Today on the Bands — Sunday, August 23, 2026
Sunday brings a bit of everything: orbital housekeeping as spacewalkers swap a failed station antenna, homebrew ingenuity turning a humble 555 into something useful, and fresh gear from a familiar QRP name. There's also sobering news from the shortwave world, so pour a coffee and settle in.
- 01 ANS-235 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
This week's AMSAT bulletin covers a spacewalk to remove a failed station antenna, a new ARISS-USA education director, and student-built satellites like JAMX01 and BY70-4.
Read at source ↗ - 02 Open-Source ExpressLRS Receiver Reaches for Range
A reminder of what clever protocols can do with a single watt, as open-source ExpressLRS pushes drone control links toward impressive range.
Read at source ↗ - 03 ICQPodcast Episode 491 – The Science of Making Distant Contacts
The ICQ crew digs into the science behind working DX alongside their usual roundup of ham radio news in brief.
Read at source ↗ - 04 555 Makes a Useful Beat Frequency Oscillator
Proof the venerable 555 still earns its keep, hacked into a beat frequency oscillator so a cheap rig can copy modes it couldn't out of the box.
Read at source ↗ - 05 KM4CFT Announces the New CFT1v2 With Two New Features
Jonathan KM4CFT follows up his well-loved CFT1 with a v2 sporting two new features, welcome news for the field-radio crowd.
Read at source ↗ - 06 FEBC Philippines plans to close March 2027
Another voice preparing to leave the shortwave bands as FEBC Philippines announces plans to shut down its SW service in March 2027.
Read at source ↗
The HamDaily digest — five minutes, the whole band.