Author: SM0TGU

Webmaster and member of the AMSAT-SM steering group.

Categories
Oscar-100

AMSAT-DL to Highlight QO-100 at Friedrichshafen

As part of the “HAM RADIO 2026” event at Friedrichshafen, Germany in June, AMSAT-Deutschland e. V. (AMSAT-DL) cordially invites all QO-100 users and amateur radio satellite enthusiasts to an open community workshop.

Building on the experiences with Qatar OSCAR 100 (QO-100) and current activities in the future geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) environment, the event invites amateurs to discuss together with the community what a future geostationary amateur radio payload could look like. The aim of the workshop is to gather ideas, requirements and perspectives from the user community and place them in a common context.

As a basis for the discussion, AMSAT-DL will present 2-3 concrete mission and payload concepts that reflect different development directions and are deliberately put up for open discussion:

1. “Enhanced QO 100+” (basic) An evolutionary approach that builds on the success of the QO 100: classic bent-pipe narrowband and wideband transponders, an advanced beacon architecture, multi-band downlinks and additional functions such as text and image transmission, e.g. for emergency and disaster communication, Internet of Things, etc.

2. Digital Innovation Lab (extended) A more experimentally oriented concept with extensive digital signal processing on board. The focus is on flexible, software-defined payload architectures (SDR), regenerative processing and a “digital playground” for new modulation and access methods and user experiments. But with the risk of being very software-heavy.

3. “High Frequency Pathfinder” (optional) An explorative approach with beacons and experiments in very high frequency ranges (mm Wave), supplemented by new antenna concepts, propagation and environmental measurements as well as earth and space imaging.

Open workshop

The workshop is designed to be explicitly open.

These concepts are not intended as ready-made solutions, but as a basis for discussion. The aim is to evaluate together with the participants which approaches are particularly interesting, sensible and sustainable for the amateur radio satellite community. Which aspects should be pursued further or in greater depth, but also the risks and dependencies should be addressed.

Both experienced satellite radio operators and anyone interested in the future development of amateur radio satellites, new technical concepts and possible applications are invited to attend.

Thematic focus:

  • Experiences and lessons learned from the operation of QO-100
  • User requirements and expectations for future GEO amateur radio payloads
  • Discussion of the 2-3 future GEO concepts presented
  • Possible technical development directions and areas for experimentation
  • Role of the amateur radio community in future missions

The workshop thrives on participation, discussion and the exchange of ideas – it is not a frontal lecture, but an interactive format with an open end.

Organizational data:

  • Event: futureGEO Community Workshop
  • Date: Saturday, June 27, 2026
  • Start: 16:00 hrs
  • Duration: open end
  • Venue: HAM RADIO 2026, Friedrichshafen
  • Room: (to be announced and can be found in the lecture program)

Registration is not necessary – just come along and bring your ideas, questions and experiences!

[AMSAT-SM and ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information]

Categories
Ham Satellite news

FO-29 Update May 2026

FO-29

Re-post from ANS-123:

Fuji-OSCAR 29 (FO-29 / JAS-2), the long-lived Japanese amateur radio satellite launched in 1996, continues to operate its V/U inverting analog linear transponder under the control of the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL). Because the onboard batteries have failed years ago, the satellite depends entirely on solar power and can only function when its solar panels are illuminated.

Current Status (May 2026)

FO-29 entered a full-sunlight orbit in early March 2026 and lasted approximately 40 days. This continuous operation ended around April 21, 2026, after which the satellite entered an eclipse period for about one month.

A second, longer full-sunlight period is expected from approximately May 20 to mid-November 2026, during which continuous operation should resume.

Transponder Details

Mode: V/U inverting linear transponder (SSB and CW only)
Uplink: 145.900 – 146.000 MHz (LSB)
Downlink: 435.800 – 435.900 MHz (USB)
CW Beacon: 435.795 MHz (typically 100 mW)
Digitalker: 435.910 MHz FM (rarely activated)
The digital BBS (1k2/9k6) remains non-operational.

Important Restriction:
Digital modes are generally NOT permitted on the FO-29 linear transponder due to licensing and operational constraints.

