Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 22nd November 2020
SpaceX Dragon Capsule Resilience Ferries Four Radio Amateurs to the ISS.
SpaceX Dragon capsule Resilience carrying four radio amateurs, autonomously docked on November 17 at 0401 UTC with the International Space Station (ISS). A SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher carrying the precious payload went into space on Sunday, November 15, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. They comprise the ISS Expedition 64/65 crew. The four Radio Amateurs are NASA astronauts Victor Glover, KI5BKC; Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, and Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, as well as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP. The three American Astronauts will be active in ARISS contacts with schools during their stay in space until next Spring.
HAREC Examination Classes on Zoom
The first course on the Zoom platform run by IRTS volunteer tutors commenced on Wednesday last and will continue until February the 24th. Initial reaction has been very positive. A second course will commence next Thursday November the 26th and will run until March the 4th. Registrations for the current courses has now closed but expressions of interest in a course starting in the new year are very welcome at any time by email to training at irts.ie. A Sunday night help desk on the Zoom platform is available for course participants who may have queries or follow up questions from any of the classes. To date, nine experienced members have volunteered to act at course tutors. Other volunteers would of course be very welcome at training at irts.ie. The courses are provided free to IRTS members.
IRTS Publications
The Irish Radio Transmitters Society publishes its printed journal Echo Ireland every quarter. EI News is published monthly and is distributed online to all members. The weekly Radio News bulletin is broadcast nationally on 40 and 80 metres every Sunday and is rebroadcast by clubs around the country on various repeaters. It is also available by email and is on the IRTS website. Material is always required for these services and input for any of them can be sent to newsteam at IRTS.ie. The deadline for the Winter edition of Echo Ireland is November the 30th and as the EI News is published on the first day of the month, the deadline is next Saturday the 28th. Please do your bit to keep these services going.
Volunteers Needed for Propagation Research Project
HamSCI, the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation Project is a platform for advanced scientific research and understanding through amateur radio activities and works with scientists and radio amateurs around the world. Amateur radio reporting networks, such as the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), PSKReporter, and the Weak Signal Propagation Network, are powerful tools for remote sensing the ionosphere. These voluntarily constructed and operated networks provide real-time and archival data. HamSCI is looking for amateur radio operators around the world to help collect propagation data during the December 14 eclipse across South America. Data collection requires an HF radio connected to a computer. There will be 24-hour practice runs on November 21 and December 5. The main data recording will run from December 9TH to the 16TH, to ensure an abundance of control data. Interested operators should directly contact Kristina Collins at kd8oxt /at/ case.edu for further information.
Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club Talks
On Tuesday, November 24th, the Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club will host a talk by Gordon West WB6NOA on being an amateur using emergency comms during actual emergencies. Gordon is very known for his long-term involvement in the Gordon West/W5YI Ham Instructor Program and he is also a host on ham nation. He lives in California where they experience regular ‘real’ emergencies. If you want the Zoom log-in for this presentation, send an email to dcparkinson at icloud.com You can watch all previous MUARC talks at https://www.youtube.com/MuarcMedia/videos The Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club lectures are now held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays each month.
Southern Ireland Repeater Group
The Southern Ireland Group operate a network of seven RF linked analogue repeaters in the Southern half of the country. They have 2 metre analogue repeaters on the Devil’s Bit mountain in North Tipperary and on Helvick Head in County Waterford. Five 70 centi-metre analogue repeaters are provided by the group and the locations are Mount Leinster on the Carlow – Wexford border, Farmer’s Cross near Cork City, Mullaghanish Mountain on the Cork – Kerry border, Carrigphierish in Waterford City and at Harney’s Cross overlooking Clonmel and this one is managed by the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group. IRLP Node 5883 can be accessed from all the repeaters on the network. The group also provide six APRS digipeaters plus an APRS IGate on 144.800MHz which provide coverage over a significant part of the southern half of the country. UHF MMDVM multimode digital repeaters capable of DMR, Fusion, D-STAR and Analogue modes are provided at Carronadavderg, between Youghal and Dungarvan, another in Waterford City and one on Mount Leinster. The repeaters are available for use during public service events and to other organisations in times of emergency. The weekly IRTS Radio News is broadcast on the Network by the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group on Tuesday evenings at 2000. This group operates independently of any other club or organisation and without any membership fees. Repeater keepers John McCarthy EI8JA and Neil Powell EI3JE and their support team deserve all our thanks. If you benefit from this great service, you can show your appreciation by making a donation towards the networks upkeep and further development by logging on to sirnrepeaters.blogspot.com.
On the Air next week
The UK EI Contest Club hold their monthly 80 metre CW contest on Wednesday next from 2000 to 2100. The leading EI entry in last month’s contest was EI7M with 70 QSOs. LY4ZZ with 73 QSOs was the overall winner. A few more entrants from EI would be appreciated. Next weekend is the big one for CW contesters and DXers as the CQ World-Wide CW DX contest runs from midnight on Friday until midnight on Sunday. The leading EI multi-operator station in lasts year’s contest was EI0R, the WestNet/Grande Louth DX Alliance Contest Station operating from the QTH of EI2CN in County Louth. The leading EI single operator in the high power all band section was Gerard EI5KF while Axel EI8JX was the top EI in the low power all band section. Also on next weekend, over the same 48 hour period, is the ARRL EME contest on 50 to 1296MHz. This is a great opportunity to test your receive capabilities on these bands. On the DX scene, Clublog has released its new list of "most-wanted" DX entities and North Korea (P5) is once again at the top. The rest of the top-ten, in order, are all islands: Bouvet (3Y/B), Crozet (FT5/W), Scarborough Reef (BS7H), San Felix (CE0X), Pratas (BV9P), Kure (KH7K), Johnston (KH3), Peter I (3Y/P) and Kerguelen (FT5/X). The complete list is on the Clublog website at clublog.org. There will be lots of DX activity around next weekends CQWW CW contest with stations testing later in the week. A small sample includes the OH0Z Team who will be active from Aland Islands, IOTA EU - 002, Jeff, N1SNB will be active as V31AZ from Belize and Vakhtang, 4L8A will be active from Tbilisi, Georgia. Don, K6ZO will be active soon as D60AB from Comoro Islands, IOTA AF – 007 operating on the HF Bands. Ali, EP3CQ will be active as 6O1OO from Somalia, from November 15th to 15 January 2021. Once again, a reminder that the Irish Hour net meets daily on 14.156 MHz at 1700 with a special emphasis on the Sunday evening net.
Cork and Kerry Activity on Zoom.
Both Cork Radio Club and the Kerry Club meet on the Zoom platform on every Monday evening at 2030 after the IRTS News on the Cork Repeater read by Vincent EI7HN and they both extend a warm welcome to visitors. The Zoom link to the Cork gathering is available on the Cork Radio Club Facebook page while entry to the Kerry meeting can be obtained by emailing KARG.ei9fvb at gmail.com
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/dot/ie for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. The deadline is midnight on Thursday. Urgent items for the news may be telephoned to 087-6290574
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