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This Week's News
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday September 22nd, 2024
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IRTS appoint VHF/Microwave Co-Managers
The IRTS committee is delighted to welcome Keith Nolan EI5IN and Denis
O'Flaherty EI4KH as VHF/microwave co-managers. We thank them for
volunteering to take on the roles. If you wish to share ideas or input
regarding VHF and above in EI, contact details for them are available
on the IRTS website.
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Update from the IRTS Insurance Officer
Earlier in the year, IRTS Insurance Officer Pat O'Connor EI9HX
contacted all IRTS-affiliated clubs regarding the insurance policy
expectations and requirements in the areas of risk awareness and
mitigation. Pat included a Risk Assessment and Method Statement
template to help clubs with their field days and other events. If you
have any questions about this or need guidance, you are asked to
contact Pat by email at insurance /at/ irts.ie.
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IRTS Contest Manager Update
This is a reminder that the IRTS EI/GI IOTA results are available on
the IRTS website. There was a record number of entries from EI.
For stations that entered the SSB Field Day event, please note that the
closing date for log submissions is today, Sunday the 22nd of September
2024.
Well done to all that took part in the IRTS VHF/UHF Counties contest
last weekend. The closing date for log submissions is next Sunday the
29th of September.
The next and last IRTS contest of the year is the 80m Evening Counties
contest on Tuesday the 8th of October 2024.
These fun events are excellent opportunities for self-training and
learning more about propagation as well as your station performance.
Good luck to all taking part.
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South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC
Next weekend, September 28th and 29th, EI2WRC will be active on both
Saturday and Sunday from a different location each day. On Saturday,
September 28th, EI2WRC will be active from the Waterford and Suir
Valley railway station in Kilmeaden, Co. Waterford for the 2024
Railways on The Air event. Waterford Suir Valley Railway Company CLG
was established to preserve and promote Waterford's rich railway
heritage. The aim to develop and operate a 10km section of the
abandoned Waterford to Dungarvan Railway line from Kilmeaden Station to
Bilberry, Waterford City. For more information about the WSVR please
see www.wsvrailway.ie
The following day on Sunday, September 29th, EI2WRC will be active as a
145 Alive control station for the 145 Alive activity from 12:00 to
15:00 UTC. The EI2WRC team will be active on 145.250 MHz FM from the
Nine Stones carpark located at the entrance to the Mount Leinster RT�
mast site in south Carlow. Around Ireland, many other stations will be
active from various locations on different frequencies. The idea of the
145 Alive event is to promote activity on the 2m band. Please listen
out for as many stations as possible and give them all a shout if you
can!
For more information about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact
details please see www.searg.ie
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The National Short Wave Listeners Club announce Class Hotel
The National Short Wave Listeners Club would like to announce that the
next HAREC course, Class Hotel. It will commence on the 7th of November
2024, and it scheduled to end on the 8th of May 2025. The course will
be delivered via the Zoom platform every Thursday. Students wishing to
enrol should visit swl.ie to join the NSWLC. Club membership is free to
the current members of the IRTS. Further information is at www.swl.ie
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Help requested for a charity-based amateur radio initiative
Anthony EI7LB based in Carlow town is working with a charity called
Delta which involves working with young adults with intellectual
disabilities. Several service users have a great interest in listening
to ham radio and Anthony would like to take this a step further. He
would like to start up a ham radio club where both the service users
and members of the public can work together and become active ham
operators.
If anyone has receivers, transceivers, or indeed any radio equipment
that they are no longer using, Anthony would be very grateful to
receive them. You can get in contact with him via email at
anthony.brophy /at/ deltacentre.org or contact him at 087 1176676. All
donations would be gladly accepted and appreciated.
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Digital Mobile Radio Talk by South Dublin Radio Club
The next South Dublin Radio Club talk focuses on Digital Mobile Radio
(DMR) concepts. This will take place on Tuesday next, the 24th of
September. The club opens at 7:30 p.m. and the talk starts at 8 p.m.
sharp. Visitors are welcome at the community centre on Marian Road in
Rathfarnham Dublin. Keith Garland EI9BAB will give a talk on DMR which
is a popular digital voice standard used on VHF and UHF. This
presentation will focus on some of the technical aspects of the
protocol and how it is used in commercial systems including obfuscation
and encryption facilities. There will also be some interesting
real-world demos and a question-and-answer session.
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Collective Communication Update
Next Saturday, the 28th of September, Collective Communication will be
trying out their Es'Hail-2 satellite equipment from the exact QTH that
they'll be using next month during JOTA. They want to ensure that
contact with the satellite can be made from the intended location.
According to the club, this is not to cause disappointment for the
scouts that has happened in the past due to unfavourable HF
propagation.
EI3CC will be at the scout campground at Ballyscanlan Lake, Waterford
from around 10 a.m. local time on the Saturday until approximately 4
p.m. local time. They have already arranged scheduled contacts with
other scout related amateurs at three scout camp sites around Europe.
These are in England, Portugal, and Luxembourg. In addition, a scout
related station, A75GM in Qatar, is also hoping to join them along with
stations in Serbia and Hungary if those stations have their satellite
equipment set up by then.
EI3CC hope other stations with the ability to use ESHail-2, which uses
the call sign QO-100, will join in the on-air fun as well. If you don't
have equipment suitable for operating through Es'Hail-2 there is a
dedicated webSDR that will enable you to listen to the satellite at
eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/.
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DX F�ile 2024
DX F�ile which is organised and run by the EIDX Group takes place on
Saturday October 5th in the Temple Gate Hotel, Ennis. Due to the
enormous interest in this year's event, all accommodation packages are
now fully sold out. Convention day tickets are still available, but
these still need to be pre-booked in advance.
See presentations from the $500,000 N5J DXpediton to Jarvis Island, the
hugely successful CY9C DXpedition to St. Paul Island, the 8R7X team
from Guyana, and not forgetting EIDXG's own 7P8EI activity from Lesotho
earlier this year. You are invited to come and meet Ireland's DXers and
have a great day out with the ever-popular CW and SSB simulated pileups
and a fun DX quiz to name a few. For further information, please
contact David via email to ei9fbb /at/ gmail.com or telephone 087
7444777.
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Shannon Basin Radio Club SSB DX Nets
Shannon Basin Radio Club's 80m SSB DX net recommences on Thursday night
next, the 26th of September. It starts at 9 p.m. local time on 3.770
MHz +/- QRM. All are very welcome to join in. Information about their
topband DX net will follow in due course.
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145 Alive Event Next Weekend
The next 145 Alive event takes place next Sunday, the 29th of
September. It runs from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. This is not a contest but is a
fun activity to promote experimentation and use of 2-metre FM simplex.
David Gardiner EI3IXB is coordinating net control locations and
frequencies. Anyone interested in getting involved as a net control
station should contact David via email at ei3ixb /at/ gmail.com.
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Artic 252 starts test transmissions on October 1st
Just over one year ago, the longwave radio mast at Summerhill, Co.
Meath was demolished ending the broadcasts on 252kHz from Ireland.
However, long wave listeners may be interested to learn that new
activity may start to be heard from the start of October from an
Artic-based radio station in Finland. Test transmissions commence on
October 1st. It may be challenging to receive it given the existing
strong signals from Radio Algeria's Tipaza station on the same
frequency, however. You can learn more about this initiative at
www.arcticradio.net __________________________________________________________________
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 September 22nd, 2024