The Knacksat 1U CubeSat launched on December 3 by a SpaceX vehicle may be in safe mode. The Knacksat project team at King Mongkut’s University of Technology-North Bangkok, Thailand, has speculated that launch delays may have led to battery depletion, preventing normal antenna deployment. Safe mode will let the spacecraft recharge its battery and receive commands from the ground.

The Knacksat tea...

The Knacksat 1U CubeSat launched on December 3 by a SpaceX vehicle may be in safe mode. The Knacksat project team at King Mongkut’s University of Technology-North Bangkok, Thailand, has speculated that launch delays may have led to battery depletion, preventing normal antenna deployment. Safe mode will let the spacecraft recharge its battery and receive commands from the ground.

The Knacksat tea...

The Caboolture Radio Club (VK4QD) in Queensland, Australia, is now operating a beacon on 2200 meters on 137.444 kHz using the call sign VK4RBC. Australia’s telecommunications authority ACMA has granted permission for continuous operation of the beacon, using WSPR2 (6H00F1D), plus a CW identifier. The power is 1 W EIRP into a 500-meter (1,640-foot) wire at a maximum of 40 meters (131 feet).

Locat...

Two new Chinese satellites with Amateur Radio payloads are planned for an April 5 launch, CAMSAT has reported.

CAS-7A will carry H/T (21/29 MHz) and H/U (21/435 MHz) mode linear transponders, V/U linear and V/U FM transponders, a UHF CW telemetry beacon, UHF AX.25 4.8k/9.6k baud GMSK telemetry, and 3-centimeter AX.25 1 Mbps GMSK image data transmission for an onboard camera.

CAS-7B is described a...

Listen to the new episode of ARRL Audio News on your iOS or Android podcast app, or online at http://www.blubrry.com/arrlaudionews/. Audio News is also retransmitted on a number of FM repeaters. Click here and then scroll down to see the list.

No sunspots seen since January 6, so average daily sunspot numbers declined from 7.7 to 0 for the current reporting week, January 10-16. Average daily solar flux dropped from 71.6 to 69.4 over the same period. Average daily planetary A index went from 7.4 to 4.9, and average mid-latitude A index went from 6.1 to 4.

Predicted solar flux for the next 45 days is 70 on January 18-20, 72 on January 2...

The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (IARU-R1) Monitoring System (IARUMS) reports that an over-the-horizon (OTH) radar located on Cyprus has been active on 21.170 MHz, which is inside an exclusive Amateur Radio allocation. “The Sovereign Base areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia is a British Overseas Territory on the island of Cyprus,” IARUMS Coordinator Wolf Hadel, DK2OM, explained in the ...

The Satellite Technology group at the University of Würzburg has announced a change of frequency for the UWE-4 CubeSat, launched on a December 27 Soyuz flight. The 1U CubeSat carries an electric propulsion experiment and a 70-centimeter 9.6 k AX.25 digipeater.

“After 2 weeks in orbit, UWE-4 is in very good shape,” the group reported. “After the early-orbit phase, we are looking forward to some i...

More than 80,000 contacts went into logs at YOTA suffix stations and others participating in December Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) Month, with most operations in International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (IARU-R1). The final tally included 46,989 on SSB, another 28,064 on CW, some 3,814 on FT8, and the rest on various other modes.

“This year, as many as 44 participating stations made 82,938 QSO...

The new 2019 ARRL Repeater Directory® is now shipping. It includes “crowdsourced” listings contributed by users, repeater owners, and volunteer frequency coordinators. This means more listings that are and updated more often. With 28,000 listings, the ARRL Repeater Directory® is the most complete printed directory of on-the-air repeaters, covering repeater systems throughout the US and Canada.

R...

Akio Taguchi, JE2QIZ/AC7XZ, reports that he has received a license from the Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) Ministry of Transportation and Communication. His call sign there will be XZ2B. Taguchi explained that Myanmar only permits Amateur Radio operation from 20 MHz to 300 MHz at a power of just 25 W, and he plans to operate a "fishing rod antenna" from his hotel.

Because license fees in Myan...

Long-pending Amateur Radio antenna litigation that ARRL helped to fund has finally borne fruit. The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department has ruled in the case of Myles Landstein, N2EHG, that the Town of LaGrange, New York, not only overstepped its state-granted authority by assessing excessive fees, but violated the limited federal preemption PR...

AMSAT has announced its 50th Anniversary Awards Program, to help celebrate 50 years of keeping Amateur Radio in space. Satellite and HF contacts can help participants to earn one of these awards:

• 50th Anniversary AMSAT OSCAR Satellite Communications Achievement Award
• 50th Anniversary AMSAT Satellite Friends of 50 Award
• AMSAT on HF 50th Anniversary Award

The 50th anniversary AMSAT OSCAR Satellite ...

The US Islands (USI) Awards Program celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and is offering a commemorative award for both chasers and activators for contacts made between January 1 and December 31.

To qualify, chasers must confirm 25 islands during 2019, as a club or individual, and activators must qualify or activate 25 islands in any combination, making at least 15 contacts for both new isl...

Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) has announced that Gabor Horvath, VE7JH, is the recipient of the RAC Amateur of the Year Award for 2018.

“Gabor has demonstrated an intense commitment to diverse aspects of Amateur Radio, and in 2010 he was recognized as the Pacific Northwest VHFer of the Year for consistently promoting and encouraging VHF/UHF/microwave activity in the Pacific Northwest,” RAC Pres...

Listen to the new episode of ARRL Audio News on your iOS or Android podcast app, or online at http://www.blubrry.com/arrlaudionews/. Audio News is also retransmitted on a number of FM repeaters. Click here and then scroll down to see the list.