Operating Procedure

During eclipse periods (or the transition out of full sunlight), the JARL control team sends specific commands to activate the transponder at designated UTC times. If the transponder does not turn on within about 2 minutes of the command start, the team terminates the attempt.

During confirmed full-sunlight periods, no regular command schedule is needed — the transponder stays active whenever the satellite is in sunlight.

Operators should always check real-time status via AMSAT Live Satellite Status, OSCAR Status pages, or recent community reports, as voltage instability in the aging satellite can occasionally cause unexpected behavior.

The scheduled activations for the eclipse period are:

May

1st 22:56~
2nd 22:00~
3rd 22:51~
4th 21:55~
5th 22:45~
6th 21:50~
7th 22:40~
8th 21:44~
9th 22:35~
15th 22:19~
16th 23:10~

Amateurs are reminded to:

  • Use proper Doppler correction.
  • Follow linear transponder etiquette (listen before transmitting, keep signals clean).
  • Limit uplink power to avoid overloading the transponder (typically no more than a few watts with a modest antenna).

The JARL page provides the detailed historical and upcoming command schedules for eclipse periods across 2025–2026. For the absolute latest status and any updates from the Japanese control team, monitor the official JARL FO-29 page, AMSAT.org, and AMSAT bulletins.

FO-29’s continued operation nearly 30 years after launch remains a testament to robust engineering and the dedication of the JARL team.

[ANS thanks JARL for the above information.]

Categories
Ham Satellite news

FO-29 Update April 2026

FO-29

From ANS-102 and JARL: here is an update about FO-29:

Fuji-OSCAR 29 (FO-29 / JAS-2), the long-lived Japanese amateur radio satellite launched in 1996, continues to operate its V/U inverting analog linear transponder under the control of the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL). Because the onboard batteries have failed years ago, the satellite depends entirely on solar power and can only function when its solar panels are illuminated.

Current Status (April 2026)

  • FO-29 entered a full-sunlight orbit around March 9, 2026. During full-sunlight periods, the satellite experiences no or negligible eclipses, allowing the analog transponder to operate continuously on illuminated passes without scheduled command activations.
  • The first full-sunlight window began in early March 2026 and lasted approximately 40 days.
  • According to the JARL schedule, this continuous operation ends around April 21, 2026, after which the satellite will enter an eclipse period for about one month.
  • A second, longer full-sunlight period is expected from approximately May 20 to mid-November 2026, during which continuous operation should resume.

Transponder Details

  • Mode: V/U inverting linear transponder (SSB and CW only)
    • Uplink: 145.900 – 146.000 MHz (LSB)
    • Downlink: 435.800 – 435.900 MHz (USB)
  • CW Beacon: 435.795 MHz (typically 100 mW)
  • Digitalker: 435.910 MHz FM (rarely activated)
  • The digital BBS (1k2/9k6) remains non-operational.
  • Important Restriction: Digital modes are generally not permitted on the linear transponder due to licensing and operational constraints.

Operating Procedure

  • During eclipse periods (or the transition out of full sunlight), the JARL control team sends specific commands to activate the transponder at designated UTC times. If the transponder does not turn on within about 2 minutes of the command start, the team terminates the attempt.
  • During confirmed full-sunlight periods, no regular command schedule is needed — the transponder stays active whenever the satellite is in sunlight.
  • Operators should always check real-time status via AMSAT Live Satellite Status, OSCAR Status pages, or recent community reports, as voltage instability in the aging satellite can occasionally cause unexpected behavior.

April 2026 Specifics

In early-to-mid April 2026 (while still in the March full-sunlight window), expect the transponder to be available on most or all illuminated passes with no fixed on/off times. After approximately April 21, operation will shift back to scheduled command activations until the next full-sunlight season begins in late May.

