September 07, 2025
In this edition:
* AMSAT Ambassadors Show at HamXposition Convention
* AMSAT Announces Two New GridMaster Award Recipients
* Register Now – AMSAT Symposium Prices Increase September 16th
* AMSAT Board of Directors Election Ends September 15, 2025
* GridMasterMap Satellite Top 100 Rovers – September 2025 Rankings
* VUCC Satellite Standing September 2025
* DXCC Satellite Standing for September 2025
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for September, 5, 2025
* ARISS News
* AMSAT Ambassador Activities
* 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 [dot] org .
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 Ambassadors Show at HamXposition Convention
AMSAT was well represented at the 2025 HamXposition held in Marlborough, MA. The event was also the ARRL New England Convention.
AMSAT Senior Software Engineer Burns Fisher, WB1FJ; AMSAT Hamvention Chair Phil Smith, W1EME; and AMSAT Board of Director Barry Baines, WD4ASW staffed the booth during the weekend of August 21-24.
AMSAT booth staffers Barry Baines, WD4ASW, Phil Smith, W1EME, and Fisher, WB1FJ. (Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF photo)
The booth was appropriately decked out with the AMSAT Ambassador flag as well as other signage from previous events. An Arrow antenna was displayed on a Portable Rotation System plus a 3D printed model of the 3U GOLF-TEE satellite with deployable solar panels. An AMSAT CubeSat Simulator was operating during the event and sold on Sunday.
AMSAT provided a door prize, a copy of SatPC 32 software that was won by Roger Pushor, NK1I.
On Saturday afternoon, Burns Fisher presented “AMSAT Golf-TEE Software-How Does it Work” during the forum. His talk was about the flight software on Golf-TEE including how multiple processors are coordinated.
A second presentation, titled “SDR Transponder/Transceiver,” was delivered by Ray Roberge, WA1CYB. Ray is a member of the AMSAT Engineering Team.
[ANS thanks Barry Baines, WD4ASW, for the above information.]
Your 2025 AMSAT President’s Club Coin Is Waiting!
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight
Help Support GOLF and Fox-Plus.
Join the AMSAT President’s Club today and help
Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
AMSAT Announces Two New GridMaster Award Recipients
It is with great pleasure that AMSAT announces two new recipients of the GridMaster Awards in the past week.
Bruce Robertson, VE7PTN, has achieved the AMSAT GridMaster Award #74 by confirming all 488 maidenhead grid squares in the continental United States. In his announcement Bruce thanked “everyone for the QSOs, and especially the rovers—thanks for roving.” His recognition of the portable operators who make rare grids possible underscores the community spirit at the heart of this award.
Grace Papay, K8LG, has also earned the AMSAT GridMaster Award, becoming recipient #73. Like all GridMasters, this reflects years of dedication in working and confirming all 488 CONUS grids. Her achievement places her in the very small circle of operators who have reached this milestone.
[ANS thanks Mitch Ahrenstorff, AD0HJ, for the above information.]
Register Now – AMSAT Symposium Prices Increase September 16th
Discounted registration for the 2025 AMSAT Symposium, to be held October 17-19, 2025 in Phoenix, AZ will be available through September 15th. Prices increase on September 16th.
For details, visit https://www.amsat.org/43rd-amsat-space-symposium-and-annual-general-meeting/ .
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 f.karnauskas [at] amsat [dot] org .
[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]
AMSAT Board of Directors Election Ends September 15, 2025
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 and the candidate receiving the next largest number of votes shall be declared the First Alternate. Members’ opportunity to vote ends on Monday September 15, 2025. Results will be announced no later that September 30, 2025.
The following candidates who have been duly nominated are as follows:
- Barry Baines, WD4ASW
- Jerry Buxton, NØJY
- Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA
- Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
- Douglas Tabor, N6UA
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]
Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store.
