International Reply Coupons (IRCs) to End

Although International Reply Coupons, or IRCs, are still being used by some DX-chasing hams in their requests for QSL cards, that option is set to end by this time next year. Countries belonging to the Universal Postal Union have voted to discontinue their use effective 31 December 2026. The vote was taken in September at the 28th Universal Postal Congress held in Dubai. There are a number of IRCs already in circulation that bear the expiration date of 31 December 2025, and they are expected to be honoured for another year.

In an era marked by a migration toward confirmations on digital platforms and in digital QSOs, the move brings an already disappearing amateur radio practice to its conclusion. A statement from the Universal Postal Union said the sunset of the IRC, first put into practice in 1907, was “a natural progression within the broader transformation of international postal services in alignment with the digital practices and modern outlook of their customers.”

Four Buchanan Students Earn FCC License

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

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.