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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 08 January 2023


News from the IRTS

The last IRTS committee meeting for 2022 took place on Saturday, the 17th of December 2022. It was held on the Zoom platform. The meeting which lasted over two hours was very well attended by IRTS Committee members, officers of the Society and many club representatives. The meeting was chaired by IRTS Vice-President Enda EI2II, and over the two hours many topics were discussed. With the 2023 IRTS AGM taking place in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, over the weekend of April 29th and 30th, the IRTS Awards Committee is seeking nominations for "Awards for Services to the Society or to Amateur Radio" and for "Awards to IRTS Members for Other Achievements". The winners will be presented with their inscribed trophy or shield, in person, at the AGM. Please send your nominations for specific awards to the Awards Manager, Jim EI4HH by email to holohaj2 /at/ hotmail.com , no later than Saturday, February 5th. The working groups for "SWOT Analysis" and "EMF" have now been formed and are continuing with the work in hand in both areas. A big 'Thank You' to all who volunteered for both working groups. The IRTS Archive working group had a productive 'kick-off' meeting on December 20th 2022, where the session was primarily focused on outlining the Society's current and past data to establishing its importance in relation to backup and historic value. Technology solutions to achieve proposed goals will need to be researched in the new year. The IRTS are continuing to compile a panel of newsreaders for the weekly Sunday morning 40m and 80m IRTS News Bulletins for 2023. If any fully licensed EI feels like that they would be interested in becoming part of the IRTS News Readers panel, can they please get in touch with the IRTS Public Relations Officer Seany EI2HZB directly on 083 4713001 or by email to irts_pro /at/ irts.ie by Friday, January 28th. The next IRTS Committee meeting will take place on Saturday, January 29th at 11 a.m. and will once again take place on the Zoom platform.


IRTS Youth

Radio Scouting Ireland are pleased to be applying for affiliation to the IRTS. Radio Scouting Ireland are a group of amateur radio operators and scout leaders who have been working over the last year at engaging with scout troops, to ensure that amateur radio is at the heart of scouting activities. This means that instead of scouts only seeing our great hobby at JOTA-JOTI, they will have the chance to incorporate amateur radio in their regular scouting activities such as hikes and camps. Radio Scouting Ireland is lead by Marty Grady EI2IAB, and a team of dedicated volunteers including John Holland EI3ISB, Albert White EI6KO,Declan McGuire EI6IVB, Neil Goolding EI9IWB, and the IRTS Youth Officer Niall Donohoe EI6HIB, to name but a few. To get in contact with Radio Scouting Ireland please email radioscoutingireland /at/ gmail.com


News from GI

On Tuesday, the Bangor and District Amateur Radio Society will be having a social evening and a K3 demonstration. On Thursday, there will be another social evening from 7.30 p.m., for an 8pm start. Visit Facebook to see details of the venue or contact Gordon McBriar, GI6FZI via email at gi6fzi /at/ yahoo.com.

The Carrickfergus Amateur Radio Group meets on Tuesday evenings from 7 p.m. in the Elim Pentecostal Church, North Road, Carrickfergus. All are welcome, the contact person is John, GI0USX at gi0usx /at/ yahoo.co.uk.


80 Years Vasteras Radio Klub

Throughout 2023, one of Sweden's oldest and largest radio clubs celebrates its 80th anniversary. To draw attention to this, Vasteras Radio Klubb, which in Sweden is known as VRK, will use a unique call-sign and a never before assigned prefix. 8S80AA will be heard on all bands and all modes between 2 meters and 160 meters. In addition to a series of happenings, physical activities and participation in a large number of contests during the year, VRK also offers a beautiful printable special award via email for working VRK club stations. You can find a complete list of all the club's members and their special calls at the web address www.sk5aa.se


The 5 MHz Newsletter

A map of 'The World of 5 MHz' shows that 85 countries now have 60m band allocations, a success story chronicled by the 5 MHz Newsletter since its first publication in Autumn 2011. The latest newsletter has articles about activities on the 60m band in Malaysia, South Africa, United States, Samoa, but also a reminder of the new allocation here in Ireland. It's worth checking out the article about the 'Pyramid Antenna'. The archived and the latest issue of the '5 MHz Newsletter' can be found on www.wikipedia.org/wiki/60-meter_band .


ITU WRC-23 Booklet

The International Telecommunication Union WRC-23 booklet can now be downloaded in all six languages of the ITU from www.itu.int . The booklet provides easy access to the WRC-23 agenda as well as to the pertinent resolutions referenced therein.


4m band in HB

Since the start of this year, hams in Switzerland will be allowed to operate on the 4m band using all commonplace simplex modes. The Swiss amateur radio association USKA reports that their communications authorities have granted approval to hams holding HB9 licenses for a maximum operating power of 25 Watt ERP on 70 to 70.0375 MHz and on 70.1125 to 70.5 MHz.


DX NEWS

The 3Y0J DXpedition team heading for Bouvet Island is scheduled to depart on Wednesday for a 44 day trip, with 22 days to be spent on the island. They will have a dozen stations that can be operated simultaneously, made up of eight CW and SSB stations, plus four operating on FT8. Full details for this long awaited DXpedition are on www.3y0i.no . TN8K, TR8CR, C5YK and D44TWO appeared on HF with good signals, all expected to be active for another fortnight. TN8K from the Congo Republic was repeatedly heard on 20m using split frequency to get on top of the large pile-ups for TN8K, keeping the eight Czech hams busy. And so is Andre ON7YK, he is active as C5YK, mostly on 12 and 10 meters. Roland F8EN is transmitting from Gabon as TR8CR, and D44TWO on Cape Verde can be heard on 60m and above, mostly on the digital modes.


Topband WAB Contest

Taking advantage of improved conditions on the lower bands, there is a chance to participate in a short Topband contest. Next Saturday, the 14th of January, the Worked All Britain 1.8 MHz Phone Contest runs from 19:00 to 23:00 UTC. Using SSB on the 160m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number, and of course British stations also send their Worked All Britain square.


The Propagation Horoscope

A coronal mass ejection, associated with an X flare, occurred from just beyond the eastern limb last Thursday. The expanding plume missed Earth, but it looks like this active region is good for another strong flare as it travels across the Solar disc, becoming Earth-facing on Sunday. This makes a reasonable prediction for the coming week impossible, although for now the geomagnetic field is quiet and settled. So it is safe to expect continued good DX on bands above 40m, even 10m will see DX traffic until late into the night. Barring deeper blackouts, every part of the world can now be worked on most HF bands. But it's the lower frequencies that come into their own, with longer grey-line propagation windows on 160 to 60 meters just before sunrise.

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.

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