When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/
GridMasterMap Satellite Top 100 Rovers – September 2025 Rankings
The September 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: 2025-09-04
| 1 | ND9M | 26 | KX9X | 51 | KE0WPA | 76 | M1DDD |
| 2 | NJ7H | 27 | DJ8MS | 52 | KE0PBR | 77 | KM4LAO |
| 3 | UT1FG | 28 | KG5CCI | 53 | JK2XXK | 78 | VE7PTN |
| 4 | JA9KRO | 29 | ON4AUC | 54 | EA4NF | 79 | N4UFO |
| 5 | N5UC | 30 | N5BO | 55 | PR8KW | 80 | N6UTC |
| 6 | F5VMJ | 31 | K8BL | 56 | XE1ET | 81 | PT2AP |
| 7 | DL6AP | 32 | KE4AL | 57 | EB1AO | 82 | AA8CH |
| 8 | DP0POL | 33 | PA3GAN | 58 | W7WGC | 83 | VE1VOX |
| 9 | OE3SEU | 34 | KB5FHK | 59 | LU4JVE | 84 | FG8OJ |
| 10 | WI7P | 35 | AC0RA | 60 | N6DNM | 85 | PT9BM |
| 11 | K5ZM | 36 | JO2ASQ | 61 | SM3NRY | 86 | YU0W |
| 12 | WY7AA | 37 | F4BKV | 62 | F4DXV | 87 | KI7UXT |
| 13 | LU5ILA | 38 | HJ5LVR | 63 | W8LR | 88 | KJ7NDY |
| 14 | N6UA | 39 | KI0KB | 64 | KI7QEK | 89 | AF5CC |
| 15 | W5PFG | 40 | VA3VGR | 65 | W1AW | 90 | K0FFY |
| 16 | N9IP | 41 | VE3HLS | 66 | AA5PK | 91 | JM1CAX |
| 17 | HA3FOK | 42 | KI7UNJ | 67 | WD5GRW | 92 | VE3GOP |
| 18 | DL2GRC | 43 | LA9XGA | 68 | VE1CWJ | 93 | PS8BR |
| 19 | AK8CW | 44 | BG7QIW | 69 | KE9AJ | 94 | W8MTB |
| 20 | N4AKV | 45 | DF2ET | 70 | AD7DB | 95 | KB2YSI |
| 21 | AD0DX | 46 | N7AGF | 71 | HB9GWJ | 96 | DK9JC |
| 22 | AD0HJ | 47 | VK5DG | 72 | SP5XSD | 97 | N4DCW |
| 23 | ND0C | 48 | K7TAB | 73 | DL4EA | 98 | KG4AKV |
| 24 | BA1PK | 49 | JL3RNZ | 74 | N8RO | 99 | WA9JBQ |
| 25 | WD9EWK | 50 | XE3DX | 75 | VA7LM | 100 | N0TEL |
[ANS thanks Mitch Ahrenstorff, AD0HJ, and @GridMasterMap for the above information.]
VUCC Satellite Standing September 2025
Here are the VUCC Satellite Award/Endorsement Change Summary for August 01, 2025 to September 01, 2025.
| Call | August | September |
| W5CBF | 1554 | 1788 |
| EA2AA | 1100 | 1125 |
| K8LG | 1030 | 1106 |
| JA1QJI | 600 | 1006 |
| W8LR | 911 | 916 |
| E70A | 796 | 840 |
| KC4CJ | 751 | 776 |
| KP3V | 526 | 600 |
| K5ND | 530 | 531 |
| HP2VX | 516 | 527 |
| JO4JKL | 401 | 511 |
| DJ7NT | 432 | 510 |
| K3HPA | 375 | 400 |
| WA3YDZ | 271 | 353 |
| WD5GRW (EM13QC) | 213 | 313 |
| WD5GRW | 213 | 312 |
| OH3DP | 226 | 256 |
| PU5DDC | 213 | 241 |
| NK0S | 171 | 175 |
| W4BB | 100 | 159 |
| WB5TX | 128 | 135 |
[ANS thanks Jon Goering, N7AZ for the above information.]
DXCC Satellite Standing for September 2025
DXCC Satellite Award/Endorsement Change Summary for August 01, 2025 to September 1, 2025.
| Call | August | September |
|---|---|---|
| DK9JC | 152 | 180 |
| I3BUI | 172 | 180 |
| G4GIR | 172 | 176 |
| ZS1LS | 168 | 175 |
| SV8CS | 165 | 167 |
| YO2KHK | 158 | 165 |
| EA2AA | 162 | 164 |
| PS7JN | 126 | 150 |
| E70A | 125 | 135 |
| IK8YSS | 111 | 133 |
| TF1A | 113 | 116 |
| W8LR | 114 | 115 |
| TA4SO | New | 101 |
| DF5SF | New | 100 |
| EI6KC | New | 100 |
Congratulations to the new DXCC Satellite holders.
TA4SO is first DXCC Satellite holder from Turkey and KM47
EI6KC is first DXCC Satellite holder from Ireland and IO63
[ANS thanks Jon Goering, N7AZ 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!
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 September, 5, 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.]
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
Taka Town Board of Education Children’s Future Division, Taka Town, Japan, direct via JA3YRL.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS.
The scheduled crewmember is Kimiya Yui, KG5BPH.
The ARISS mentor is Satoshi Yasuda, 7M3TJZ .
Contact is go for Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 09:22:34 UTC.
Completed Contacts
Ethiopian Space Science Society, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Telebridge via VK4KHZ.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The crewmember was Kimiya Yui, KG5BPH.
The ARISS mentor was Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ.
Contact was successful on Thursday, September 4, 2025 at 08:23:14 UTC.
