Four Buchanan Students Earn FCC License

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Buchanan Community Schools announced that four students in their Career and Technical Education (CTE) Electrical program earned their FCC Amateur Radio licenses on Monday.

The four passing students, Marley Hinds, Taryn Hartman, Kyle Kirk, and Sheldon Cornelius, are now authorised to use advanced wireless communications technology.

CTE students sat for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Technician Class Amateur Radio license exam, which asked students to display knowledge in electrical theory, wireless communications, radio infrastructure, and electrical safety.

Buchanan Community Schools also noted that students who did not pass the exam will have an opportunity to retest later in the school year.

“Space Sailors” Seeking Download Help from Ham Radio Operators

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A group of students at Cornell University is seeking participation from radio amateurs who are equipped with satellite stations for help in listening for signals from a retroreflective laser sail that is scheduled to be deployed later this week. The sail is currently attached to a 1U CubeSat that was launched early Tuesday 2nd December 2025, from the International Space Station, but will separate and become its own free-flying spacecraft equipped with four tiny “ChipSat” flight computers that will transmit telemetry data back to Earth.

This is the first flight of their ChipSats, and it is this data that the students seek help detecting, according to Ph.D. candidate Joshua Umansky-Castro, who has an amateur radio license, call sign KD2WTQ. The light sail’s ChipSats will be transmitting data using the LoRa® digital protocol on 437.400 MHz. The sail, stowed within the CubeSat, is expected be released a couple of days after deployment — tentatively this Thursday 4th December 2025 — and will likely function independently for no more than 48 hours due to the drag created by the sail.

Additional information, including LoRa parameters and links to a list of compatible receivers and the decoder file, may be found at alphacubesat.cornell.edu in the ChipSat Ground Station Guide (docx).

It is hoped that the ChipSat and light sail will become the trailblazer for future missions around the solar system, and one day to our closest stellar neighbour, Alpha Centauri.

ARISS Video Promotes School Contacts Through ISS and Amateur Radio

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ARISS has released a new video promoting amateur radio on the International Space Station (ISS). Produced by NASA, the video features astronaut Nichole Ayers (KJ5GWI) aboard the ISS explaining how amateur radio plays a part in school contacts with astronauts on the ISS. Ayers explains many of the procedures and technical challenges that amateur radio operators must address during a school contact.

“It’s a true privilege for me to be able to inspire the new generation of scientists and engineers through amateur radio.”
— Astronaut Nichole Ayers (KJ5GWI)

ARISS is asking for donations as part of its Giving Tuesday campaign. Those interested in donating to ARISS can do so here - https://www.ariss.org/