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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 4th February 2018


Silent Key EI6AG

We regret to announce the death of Alex Barrett EI6AG at the Bon Secours Hospital, Cork on Thursday February 1st.

Alex, from Glounthaune, Co. Cork, was well known to older amateurs as the owner of Southern Electronics, the main dealer for Ireland for Storno Radios. Alec many years ago imported and distributed the Swan 350 , one of the first SSB transceivers available. In recent years he could be heard on 160 metres with chats to the Irish & UK stations there.

We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife Enda and four daughters and extended family.


IRTS Annual General Meeting

The IRTS AGM will be taking place in the Galway Bay Hotel overlooking the sea front and popular holiday resort. On Saturday there will be lectures held in the afternoon from 2pm. These will include An Introduction to Digital Radio (by Steve Wright, EI5DD, and John Ronan, EI7IG), Having Fun in Space by Graham Shirville G3VZV, the 7Q7EI Dxpedition (by Pat O’Connor, EI9HX and Enda Broderick EI2II) and Weak Signal mode - FT8 (by Keith Wallace, EI5KO). The Annual dinner takes place in the evening at 7:30pm. On Sunday the Rally will take place in a spacious conference hall located underneath the Hotel.

The Galway VHF Group are offering all Traders tables. The will be no charge for the table but there will be a charge of €5.00 per person entry fee to the Rally. Radio Clubs are encouraged to set up an information stand to publicise their activities and repeaters etc. There will be many traders in attendance which will include Mike Higgins, EI0CL, Long Communications, Oak Electronics, The RSGB Book Stand, MREN Bring and Buy, Brandmeister Ireland – Digital Radio, The IRTS, many Radio Club information tables and more to come! Club Tables so far, Mayo VHF Group, Galway Radio Experimenters Club, M.R.E.N. and the Galway VHF Group.

Doors will open at 10:00 am to facilitate a longer time for the Rally. Tables and any enquiries should be addressed to: Steve Wright, EI5DD, email “wrights1 /at/ eircom /dot/ net” or phoned to 087 2451218.

Meals will be available on Sunday in the Carvery for all the weary travellers prior to the AGM.

Those seeking a room at the hotel should mention the IRTS when booking to get the special rate for the weekend. There are numerous B&Bs in the area of Salthill which may be found on the B&B finders on the internet.

Repeaters in Galway include: Tonnabrucky Fusion/analog: RX 145.625, TX 145.025 CTCSS 77Hz; Abbeyknockmoy Analog Repeater: RX 430.825, TX 438.425 CTCSS 77Hz and Multimode Digital Gateway on 144.850 MHz.

Tickets for the Dinner maybe purchased from the IRTS website - see the IRTS AGM tab.


IRTS Awards

Nominations are being saught by the IRTS Awards Committee for “Awards for Services to the Society or to Amateur Radio” and “Awards to IRTS members for Other Achievements”. Details of these Awards are available at www.irts.ie under the Awards section. Nominations should reach the Awards Manager Jim Holohan EI4HH, email “holohaj2 /at/ hotmail /dot/ com”, as soon as possible.


Phoenix Amateur Radio Club Rally

Just a few days to go before the Phoenix Amateur Radio Club rally. The rally will take place on 11th February 2018 in Coolmine Community School, Dublin 15, D15 FW97. Doors will open at 10:00 a.m. The EI DX group will be present, so you can learn more about the expedition to Malawi 7Q7EI in March. In addition to this there will be traders present. As with other years, the rally will be a great day out for all. To book a table contact Tony at 087-243 9997. Tea and refreshments will be available all day. Unlimited free car parking.


Morse Tests

Morse testing will be held at the Phoenix Radio Club Rally at the Coolmine Community School on Sunday February 11th starting at 1100.

Places can be booked by contacting Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574 or by email to “ei4bz /at/ eircom /dot/ net”.


Limerick Radio Club

The Annual General Meeting of LRC will take place on Thursday 8th February in the Limerick Institute of Technology starting at 19:30. There are some important decisions to be made so a good turn out of club members is requested.

Brendan EI0CZ, Harry EI2KL and Tom EI5CA continue with Morse Practice, on the Limerick 2 metre repeater (145.725/145.125 MHz), after the IRTS News at 20:00 on Mondays and at 20:00 on Tuesdays.


Tipperary Amateur Radio Group

The February meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group is to take place in The Park Hotel, Clonmel on Thursday 22th February at 8.30pm. New members or anyone interested in amateur radio are very welcome to attend.

For anyone who wishes to find out more about the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group and its activities you can come along to any of their meetings. You can also check their website www.ei7trg.ie or contact club PRO Ronan EI4KN at QTHR for further information.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The 2018 AGM of the group will take place on Monday the 26th of February 2018 in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford at 8.00 p.m. sharp. As this is the most important meeting of the year for the group all members are please asked to attend. New members or anyone interested in the hobby are very welcome to come along also.

For anyone that wishes to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and their activities you can come along to any of their meetings. You can check out their website www.searg.ie and you can also join them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.


MREN

Mayo Radio Experimenters next meeting is on Wednesday 7th February 2018 at 9.30pm in the Breaffy House Hotel, Breaffy.

Activities for 2018 will be discussed. Domnic EI9JS will demonstrate some digital modes with particular emphasis on FT8, the mode that is most popular at the moment!

Throughout the year the club holds monthly competition for the members to participate in, each month has a different activity, scores for each month are accumulated at the end of each year and the winner is announced.

The competition was revised for this year going forward and digi-modes are included for October and November. Domnic EI9JS was the winner for 2017.

New members or anyone interested in learning more about amateur radio or intending sitting the HAREC examination is as always very welcome to attend.

Some MREN members will attend the Phoenix Amateur Radio Club rally which takes place on 11th February in Coolmine Community School, Dublin, on their table there will be a selection of recycled junk (useful equipment) and other radio related equipment. More information please look at the for sale page of the club website www.ei7mre.org

For anyone that wishes to find out more about the Mayo Radio Experimenters and their activities you can come along to any of their meetings. You can check out their website www.ei7mre.org, also you can join them on Facebook.

If you require more information about the club please contact the club secretary Brendan EI6IZ at QTHR or by dropping an email to “mayoradioexperimentersnetwork /at/ gmail /dot/ com”


DX News

By the time you hear this news bulletin the Bouvet Island DXpedition should have hit the airwaves. The callsign being used is 3Y0Z and activity is scheduled for all bands. Just listen for the pileups !!!!

Three Italian operators will be active until 10th February as D68I from the Comoro Islands in the Indian Ocean. They are on 10 – 80m CW, SSB and Digital. The IOTA reference is AF-007. QSLs go via IK5CRH.

Bernie W3UR, editor of the popular e-mail DX bulletin called ‘The Daily DX’, is at present operating from Calypso Bay on the island of St Kitts in the Caribbean. Using the callsign V47UR he will be there until 12th February. QSL via Club Log OQRS.

Also in the Caribbean is Jean-Pierre F6ITD who is QRV as FG/F6ITD from the island of Guadeloupe until 15th March. He can be found on SSB and FT8.


Items for inclusion in next week’s Radio News can be submitted via e-mail to “newsteam /at/ irts / dot / ie” for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. Urgent news items for the radio news may be telephoned to the radio news editor, Mark EI6HPB on 086 355 2370.

Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no later than midday on Thursday in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following Sunday’s bulletin.

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