he Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program has reason to celebrate. With the help and hard work of technicians, engineers and other team members, ARISS marked the first contact in seven years that made use of HamTV - a QSO between the 1st Radford Semele Scout Group in the UK and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim KJ5HKP on the 18th of October. The digital amateur TV transmitter based in the Columbus module permits the audience to view live video downlinks during their contacts with the astronauts.

As he called up to the space station to say the team and the European HamTV ground stations were ready, Ciaran Morgan, MØXTD, ARISS operations lead for the UK, dedicated the call to Gaston Bertels, ON4WF. Gaston was at the helm of the HamTV technical team until he became a Silent Key in December 2024. He had been a key player in getting the L/S band antennas installed on the Columbus module. HamTV operated until 2018, when its failure brought it back to earth so repairs could be made. The unit was returned to the ISS in 2024. This past July, it resumed its transmissions and members of the British Amateur TV Club, who were standing by for those first signals, happily reported good copy.

To see the HamTV contact between the ISS and the Scouts visit the YouTube channel of SP5LOT at the link in the text version of this week's newscast.