[UPDATE] – by Darek, TJ1GD/P. I am pleased to announce that Dragan, KØAP has generously stepped forward as the QSL Sponsor for my activation of AF-095. Thanks to Dragan’s support, high-quality QSL cards will be available to confirm our contacts. They can be received the same way as my other activations – SASE through SP3EOL […]

AMSAT has announced their lineup of events and activities for Hamvention 2026:

• Dinner at Tickets
  Thursday May 14 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM EDT at Tickets Pub & Eatery
  Informal social event

• TAPR/AMSAT Banquet
  Friday May 15 $75
  Speaker to be announced

• AMSAT Forum
  Saturday May 16 from 1:50 PM to 3:10 PM EDT in Forum Room 2

More information is available on the AMSAT website.

Source: AMSAT

The following is a message from Open HamClock Backend contributor Chris Smith (G1FEF), with light editing by K4HCK:

Open Hamclock Backend is now fully independent of the original source and does not proxy any data from the Clear Sky Institute server. When the original backend server goes offline in June, anyone using OHB will find their HamClock will continue to work. We’ve also made some improvements over the original, especially in terms of CPU and memory use. It is now more efficient, so anyone hosting it on their own hardware will see instant improvements.

We have two more items of exciting news to share:

We now have a publicly available OHB server which anyone using HamClock is welcome to use. Just point your HamClock to: ohb.hamclock.app:80

This server is dedicated hardware hosted in a commercial datacenter and is free for all HamClock users to enjoy.

We also now have a website where you can keep track of the latest releases, find instructions on how to use OHB, see who is behind the initiative, as well as how to contact us to provide feedback and ask for assistance:

https://ohb.works/

Source: Open HamClock Backend

One of the amateur radio operators selected by NASA to help track the Artemis II mission via RF is posting regular updates to Bluesky. Back in January, NASA announced the volunteers selected to help track the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II mission and one of those volunteers was Scott Tilley (VE7TIL) who is also working with the University of New Brunswick in Canada which was also selected by NASA.

The Vancouver Sun recently published an article featuring Tilley and his progress tracking Orion so far:

The data will help NASA “identify ways to augment future moon and Mars mission support,” according to an agency statement. Or, as Tilley puts it, it’s a way to see if smaller stations that use technology such as his could be used on future moon missions, so they don’t have to task the larger, more costly primary systems.

Tilley tracked the Artemis I mission, Mars probes from both China and NASA, and many other satellites. You can follow his current progress with Artemis II on Bluesky and learn more about his current focus on a new method of Doppler extraction.

Source: Amateur Radio Daily

My UHF repeater, 442.775 is broadcasting the mission audio from NASA’s Artemis mission.  It is a receive only feed, allowing us to listen in on the ground to spacecraft communications.  Local comms are still possible, and won’t be heard by NASA.  Just know that the NASA comms will just pop on as they occur.  Hope you enjoy.  This Ham radio stuff is fun.

The following is a press release from VOA Museum:

The National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in conjunction with the West Chester Amateur Radio Association announce expanded hours for the museum during the 2026 Hamvention. We will be open for the following:

• Thursday May 14th from 12:00 to 9:00PM
• Friday May 15th from 12:00 to 9:00 PM
• Saturday May 16th from 12:00 to 9:00 PM
• Sunday May 17th from 12:00 to 5:00 PM

Admission is $10.00 at the door. Our Amateur Radio station WC8VOA will be on the air to operate. The museum is a short drive from Hamvention down either Interstate 75 or Route 42 from Xenia. GPS use Crosley Blvd.

Exhibits include a dedicated room for vintage Amateur Radio and shortwave equipment. See the first transmitter for the VOA from 1942. A disc jockey’s station from a vintage radio station. Our Amateur Radio Shack with state-of-the-art equipment from Yaesu, Icom, Elecraft and Mosley. Docents and ARS operators will be available to enhance your visit to the museum.

For further information you can visit us at voamuseum.org or wc8voa.org on the web. You can also find us on Facebook at National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting. Our regular hours are Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 12:00 until 4:00 PM. We are located at

8070 Tylersville Road
West Chester, Ohio 45069

Phone 513-777-0027

Source: VOA Museum

April Fools’ Day wouldn’t be complete without several attempts at mischief among the amateur radio community and 2026 has been no exception! Here are links to several April Fools’ Day events that made their way across the Amateur Radio Daily news desk.

DX Engineering Unveils a Ham Radio Game-Changer—the All-New Antenna Encabulator
After decades of research, DX Engineering has perfected the balance of inverse reactive current and the automatic syncrization of ham radio grammeters thanks to the all-new high-performance Antenna Encabulator. See the related video.

The RetroRig by N6ARA Electronics
RetroRig offers the least-modern discomforts optimized for the traveling ham. View the video or Place your order.

U.S. Administration Supports Ham Radio Homebrew
In a decision that puzzled many analysts, the Federal Communications Commission has come out with a new policy that seems to support the at home construction (“homebrew”) of amateur radio equipment.

POTA Platinum — new paid tier for POTA!
To maximize profits, we’re introducing POTA Platinum. New rules, new benefits — for a price. See this video explanation.

Source: Amateur Radio Daily

Amateur radio operators in Norway have a number of new regulations including a new entry-level license, “begrenset lisens.” Remote control limitations have been lifted, specifically the limitation over remote operation in Norwegian overseas territories. The 23cm band now more closely adheres to CEPT recommendations.

More details are available from Föreningen Sveriges Sändareamatörer.

Source: Föreningen Sveriges Sändareamatörer

The following is a compilation of updates from ADRCS regarding the IP400 Project.

[The IP400 Project has reached the halfway point], the hardware development is complete, as well as the research phases for proof of concept. We are now at the point where we will be doing limited production runs for the various hardware components, and the rest of the development effort from here on it will be mostly in firmware and FPGA development.

The outputs from the development effort are many and varied, there will be a new outdoor 400MHz node with an integrated power amplifier, an AllstarLink upgrade to add OFDM data modes to existing repeater systems, as well as an OFDM TNC for standalone use, all nodes supporting high speed data as well as an AX.25 compatible KISS mode.

The project development continues on three fronts:

• Node Hardware
• Firmware
• New Modes

Node Hardware
The mini-node has been revised to add a POE ethernet adapter, making it now a three board stack instead of two. The 5W power amplifier has been designed, pre-production units will be available soon. The supernode prototype has been built, and the design for the production version and TNC OEM board is complete. Both are pending prototype builds.

Firmware
The unified firmware platform is in development, and pending successful testing, will be released for beta testing with Mode A only on the WL33 platforms shortly.

New Modes
Development of Mode B is ongoing and is looking very promising. Mode C will be available later this year.

Source: ADRCS

Cat Pix on the Air (CPOTA) 2026 will celebrate International Cat Day by transmitting images of cats via SSTV.

The internet was made for sharing funny cat pictures and movies. On August 8th, International cat day, so will the radio waves! Ham radio amateurs will celebrate this day with a special SSTV event using cat pictures only.

This contest will score the number of QSOs made by each operator. Special callsigns PD6MEOW (Netherlands) and N1C (US) are already registered. Additional special callsigns may be registered with the event.

Source: CPOTA