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This Week's News
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday February 2nd, 2025
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Rescheduled IRTS Committee Meeting
Due to the aftereffects of Storm �owyn and that still quite a lot of
people throughout the country are without power or internet access, the
IRTS committee has decided to reschedule the IRTS committee meeting
that was due to be held on the Zoom platform on Tuesday night February
4th. In order to give people the maximum chance to attend the meeting,
it has now been rescheduled to Thursday, February 6th, and once again
on the Zoom platform at the same time of 8 p.m.
All IRTS affiliated clubs are reminded that under Rule 16.1, the
members in each affiliated club, society or other body may elect a
representative and an alternate annually to attend IRTS committee
meetings. Clubs wishing to send a representative should notify the IRTS
Secretary, Owen EI4GGB at irts_secretary /at/ irts.ie in advance to
ensure notification and links are provided.
The IRTS website has now been updated to include a section with all
details associated with the IRTS insurance policy. This section can be
found by going to the "Services" tab and scrolling down to "IRTS
Insurance". This page includes all the details about the insurance
policy which is available to all IRTS affiliated clubs who are located
in EI.
The page has information about using a Risk Assessment Method Statement
(RAMS) document and also a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section. If
any club has questions that are not covered in this page, you are asked
to get in contact with the IRTS Insurance Officer Pat EI9HX.
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Amateur Radio Emergency Network (AREN) Update
Mark EI4FNB, who is the AREN coordinator, would like to thank all AREN
members who were recently on standby to respond to storm �owyn.
They had enquiries from a number of primary agencies around the country
to stand by for a possible activation. AREN would also like to thank
all the clubs who responded with contact information just in case a
larger response needed to be initiated.
Future initiatives will include how to better coordinate between AREN
and local radio clubs for future events. The standby highlighted a
number of already identified areas that can be improved upon over the
coming year.
For information on AREN please contact aren /at/ irts.ie.
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South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC
EI2WRC will be hosting the 92nd IRTS AGM Weekend in The Woodford Dolmen
Hotel, Kilkenny Rd, Carlow over the weekend of the 12th and 13th of
April 2025. People who are planning on attending are urged to book
their hotel rooms without delay as almost all rooms have now been
taken. Dinner tickets for the Gala Dinner which will be held on
Saturday, April 12th are now available to be pre-booked.
Rally tables for clubs/groups and commercial traders for the rally on
Sunday, April 13th can now be booked also. Tables for individual
traders will be made available to be pre-booked at a later date. For
more information, go to searg.ie and click on the IRTS AGM 2025 link.
For more information about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact
details please see www.searg.ie
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IRTS Awards Committee
IRTS Awards curator Mark EI4FNB requests that any members who won
awards last year and who have not already returned them already could
they please do so as soon as possible. Awards can be returned to any
IRTS committee member. Mark also hopes to collect returning awards at
both the Limerick Clare Amateur Radio and at the Phoenix Amateur Radio
club rallies. For anyone who needs to get in contact with Mark
regarding return of trophies, you can find his contact details on the
contact section on irts.ie.
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Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club
Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club invite all members to attend their
2025 Annual General Meeting. It takes place on Thursday the 20th of
February at 7 p.m. sharp in the Technological University of the
Shannon, Midlands, Midwest in Moylish, Limerick.
The club's weekly activation of EI4SAM runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on
Saturdays. The initial calling frequency is 7.123 MHz, plus or minus
QRM. All callers are welcome.
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Maritime Radio Day 2025
Registration is now open for Maritime Radio Day 2025 which takes place
annually on the 14th and 15th of April. This is to commemorate the
almost 100 years of wireless telegraphy service for seafarers which
ended with the closure in the UK of Portishead Radio on the 30th of
April 2000.
Commencing at 12:00 UTC on the 14th and finishing at 23:00 UTC on the
15th, this event is a great opportunity to QSO with ex-marine radio
officers and coast station professionals who exchange details of their
previous ships and coast stations. The mode of operation is CW, and all
the HF bands are used including the WARC bands. A certificate of
participation will be issued to all who submit results.
Amateur licence holders are invited to register and take part as
"Friends of MRD". SWLs may also submit logs. You can find further
information at radioofficers.com.
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Contest Updates
The RSGB 3.5 MHz Club Championship Contest takes place tomorrow Monday,
the 3rd of February which is a bank holiday in EI. It runs for ninety
minutes starting at 20:00 UTC. Self-spotting is permitted. You can find
out more about this contest at
www.rsgbcc.org Attention switches to VHF on Tuesday and Wednesday night next with
multiple activities to get involved in. Two 144MHz events run
back-to-back on Tuesday night. The RSGB 144MHz FM Activity contest
starts from 19:00 UTC and continues until 19:55 UTC. At 20:00 UTC, it
is followed by the UK Activity contest that runs until 22:30 UTC.
On Wednesday, the 5th of February, the next event in the European FT8
Activity series takes place from 17:00 to 21:00 UTC using FT8 and FT4
digital modes.
Towards the end of the week, the RSGB 1.8MHz Contest runs on Saturday,
the 8th of February 2025 from 20:00 UTC to 23:00 UTC. Two rule changes
for 2025 to note are that the duration has been reduced from four to
three hours and now SSB is permitted in the February event.
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Radio Rally Updates
Phoenix Amateur Radio Club EI2PAR holds their annual radio rally in two
weeks' time on Sunday February 16th, 2025. It will take place in
Coolmine Community School, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15. Doors open at 10
a.m. and entry will cost five euro. You can book a table by contacting
Tony EI7GI at 087 2439997.
Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club's annual rally takes place on the 9th
of March in Treacy's Oakwood Hotel in Shannon. To book a table, you are
asked to please contact Dermot Gleeson, EI2GT, at DermotGleeson1 /at/
gmail.com. Only bookings made via email will be accepted.
Lough Erne Amateur Club's Radio Rally will be held on Sunday the 18th
of May 2025. The venue is the Share Discovery Village, 221 Lisnaskea
Road, Lisnaskea, Enniskillen BT92 0JZ. Doors will open at 11 a.m. Entry
costs five euro or five pounds which includes a ticket for the draw.
The rally will include a bring and buy and usual facilities including
food and refreshments. Further details are available at
LoughErneRadioClub.co.uk.
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Items for Inclusion in Next Week's Radio News
That is the news for this week. Items for inclusion in next week's
radio news can be submitted by email to newsteam /at/ irts.ie for
automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. The
deadline is midnight on Thursday.
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News Archives
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday February 2nd, 2025