AST SpaceMobile Lays Claim to 430-440 MHz and 902-928 MHz...

for Commercial Satellite Communications in FCC Filing.

This may well be the most significant challenge to date to one of Amateur Radio’s most popular bands. It’s particularly significant for Amateur Radio space communications, as that usage directly competes with this company’s use case — satellite communications.

In DA 25-532, released 2025-06-20, the FCC Space Bureau has accepted a filing from AST SpaceMobile to conduct Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C) in both space-to-Earth and Earth-to-space communications modes in 430–440 MHz. In the document, AST SpaceMobile is referenced as AST & Science, LLC (AST).

LoTW will be unavailable from June 27 to July 2, 2025

ARRL’s Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) is the 2nd most popular benefit among members. It is also an extremely popular service internationally for non-members, as it is the primary means for providing confirmations for ARRL Awards, such as DXCC and Worked All States.

As a part of the ongoing modernization of the ARRL systems infrastructure, LoTW will be receiving major upgrades to the operating system it is running on, the relational database system it uses to store and access logbook and awards data, and server hosting, where it will be fully migrated to the cloud. These changes will, among other improvements, ensure LoTW performance needs can be better met based on user demand.

Hams in the Park

The July RRRA Meeting will be our 3rd annual “Hams in the Park” event; it’s a Ham Radio show and tell!

Enjoy an interactive experience, eyeball QSOs, and some dessert; no club business will be be discusssed at this meeting!

⚠️ Please RSVP to the by Friday, July 11, 2025, so that we have enough dessert!

Field Day Options for the New Ham

In this episode of ARRL’s monthly On The Air podcast: “With ARRL Field Day weekend just a little more than two weeks away, we talk to ARRL’s Contest Program Manager Paul Bourque, N1SFE; Digital RF Engineer John McAuliffe, W1DRF and Education and Learning Support Specialist Max Freedman, N4ML, about how newer hams can navigate the most popular on-air event of the year. Get recommendations for setups, modes, goals, and more.”1