The scheduled activations for the eclipse period are:

April
24th 22:22~
25th 21:27~
28th 22:11~

May 
1st 22:56~
2nd 22:00~
3rd 22:51~
4th 21:55~
5th 22:45~
6th 21:50~
7th 22:40~
8th 21:44~
9th 22:35~
15th 22:19~
16th 23:10~

Amateurs are reminded to:

  • Use proper Doppler correction.
  • Follow linear transponder etiquette (listen before transmitting, keep signals clean).
  • Limit uplink power to avoid overloading the transponder (typically no more than a few watts with a modest antenna).

The JARL page provides the detailed historical and upcoming command schedules for eclipse periods across 2025–2026. For the absolute latest status and any updates from the Japanese control team, monitor the official JARL FO-29 page, AMSAT.org, and AMSAT bulletins.

FO-29’s continued operation nearly 30 years after launch remains a testament to robust engineering and the dedication of the JARL team.

[ANS thanks JARL for the above information]

Categories
Ham Satellite news

Ten-Koh 2 Satellite Deployed

Repost: ANS-074

The 6U CubeSat Ten-Koh 2 (also written as Tenkoh-2 or てんこう２) from Japan’s Nihon University was successfully deployed into orbit on March 11, 2026, at approximately 09:34 UTC. The satellite was released from JAXA’s new HTV-X1 cargo spacecraft using the HTV-X Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (H-SSOD) after the vehicle departed the International Space Station (ISS) on March 6 and raised its altitude to around 500 km. This marks the first use of the H-SSOD mechanism for satellite deployment from HTV-X.

Developed by the Okuyama Laboratory in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Nihon University’s College of Science and Technology, Ten-Koh 2 builds on the legacy of its predecessor, Ten-Koh (launched in 2018). The mission focuses on low-Earth orbit environmental observations to gather data for future space development, alongside in-orbit demonstrations of next-generation communication technologies. Key goals include evaluating high-speed data transmission and enabling global access for amateur radio operators to collect telemetry and experiment with the payloads.

The satellite carries an amateur radio payload coordinated by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and supported by JAMSAT (Japan Amateur Satellite Association):

  • V/U Linear Transponder (inverting, 40 kHz bandwidth):
    • Uplink (LSB): 145.895–145.935 MHz
    • Downlink (USB): 435.875–435.915 MHz
  • Additional Downlinks/Experiments:
    • CW beacon, Digitalker, AFSK 1.2 kbps, GMSK up to 19.2 kbps on 435.860 MHz
    • High-speed experiments (GMSK 4.8–19.2 kbps, 4FSK 38.4 kbps) and photo/picture downlinks on 435.895 MHz
    • 5.839 GHz CW beacon for microwave-band communication demos (SHF experimenters take note—this provides a great target for testing dishes, feeds, and LNAs)

The transponder is expected to operate on a scheduled basis (initially two days per week, with details forthcoming from the team). Operations began shortly after deployment, with the university’s ground station confirming reception of the CW beacon for basic telemetry (voltage, temperature, etc.).

Post-deployment updates from the Okuyama Lab indicate the signal level is currently weaker than anticipated, prompting ongoing monitoring and appeals for reception reports via networks like SatNOGS to aid diagnostics and performance assessment. Early passes over Japan and other regions have yielded mixed results, with some operators reporting no signals yet, while preliminary TLEs (e.g., temporary NORAD 98542) are circulating for tracking.

[ANS thanks the Okuyama Laboratory at Nihon University for the above information]

Categories
Changes on amsat.se

New Satellite Status page with integrated tracking

AMSAT-SM has developed a new Satellite Status page with integrated satellite tracking.

Here’s the full updated feature list for the satellite status list:

✅ Data fetched from the community driven SatNOGS database, all corrections of satellite data should be edited at SatNOGS.
✅ Most reported satellites from https://www.amsat.org/status/ is shown
✅ Fixed columns in custom order
✅ Active status shown by default
✅ Status dropdown filter
✅ Live search across all columns
✅ Pinned satellites at top by name
✅ Blacklist by satellite name
✅ Alphabetical sorting for unpinned satellites
✅ Track button opens live satellite tracker in modal
✅ Modal closes with X button or clicking outside
✅ Track link with icon to N2YO
✅ Name links to SatNOGS database
✅ Comments column with notes added by AMSAT-SM
✅ Show more / show all with row count
✅ Column width control
✅ Text wrapping
✅ Tooltip hover text on column headers
✅ Local DB override for status, comments and name link
✅ Checkbox to remove non-amateur downlink satellites, checked by default
✅ Single-column responsive mode for mobile phones

And to make it simple for beginners to track satellites it is possible just to click “Track”. Note! This is no full featured tracking software, just a simple way to see the satellite and get the next pass.

