This Saturday delivers nine passes during the operating window — one of the best single-day lineups of the year. AO-123 opens the day at nearly overhead (76°), followed quickly by AO-7 in Mode B for the SSB crowd. The afternoon brings two ISS FM opportunities including a spectacular 64° pass, RS-44 for a cross-Atlantic window, and SO-50 to close it out. Bring your gear and plan to stay all day.

Pass Schedule — March 28 (9 AM–3 PM ET Window)

The AO-123 / AO-7 back-to-back at 8:57 and 9:20 is a natural warm-up sequence: catch the high AO-123 pass, then quickly re-configure the IC-9700 for AO-7’s Mode B transponder. AO-7 at 27° gives a solid 19-minute window — plenty of time to work several stations SSB.

The ISS FM pass at 2:02 PM (64°) is the people-pleaser of the day — nearly overhead, strong signal, and the crossband repeater has been active all week. Aim high and give a call. Any handheld pointed skyward should make it through.

The pass geometry continues to improve into early April. April 4 features ten passes including AO-123 at an almost unbelievable 86° (essentially straight overhead), three ISS FM opportunities, SO-50 at 88°, and RS-44 at 12:12 PM for a cross-Atlantic window. There’s also a second RS-44 pass at 2:01 PM (73°) — that’s a high, short-range pass, not cross-Atlantic geometry, but excellent for domestic contacts.

Pass Schedule — April 4 (9 AM–3 PM ET Window)

Quick Reference

RS-44 is a Russian linear transponder satellite that offers a rare opportunity to work European stations — but geometry matters. When RS-44 is high overhead in New Jersey, the satellite is too close for European stations to also see it. The sweet spot is a moderate-elevation pass (roughly 8°–25°) where the bird sits over the mid-Atlantic, visible from both sides simultaneously.

This week sees the RS-44 cross-Atlantic window drifting gradually earlier through the afternoon, with Saturday March 28 confirming a solid 1:12 PM window, and April 4 at 12:12 PM. All confirmed Saturday windows fall comfortably within the 8 AM–10 PM operating band.

Saturday Windows (March 28 & April 4)

Weekday Estimated Windows This Period (8 AM–10 PM Only)

The RS-44 cross-Atlantic window drifts roughly 8–9 minutes earlier each day. All estimates below are within daylight hours. Verify with your tracking software before heading out.

To set up a cross-Atlantic QSO, coordinate via the AMSAT Discord or reach out to European operators through the DX cluster to arrange a sked. RS-44 uses an inverting transponder — transmit LSB on 145.950–145.990 MHz, receive USB on 435.600–435.640 MHz. Full duplex (IC-9700) is required for proper Doppler correction.

AMSAT’s Students On The Air (StOTA) Days are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month. The initiative was created by AMSAT President Drew Glasbrenner (KO4MA) and his son Carsten (KQ4SJM) to get licensed student operators active on the amateur satellites. Student-to-student contacts are the goal, but all satellite operators are encouraged to get on the air and make students feel welcome.

Upcoming StOTA Tuesdays

For each StOTA session, check pass predictions for Woodruff Middle School (Upper Deerfield, NJ) on N2YO or SatNOGS. The Yaesu FT-991A on site handles FM satellites well. JO-97, AO-123, and the ISS FM repeater are all solid targets for student ops — the handheld + tape-measure yagi combination is more than enough for FM passes above 15°.

The club’s ground station at the Mullica Hill clubhouse is a contributing node on SatNOGS — the global network of amateur radio satellite ground stations. Our station is listed as Station #223 (W2MMD), and it remains one of the most capable receiving sites in the Northeast.

With Ten-Koh 2 now confirmed weak (see news section below) and the Okuyama Lab actively requesting reception reports, our SatNOGS station is a direct way to contribute. Schedule an observation on Ten-Koh 2 (NORAD #68261) and upload the waterfall — even a null result is useful data for the team. Use the catalog number until the official NORAD designation is fully confirmed.

👉 Check out our observations: network.satnogs.org/stations/223

FO-29 Full Sunlight Season — SSB/CW Only, No Digital

Fuji-OSCAR 29 is enjoying its full-sunlight season and the transponder is active continuously on illuminated passes. The inverting transponder: uplink LSB 145.900–146.000 MHz, downlink USB 435.800–435.900 MHz; CW beacon 435.795 MHz.

Ten-Koh 2 Signal Update — Weaker Than Expected

Ten-Koh 2 (NORAD #68261), the 6U CubeSat with a V/U linear transponder from Japan’s Nihon University, remains operational but weak. The Okuyama Lab reports that the signal is currently below expectations — only a very weak CW signal on 435.860 MHz is being detected so far. The transponder (uplink LSB 145.895–145.935 MHz, downlink USB 435.875–435.915 MHz) has not yet been reliably confirmed in operation.

The team is actively requesting SatNOGS reception reports to help diagnose the situation. Early operations are scheduled two days per week — watch AMSAT and JAMSAT for the schedule. This is a great opportunity for W2MMD SatNOGS Station #223 to contribute.

CatSat — Request Transponder Activation

The University of Arizona’s CatSat satellite carries a 10 GHz beacon and a C/X transponder (5.663 GHz uplink / 10.47 GHz downlink), but the beacon isn’t always on. The team has set up a web request form so operators can ask for activation. Once submitted, you can check the scheduled availability on their calendar. Links:

Request form: CatSat Activation Request

Calendar: catsat.arizona.edu/calendar

AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution Changes

ANS-081 notes upcoming changes to how AMSAT distributes TLE (Two-Line Element) data. Details were listed in the bulletin. If your tracking software pulls TLEs from AMSAT servers, watch for announcements on the amsat.org news feed and update your source URLs as needed. Space-Track.org and Celestrak remain reliable fallback sources.

ISS Solar Array Prep

Astronauts aboard the ISS completed preparations this week for installation of a new solar array. While this activity doesn’t directly affect ham radio operations, it contributes to the overall power budget that keeps ISS amateur radio equipment running. The Progress vehicle activities (causing the March 24 Columbus radio outage) are related to ongoing station support operations.

SpaceX Orbital Data Centers — Astronomer Concerns

A SpaceX plan for up to 1 million orbital data centers is raising serious concerns in the astronomy community. The proposed 100-meter-long structures would remain sunlit even at midnight and could severely impair ground-based observatories including the Vera Rubin Observatory and the Extremely Large Telescope. Frequent re-entries would also add to atmospheric pollution. This is a broader space-use policy issue worth tracking for anyone interested in the future of LEO satellite operations and radio frequency environment.