Research Vessel E/V Nautilus in the Pacific, (was near Howland and Baker Island, US Territory; but then headed to Rarotonga, Cook Islands for repairs). Telebridge via K6DUE.
The ISS callsign was NA1SS.
The crewmember was Zena Cardman, KJ5CMN.
The ARISS mentor was Ana Guzman, KI5SDP.
Contact was successful on Thursday, September 4, 2025 at 09:03:21.
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.
Scheduled Radio Power-down and Power-up Times
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 at 08:15 UTC Power-down due to Progress 91P Undock
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 14:00 UTC Power-up due to Progress 91P Undock
Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 12:35 UTC Power-down due to Progress 93P Arrival
Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 14:00 UTC Power-up due to Progress 93P Arrival
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.
September 27, 2025
Radio Society of Tucson Autumn Hamfest
Calvary Lutheran Church
8711 E. Speedway
Tucson, AZ
https://k7rst.club/2025/08/rst-autumn-hamfest-2025/
N1UW
October 11, 2025
North Star Radio Convention
Hennepin Technical College
9000 Brooklyn Boulevard
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445
https://northstarradio.org/
ADØHJ
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
https://www.amsat.org/2025-symposium/
[ANS thanks Bo Lowrey, W4FCL, Director – AMSAT Ambassador Program, for the above information.]
Satellite Shorts From All Over
- AMSAT Ambassador Tom Schuessler, N5HYP had a great opportunity to present a “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” talk on Monday, August 25th to the Denton County Amateur Radio Association, DCARA, of Denton, Texas. There were at least 50 in attendance in the room plus a few more by Zoom. After Tom’s presentation Andrew Koenig, KE5GDB delivered a wrap-up report on Richardson Wireless Klub’s August 23rd high altitude balloon launch. Their craft had multiple amateur radio payloads and cameras on board. The balloon was launched from Old Celina Park in Celina TX, and ascended to a maximum altitude of 105,528 feet before bursting and (rapidly) descending back to the ground just north of Justin TX. The cross-band VHF/UHF repeater was the star of the show, with hams in all directions reporting clear communications including Johnson Space Center and Pearland to the South, Abilene and Amarillo to the West, and several stations in Arkansas to the Northeast. The report with some great images can be found on the K5RWK web site https://www.k5rwk.org/2025/08/24/rwk-high-altitude-balloon-launch-wrapup-august-23rd/ . [ANS thanks Tom Schuessler, N5HYP for the above information.]
- The RSGB 2025 Convention will be held on October 1-12 at the Kents Hill Conference Centre, Milton Keynes. The program is full of entertaining, intriguing and thought-provoking presentations and have been organized into three streams: Discover. Learn. Progress. The organizers are also excited to offer three workshops to help attendees learn and develop skills in a practical setting. Young hams who are under 21 you can attend the Convention free of charge. Attendees who are under the age of 16 you must be accompanied by a responsible adult. The presentations will be streamed live by the BATC and recorded for later viewing on You Tube. Streaming links will be made available as the event gets closer. Information on the complete presentation schedule and registration details can be found at https://rsgb.org/main/rsgb-convention-2025 . [ANS thanks the RSGB for the above information.]
- The 5th Edition of the AM1SAT Biennial Contest Organized by URE and AMSAT-EA, will take place from September 15-21, 2025, as part of the activities of the IberRadio 2025 event, the 10th Radiocommunications Fair, the largest amateur radio event in Spain (see https://www.iberradio.es/). The goal is to establish the longest possible radio contacts during the competition through satellites orbiting Earth in LEO orbits. In total, the 15 longest contacts during the competition period will be evaluated. The use of a GEO satellite is deliberately avoided, as equal treatment among participants cannot be guaranteed either on the GEO satellite itself or worldwide. Complete rules for the contest can be found at https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/14094293/AM1SAT+2025+Contest+-+English.pdf . [ANS thanks AMSAT-EA for the above information.]
- SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft successfully finished a test reboost of the International Space Station on September 3rd according to NASA. The freighter fired two of its Draco engines for 5 minutes and 3 seconds during the maneuver, agency officials wrote in a Wednesday statement. The ISS orbits roughly 250 miles above Earth on average but naturally falls back to our planet due to atmospheric drag. Visiting cargo spacecraft therefore take on the job of lifting the orbiting complex higher every few months. On Wednesday, Dragon’s efforts got the station to an orbit of 260.9 by 256.3 miles according to NASA. “The new boost kit in Dragon will help sustain the orbiting lab’s altitude through a series of longer burns planned periodically throughout the fall of 2025,” agency officials added. NASA has said these tests will also be important for another SpaceX job down the road: deorbiting the ISS itself. Read the full story at https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/spacex-dragon-cargo-capsule-boosts-iss-higher-above-earth-in-key-test . [ANS thanks Space.com for the above 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).
- 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, 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.
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