Here’s the full updated feature list for the tracker:

Data & Tracking

  • Fetches live TLE/Kepler orbital elements from CelesTrak (NORAD catalog)
  • SGP4/SDP4 orbital propagation via satellite.js (~60fps update rate)
  • TLE data cached server-side for 1 hour to avoid API hammering
  • Auto-refreshes TLE every hour (if tracker is open)

Map

  • OpenStreetMap via Leaflet
  • Animated satellite icon with solar panels
  • Icon colour changes by altitude (LEO orange → MEO blue → HEO purple)
  • Ground track: dashed past track + dotted future track (±90 min, configurable)
  • Ground track splits correctly at the anti-meridian
  • Footprint circle showing satellite visibility area, scales with altitude
  • Click satellite icon to toggle footprint on/off
  • Hover over satellite icon shows satellite name as tooltip

Live Telemetry Panel

  • Real-time Latitude, Longitude, Altitude
  • Real-time Azimuth from observer location (degrees + compass direction)
  • Real-time Elevation from observer (green = above horizon, red = below)
  • Live “Updated” timestamp

Next Pass Prediction

  • Auto-detects observer location via IP geolocation (ipapi.co with ip-api.com fallback)
  • Shows AOS time and azimuth
  • Shows LOS time and azimuth
  • Shows maximum elevation and time of max elevation
  • Shows pass duration
  • Live countdown to next pass (“Starts In”), turns bold green “Visible” during a pass
  • Searches up to 7 days ahead, recalculates every 5 minutes
  • Shows observer city/country above the pass panel

UI & Display

  • Dark space-themed UI with monospace fonts
  • UTC / Local time toggle next to “Next Pass” title, affecting all timestamps
  • Link to N2YO Online Tracker opening in new tab, labelled with the satellite name
  • Responsive layout — collapses gracefully on narrow screens

Go to the new Satellite Status page!

Categories
Hamradio from ISS

ISS Amateur Radio Packet System Activated for Temporary APRS Testing

Re-post from ANS-060:

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) reports that the packet radio in the Zvezda Service Module has been configured for temporary APRS operation on 437.825 MHz. The system is expected to remain active for testing through March 2, 2026, giving stations worldwide an opportunity to receive packet transmissions and attempt limited digipeating through the orbiting station.

Operators wishing to access the ISS digipeater are advised to include ARISS or APRSAT in the PATH field of their transmissions. The Service Module station is operating under the call sign RSØISS using FM packet at 1200 bps. ARISS recommends transmit power of 5 watts or less, preferably with a directional antenna, to improve uplink reliability and help minimize interference.

The current activation follows a prolonged outage of the Service Module amateur radio system that began during ARISS SSTV Series 30 in November 2025. Images were received early in the event, but subsequent passes produced no SSTV transmissions, and the event was ultimately scrubbed. The Service Module radio used for APRS and SSTV was then taken out of service while teams investigated the problem.

Subsequent ARISS updates reported that the primary Kenwood D710GA radio was replaced with an onboard spare D710E while teams continued troubleshooting and preparing reset procedures. Status reports in the following months continued to show the Service Module radio offline while restoration efforts were planned and carried out.

The newly announced APRS configuration suggests the system is now being evaluated through on-orbit testing following these repair activities. Temporary activations such as this allow radio amateurs worldwide to help confirm reception, observe system behavior, and provide useful reports while the station’s amateur radio capability is assessed.

ARISS encourages operators to monitor official status channels for schedule updates and to share reception reports as testing continues. Additional information on ISS amateur radio operations and current station status is available at https://www.ariss.org.

[ANS thanks Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) for the above information]