-1700: Annual Membership Meeting
Sunday, October, 11, 0700-1900: Membership Breakfast

Rooms will be available at a very affordable $109 per night! A link for room reservations will be available shortly. But, no need to wait! Mark your calendar now for the highlight of the AMSAT year with an opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones, too. Follow AMSAT News Service for updates as they happen!

[ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT President, for the above information.]

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Help Support GOLF and FoxPlus.

Annual memberships start at only $120
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ARISS Solicits School Contacts for 2007

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between January 1, 2027 – June 30, 2027. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan.

This proposal is due to ARISS by May 22, 2026 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. Proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and the proposal form can be found at https://www.ariss.org. An informational webinar will be held at 8 PM ET on April 30. The zoom link for that webinar is https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/3yid9dxzRkmYfVroIP0nWA .

Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session.

An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in dates and times of the radio contact.

Please direct any questions to education@ariss-usa.org .

[ANS thanks the ARISS-USA for the above information.]

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VUCC & DXCC Standings April 2026

This is the VUCC Satellite Award/Endorsement Change Summary for March 01, 2026 to April 01, 2026.

EA2AA	1170	1206
JH8FIH	505	869
JN1BPM	630	804
JI5USJ	450	505
OH3DP	401	451
JI5RPT/1	200	300
IK0WRB	213	242
W0PR	224	230
WD9EWK (DM22)	200	204
PY3YO	100	160
PP5BY	New	100

Congratulations to new VUCC Satellite holder PP5BY. PP5BY is first VUCC Satellite holder from GG53

No DXCC standings, DXCC-SAT nor any of the other DXCC awards have been updated since Feb 5, 2026

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

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Join AMSAT or Renew Now. . .
Download a Free ‘Getting Started with Amateur Satellites’ Book!

Get the latest edition just for doing the right thing!
Visit https://www.amsat.org/membership-specials/ for more details.

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​ARISS and AMSAT: On Track to Track Artemis 2

When the Artemis 2 mission with four astronauts departs for deep space sometime in April, a team of ARISS and AMSAT volunteers will be “watching” from afar. Specifically, our experts will use a multinational network of ground station receivers to capture the Orion capsule’s one-way S-band communications with mission control as a secondary means of tracking the spacecraft.

While NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program will depend on the Near Space and Deep Space Network for primary tracking of the Orion during its 10-day mission around the moon and back, it has also selected 34 individuals and groups (including an ARISS and AMSAT consortium) across 14 countries to provide an independent source of tracking data using the radio waves generated by normal communications.

The concept works. For Artemis 1, an uncrewed launch into low-Earth orbit in 2022, 10 individuals successfully tracked Orion throughout its mission. Based on lessons learned from that experience, SCaN now has data standards that Artemis 2 passive trackers will use when sending the data to NASA.

Another lesson SCaN learned from Artemis 1 was that there is a lot of interest in passive tracking. SCaN in August 2025 issued an official request for information (RFI) to government agencies, companies, amateur radio organizations and enthusiasts to participate in Artemis 2 tracking. According to NASA, those chosen through the RFI will use 47 ground assets in 14 countries to help the agency “better assess the broader aerospace community’s tracking capabilities and identify ways to augment future Moon and Mars mission support.”

ARISS and AMSAT are teamed up under the auspices of the AREx (Amateur Radio Exploration) Ground Station Consortium. AREx is a joint ARISS and AMSAT international effort to develop and operate amateur radio systems for deep space, starting at the moon and later to Mars. The team will provide one-way doppler tracking of the S-band signals from space, recording the data and delivering it to SCaN in the proper format.

The AREx worldwide consortium includes teams in the United States (University of Southern California, and Dayton, Ohio); the UK (Goonhilly); Germany, and Poland. Other AREx team members who supported the Artemis I initiative are also participating separately. ARISS operations team member Daryl Young is serving as the Project Manager for the Artemis 2 tracking project.

