IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday June 29th, 2025

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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday June 29th, 2025
     __________________________________________________________________

Hugh Mellerick RIP

   We regret to report the death of Hugh Mellerick on June 21st. Hugh
   served as a Radio Officer at sea before joining RT� in the Network
   Southern Area where he served until retirement. A native of Cork, Hugh
   made a very significant contribution to RT�'s mission of delivering
   sound and pictures to the people of Ireland. May he rest in peace.
     __________________________________________________________________

South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC

   The next in-person meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will
   take place on Monday, July 28th at 8 p.m. sharp at the South East
   Technological University. Netlabs Research and Innovation Building,
   SETU West Campus, Carriganore, Waterford. The Eircode is X91 WR86. New
   members or anyone that has an interest in amateur radio or
   communications in general are very welcome to come along. SWLs are in
   particular very welcome to attend also.

   For more information about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact
   details please see www.searg.ie
     __________________________________________________________________

PJ6Y DXpedition to Saba

   In October of this year, the PJ6Y Pacific Island DX Group plan a
   DXpedition on the Caribbean island of Saba which has the IOTA reference
   NA-145. A diverse international team of 12 to 14 operators will take
   part. The team will include nine first-time young DXpeditioners. It is
   being arranged as an opportunity for young amateur radio operators to
   experience DXpeditioning at the highest level for the very first time.

   Additionally, 30 to 40 young hams will join remotely using the NexGen2
   rig-in-a-box system made possible through a grant from the Northern
   California DX Foundation. The team will set up three local and two
   remote stations, operating CW, SSB, FT8, and satellite, from two
   separate operating locations. The DXpedition on the island which has an
   area of just 13 square kilometres is planned to run from the 17th to
   the 29th of October 2025.
     __________________________________________________________________

VHF/Microwave News

   For the coming week, some tropospheric propagation opportunities can be
   expected at the start and then again near the end of the week.

   AIS or Automatic Identification System is a short-range coastal
   tracking system used in maritime navigation. AIS devices comprise a GPS
   receiver and a data radio unit. This system enables ships all over the
   world to identify each other. The power used is up to 12.5W on
   frequencies in the region of 162MHz. Given the high levels of maritime
   traffic around coast of Ireland and further afield, this system can be
   used as very useful propagation indicator for VHF.

   If you have a spare 2m white stick antenna and a simple USB-based or
   other type of software defined receiver, you can consider trying to set
   up your own AIS receiving station to identify propagation opportunities
   on the 2m band even if you are far from the coast. AIS Friends
   Volunteers Network located at aisfriends.com is one of the ways you can
   use to visualise data received.

   The next 145 Alive event takes place on July 20th, 2025, from 12 p.m.
   to 3 p.m. local time. If any operators are interested in taking part as
   a net control station, please email 145aliveuk /at/ gmail.com to
   register.
     __________________________________________________________________

Anniversary Day at Grimeton Radio Station

   The 100th anniversary of World Heritage Site Grimeton takes place next
   Wednesday July 2nd, 2025. To mark this occasion, you will have a chance
   to experience two launches of the historic transmitter. You will also
   be able to try receiving the transmission of a telegram using the
   callsign SAQ at 09:00 UTC and then again at 13:00 UTC. The frequency
   used will be 17.2 kHz and the mode is CW. Several online receivers are
   available for you to listen in to the activity. The event will also be
   livestreamed on YouTube. Further information may be found at
   alexander.n.se
     __________________________________________________________________

ARRL Logbook of the World Upgrade

   ARRL's Logbook of The World is an extremely popular service
   internationally for amateur radio operators. It is the primary means
   for providing confirmations for ARRL Awards, such as DXCC and Worked
   All States. Logbook of The World can be found at lotw.arrl.org

   As a part of the ongoing modernization of the ARRL systems
   infrastructure, it will be receiving major upgrades over the coming
   days. These changes will, among other improvements, ensure it can meet
   the demands of its users. As a result, Logbook of the World will be
   unavailable from June 27th to July 2nd, 2025, to complete these
   upgrades.
     __________________________________________________________________

Contests and Events

   The results of the recent IRTS CW Field Day weekend over the 7th and
   8th of June have been published on the IRTS website. Well done to all
   that took part.

   The IRTS VHF UHF field day weekend takes next weekend July 5th and 6th.
   Five separate contests will run on each of the 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cm, and
   23cm bands. Further details including the rules may be found at
   www.irts.ie/contests

   The IRTS contest manager Mark EI6JK is seeking operators to operate the
   IRTS contest callsign EI�HQ for the six CW and SSB slots in the IARU HF
   championship. This event takes place over the weekend of July 12th and
   13th. If interested, please contact Mark EI6JK via email to
   contest_manager /at/ irts.ie
     __________________________________________________________________

Items for Inclusion in Next Week's Radio News

   That is the news for this week. Thanks to everyone for sending items
   into the weekly IRTS radio news. They are very much appreciated and are
   a great way to update the rest of the community about activities. If
   you have any club events, activities, meetings, or other items of
   interest, you are very welcome to email newsteam /at/ irts.ie with the
   details. These will be automatically forwarded to the IRTS radio and
   printed news services. The deadline each week is midnight on Thursdays.

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