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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 26th April 2020


IRTS Counties Contest

The IRTS 80 metres Evening Counties Contest takes place on Tuesday next 28th April at 20:00 UTC - that's 9.00pm local time. This is a one hour contest with separate SSB only and SSB/CW sections. Multipliers are the EI and GI counties; for EI and GI stations, overseas DXCC entities also count as multipliers. See www.irts.ie/contests for links to the rules, which include permitted frequency ranges. Note that there is a upper limit of 100 watts PEP for this contest. We had great support for a similar event in March and hope that this event will be equally successful.


Bank Holiday Monday Contest

A one-off independent 2m contest is being held on the Bank holiday Monday on May 4th to promote 2m usage during the COVID-19 lockdown. From 2pm to 3pm local time there will be an FM contest where operators should exchange signal reports, serials and 4 character Grid Squares. And from 3pm to 4pm there will be an FT8 contest using the standard FT8 messages to exchange signal reports and grid squares. The contests are open to all licensed amateur radio operators and Short Wave Listeners but due to the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions no portable or mobile operation is permitted. Further details can be found at www.vhflockdown.fun . We hope to hear you on the air during the contests!


Reception Reports

IRTS News readers and callers-in regularly give Short Wave Listeners a welcome to the broadcast. It would be great if those SWL's would email their reception reports and location. In an attempt to be more inclusive the IRTS would sincerely appreciate if some of our SWL's would compose an article about their history and experiences as listners. Are you using the latest technologies or do you still use some old but treasured Boat Anchors? Echo Ireland would love to hear your stories and reminisences and your listening station details. Please send your material to “newsteam /at/ irts /dot/ ie".


Significant Digital Voice Growth

The installation of three additional gateways for digital voice modes has finally been completed. EI2BED based in Roscommon provides coverage across the west-midlands and eastern side of county Galway. EI7SND located in Mullingar expands this coverage across the eastern part of the midlands region. The third gateway EI2KTD which is located in Kildare, extends coverage even further in the south eastern direction. Additional information about these systems is available from their QRZ.com profile pages and from www.myham.net


Friedrichshafen

The annual amateur radio fair, HAMRADIO, scheduled to be held in Friedrichshafen in June of this year has been cancelled due to government restrictions on large gatherings in Germany. The next fair will be held from June 25th to 27th 2021. As one of the largest amateur radio exhibitions in the world, alongside the Hamvention in Dayton/Ohio, USA and the Ham Fair in Tokyo/Japan, HAMRADIO attracts exhibitors and visitors from more than 50 countries all round the world to Friedrichshafen. A special feature of the fair is the combination of commercial exhibitors, worldwide amateur radio societies and associations, and Europe’s largest radio flea market with over 300 participants from 25 countries.


Shannon Basic Radio Club Nets

The Shannon Basin Radio Club is now having a net on Top Band every Monday evening at 20:00 Local on 1.916. The 80 meters net continues to be on Wednesday evenings on 3.740 plus or minus qrm at 20:00 and the 2 meter net is on Thursday evenings at 20:00 local. There has been a lot of interest in the nets over the last couple of weeks and everyone is welcome to join in. See the clubs Facebook page and www.sbrc.ie for more details.


5MHz Newsletter

Reminder: The latest edition of The 5 MHz Newsletter (No 24 – Winter/Spring 2020) is now available for free pdf download from the ‘External Links’ section of the Wikipedia 60m Band page or the RSGB 5 MHz page. This edition includes 5 MHz news from 7 countries, GB3WES Beacon Closedown, a 5 MHz Controlled Feeder Radiation Dipole, plus features the latest World of 5 MHz Map.


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. If you currently receive a copy of the IRTS Radio News Bulletin by email as a news reader and wish to modify your address, please inform the editor in order to have it changed on the news readers mailing list.

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