​For the latest updates on Artemis 2 and other exciting ARISS news, please follow our Facebook, X, Instagram, BlueSky, Mastodon, LinkedIn, YouTube and Discord social media channels.

[ANS thanks ARISS-USA for the above information.]

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GridMasterMap Satellite Top 100 Rovers April 2026 Rankings

The April 2026 rankings for the Top 100 Rovers (Mixed LEO/MEO/GEO) in satellite operations, as determined by @GridMasterMap on Twitter, has been released as of April 3, 2026.

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.

1	ND9M	26	BA1PK	51	K7TAB	76	M1DDD
2	NJ7H	27	KG5CCI	52	KE0WPA	77	N8RO
3	UT1FG	28	KX9X	53	KE0PBR	78	VA7LM
4	JA9KRO	29	DJ8MS	54	XE3DX	79	DL4EA
5	N5UC	30	N5BO	55	WD5GRW	80	SP5XSD
6	F5VMJ	31	K8BL	56	LU4JVE	81	N6UTC
7	DL6AP	32	ON4AUC	57	W7WGC	82	N4UFO
8	DP0POL	33	KE4AL	58	PR8KW	83	VE7PTN
9	WI7P	34	AC0RA	59	JK2XXK	84	PT2AP
10	K5ZM	35	KB5FHK	60	EA4NF	85	VE1VOX
11	OE3SEU	36	PA3GAN	61	EB1AO	86	AA8CH
12	WY7AA	37	JO2ASQ	62	XE1ET	87	KB2YSI
13	LU5ILA	38	F4BKV	63	N6DNM	88	KI7UXT
14	N6UA	39	KI0KB	64	W8LR	89	AF5CC
15	HA3FOK	40	KI7UNJ	65	W1AW	90	KJ7NDY
16	W5PFG	41	VA3VGR	66	SM3NRY	91	BI1MHK
17	OH2UDS	42	VE3HLS	67	KI7QEK	92	PT9BM
18	N9IP	43	BG7QIW	68	KE9AJ	93	FG8OJ
19	AK8CW	44	LA9XGA	69	F4DXV	94	BG5CZD
20	AD0DX	45	HJ5LVR	70	VE1CWJ	95	YU0W
21	AD0HJ	46	VK5DG	71	HB9GWJ	96	PU4CEB
22	DL2GRC	47	BA8AFK	72	AA5PK	97	W8MTB
23	N4AKV	48	N7AGF	73	PU6JBN	98	N4DCW
24	WD9EWK	49	DF2ET	74	AD7DB	99	PS8BR
25	ND0C	50	JL3RNZ	75	KM4LAO	100	WA9JBQ

[ANS thanks @GridMasterMap and Mitch Ahrenstorff, AD0HJ, for the above information.]

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Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for April 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/.

The following satellites have been added to this week’s AMSAT TLE distribution. They have provisional object numbers that will change once official USSF/NORAD numbers are assigned

HADES-SA/SpinnyONE Provisional ID 71958
LILIUM-4 Provisional ID 71922
PARUS-6U1 Provisional ID 71919
JACK-002 Provisional ID 71927
SAL-E Provisional ID 71904
DISCO-2 Provisional ID 71908

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

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ARISS Plans SSTV Event for April

ARISS is planning for a 70cm (437 MHz) event for the week of April 12, 2026.

The ARISS teams are preparing a new series of SSTV transmissions for the event. The SSTV Series 31 images will pay tribute to Cosmonautics Day, the 100th anniversary of liquid-fueled rockets, the inaugural Space Shuttle launch and SuitSat.

Exact times, frequencies and modes will be announced closer to the event. Follow ARISS social media for updates.

[ANS thanks the ARISS-USA 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.

+ Completed Contacts
Aznakaevsky District, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, direct via RC4P.
The ISS callsign was RSØISS.
The crewmember was Andrey Fedyaev.
The ARISS mentor was A.R.C. ENERGIA, RV3DR.
Contact was successful on Monday, March 30, 2026 at 11:55 UTC.

Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys The Langton, Canterbury, United Kingdom, direct via GB4SLS.
The ISS callsign was NA1SS.
The crewmember was Jack Hathaway, KJ5NIV.
The ARISS mentor was Ciaran Morgan, MØXTD .
Contact was successful on Monday, March 30, 2026 at 13:28 UTC.

Istituto Comprensivo “Gabriele D’Annunzio” Lanciano, Chieti, Italy, direct via IQ6LN.
AND
Istituto Comprensivo “Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi”, Pontedera, Italy, telebridge via IQ6LN.
The ISS callsign was OR4ISS.
The crewmember was Sophie Adenot KJ5LTN
The ARISS mentorwas Francesco De Paolis, IKØWGF
Contact was successful on Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 11:56:09 UTC.

Walnut Grove Elementary School, Suwanee, GA, direct via KR4HPC.
The ISS callsign was NA1SS.
The crewmember was Chris Williams, KJ5GEW.
The ARISS mentor was, Daryl Young, K4RGK.
Contact was successful on Thursday, April 2, 2026 at 15:41:23 UTC.

+ Upcoming Contacts
Emporia State University, School of Science & Mathematics, Emporia, KS, direct via KØESU.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The scheduled crewmember is Sophie Adenot, KJ5LTN.
The ARISS mentor is Ryan Krenzischek, W4NTR.
Contact is go for Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 14:10:31 UTC.

Lycée du Vimeu, Friville-Escarbotin, France, direct via F6KVJ.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS.
The scheduled crewmember is Sophie Adenot, KJ5LTN.
The ARISS mentor is Joseph Le Moine, F6ICS.
Contact is go for Thursday, April 9, 2026 at 10:27:02 UTC.

Albert Camus Middle School, La Norville, France, telebridge via ON4ISS.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS.
The scheduled crewmember is Jack Hathaway, KJ5NIV.
The ARISS mentor is Joseph Le Moine, F6ICS.
Contact is go for Thursday, April 9, 2026 at 12:04:25 UTC.

Memorial Complex of Soviet Pilot-Cosmonaut A.G. Nikolaev, Chuvashia, Russia.
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 Friday, April 10, 2026 at 10 08:10 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.

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.]

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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.

April 17-19, 2026
Southeastern VHF Society Conference
Holiday Inn Macon North
3953 River Place Dr
Macon, Georgia 31201
https://svhfs.org/wp/2026-2/
W4FCL

April 11, 2026
Tucson Area Spring Hamfest
Radio Society of Tucson
Calvary Tucson Church
8711 East Speedway
Tucson, AZ 85710
https://k7rst.club/
N1UW

May 15-17, 2026
Dayton Hamvention
Greene County Fair and Expo Center
210 Fairground Road
Xenia 45385
https://hamvention.org/

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

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

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Satellite Shorts From All Over

The two-hour launch window of the Artemis II mission provided a practical example of the effects of space debris and satellite crowding. During the launch window, NASA was required to respect approximately 156 “cuts.” A cut is a period when the rocket could not be launched due to the risk of collision with a satellite or trackable debris in low-earth orbit. Each cut can last from one to twenty-three seconds. The NASA-TV commentator noted that it wasn’t many years earlier when the number of cuts for this type of mission was only in the forties. [ANS thanks NASA-TV for the above information.]

A new version of the Andy UZ7HO SoundModem program for HADES-SA SpinnyONE is now available, fixing several detected bugs.
You can download it at: https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/14224014/UZ7HO_Soundmodem_for_HADES_SA_SpinnyONE.zip.
Additionally, tools for decoding SSDV images and CODEC2 (Windows versions) are available at:
https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/14224021/AMSAT-EA_HADES-SA_SpinnyONE_SSDV_utilities.zip
https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/14224194/AMSAT-EA_HADES-SA_SpinnyONE_CODEC2_utilities.zip.
[ANS thanks Félix EA4GQS for the above information.]

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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).
Students are eligible for FREE membership up to age 25.
Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.

Contact info [at] amsat [dot] 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.

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