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.”

New Satellite Tracking Application Released

Bob McGwier, N4HY, has announced the release of a new satellite tracking application entitled Visible Ephemeris.

Visible Ephemeris is a modern, spiritual successor to Quiktrak (1986), re-engineered for the Raspberry Pi 5 and modern silicon. It is capable of propagating 13,000+ satellites in real-time with sub-second updates while maintaining <5% CPU utilisation. Visible Ephemeris is high performance physics-based program using Kelso/Villado SGP4 to track satellites (all in the Celestrak TLE). It uses McGwier’s implementation of Pedro Escobal AOS/LOS search, but rewritten for altitude and not Eccentric Anomaly. The code is designed for and intended for the Raspberry Pi and displays graphics components using Web UI.

It features a Hybrid Decoupled Architecture where the UI, Orbital Mechanics, and Network Services run on independent threads, ensuring the interface never freezes—even during heavy calculation loads.

Visible Ephemeris has been released under the MIT license and further details can be found at https://github.com/n4hy/VisibleEphemerisCPP.git

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.