Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 23 April 2023
IRTS Awards For The Year 2022
With the IRTS 90th Gala Dinner taking place on the 29th of April the IRTS Awards Committee will be presenting the Service Awards And Other Achievements to winners after the gala dinner has finished. The following is a list of nominees for Awards For Services And Other Achievements. Rafal Lukawiecki, EI6LA, Megan Lorenz EI5LA, the National Shortwave Listeners Club, Dave O’Connor EI6AL, Seán Byrne EI2HZB, Hugh O’Donnell EI2HI, the Limerick Clare Radio Club EI4LRC, Dermot Madsen EI4ESB and Stefan Zalewski EI4KU. The trophies and cups for Contest Winners will be presented after the conclusion of the AGM on Sunday, the 30th of April. The following is a list of Contest Winners for the year 2022. Aidan McGrath EI8CE, the Mayo Radio Experimenters Network EI7MRE, Dave Moore EI4BZ, Bill Somerville-Large EI9FK, Mandy Lacey EI1627, the Avondhu Radio Club EI1E, Network Southern Area Experimenters Club EI9E, the Shannon Basin Radio Club EI3Z, John Browne EI7FAB, Tipperary Amateur Radio Group EI7T, Mark Condon EI6JK, Seán Kennedy EI4IP, Axel-Joachim Kaltenborn EI8JX, Roger Greengrass EI8KN, Tom Cocking EI4DQ, David Sherwood EI5KG and Gerard Scannell EI5KF. Certificates for each contest may be downloaded from the IRTS website.
Keith EI5IN sends an updated report about activities organised by Shannon Basin Radio Club during the 90th IRTS AGM Weekend taking place next week in Ballinasloe. The talks from 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 29th will feature the V26EI DXpedition to Antigua, updates about Youngsters On The Air activities in EI, how to get into radio teletype RTTY, and everything you need to know about building your own satellite ground station to receive and operate LoRa satellites, weather probes, and other flying objects. We kindly remind everyone that the deadline to get a ticket for the IRTS Gala dinner on Saturday April 29th, starting at 7.30pm is looming and to secure your ticket now. We will have not one, but two super raffles over the weekend. The first will take place during the IRTS Gala dinner and the second one, featuring over 1500 Euro worth of prizes, will take place during the Shannon Basin Radio Club rally on Sunday April 30th. Door entry and raffle tickets for the rally will go on sale from 9 a.m. on Sunday next. We look forward to meeting everyone at what will be one of the most exciting radio-related weekends in Ireland this year. Further information about tickets and the schedule can be found at www.sbrc.ie/agmweekend
Morse tests will be available by appointment. Please contact our Chief Morse Tester Dave Moore, EI4BZ for arrangements.
Anyone looking for number 5 QSL cards is asked to send a request to Anthony EI6GGB via an email to ei6ggb /at/ gmail.com . Cards can then be collected at Sunday’s rally in Ballinasloe.
HAREC Examination
The IRTS Examination board would like to advise candidates that the closing date for applications for the upcoming HAREC examinations on Saturday, the 13th of May is fast approaching. The closing date for applications is the 30th of April 2023. Examinations will be held at Dublin and Cork venues on the 13th May. All current applicants have been contacted and over 50 applicants have confirmed their intention to sit the examination on the 13th May already. New applicants are encouraged to send their applications to the Examination board as soon as possible, before the 30th April cut-off date, to avoid disappointment. Applications must be sent to irts.exams /at/ gmail.com
Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club
Simon EI7ALB reports that following damage done by recent storms, the club's HEX beam was repaired last Thursday, just in time for International Marconi Day. The six bands of the HEX Beam are again fully functional. Several club members are active from the LCARC station in the Shannon Aviation Museum for IMD. The club extends a warm welcome to our new members and what a better way to start than to participate in Marconi Day.
Tipperary Amateur Radio Group
On Wednesday, the 19th of April 2023 last, members of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group met at The Talbot Hotel in Clonmel at 8 p.m. for their Annual General Meeting. This was a well attended meeting with group members travelling from Counties Kilkenny, Waterford and Cork joining their County Tipperary based colleagues. Andy EI5JF chaired this very productive meeting, with John EI7IG reading the minutes from the last AGM. Group treasurer Thomas EI2IT reported a healthy financial situation. A review of the year and upcoming activities were discussed at length. The new incoming committee was then elected as follows: Chairman Andy Jay EI5JF, Vice Chairman Brian Kelly EI2JKB, Secretary John Ronan EI7IG, Treasurer Thomas Hallinan EI2IT, Group Public Relations Officer Hugh O'Donnell EI2HI, and Events and QSL Manager Paul Norris EI3ENB. The meeting concluded at 11 p.m. when Andy EI5JF thanked all for their input and efforts in attending this AGM of TARG. All group meetings in 2023 will continue to be held at The Talbot Hotel, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. For more information about TARG go to the group website www.ei7trg.ie , or you can follow them on Facebook under 'Tipperary Amateur Radio Group'.
South Dublin Radio Club
Daniel EI9FHB announces that the South Dublin Radio Club AGM will take place at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the 2nd of May 2023 at Ballyroan community centre on the Marian Road in Rathfarnham. All members are asked to attend.
Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club
LEARC will hold it's annual rally at the Share Discovery Village, 221 Lisnaskea Road, Lisnaskea , County Fermanagh, post code BT92 0JZ. On Sunday, the 7th of May the doors open at 11.30 a.m., the entry fee is 5 Pound Sterling or 5 Euro. There will be various trade stands for equipment and components, the RSGB Bookstall, an IRTS stall and the WAB stand. Breakfast and lunch is available and bar open. The Share Discovery Village is a disabled friendly location. To book your space please contact Alan at argault91 /at/ gmail.com or by phone at 07771 811484
Contests
Next Wednesday the UK-EI 80m CW contest runs for one hour, from 20:00 Zulu to 21:00 Zulu, with the logs to be uploaded before 22:00 Zulu. This is a good opportunity to prepare for a full 24 hours of CW operation next weekend: HF contesters worldwide are invited to take part in the UK-EI DX CW contest on the last weekend of April 2023. The contest runs from 12:00 Zulu on Saturday, the 29th of April until 12:00 Zulu on Sunday, the 30th April, on the contest frequencies of 80m to 10m, using CW only. Everyone can work everyone else for points and multipliers, but a good score can only be achieved by working as many UK and EI stations as possible, as there are 155 possible multipliers in the UK and EI. This contest is a partnership between the UK and Ireland Contest Club UKEICC, the RSGB, the IRTS and the GMDX Group. See www.ukeicc.com for the rules. Free logging software is available from www.ei5di.com . The cabrillo log file should be uploaded via the online log submission robot within 24 hours. The provisional results will be posted online shortly after this deadline. A 'Thank You' to Paul EI5DI, not only for the invitation to this popular contest, but also making his contest logging software available on www.ei5di.com .
The Helvetica Worldwide CW, SSB, Digital Contest also takes place next weekend, from 13:00 Zulu on Saturday to 12:59 Zulu on Sunday. HB stations send the signal report and a 2-letter canton, while all others send their signal report and serial number. the organiser's web-page is at www.uska.ch .
HF Activities
Tune into the NNCW Net, the Nervous Novices are on the air every Wednesday on 80m, at around 3.550 to 3.555 MHz. NNCW starts at 20:30 local time, and carries on for at least an hour, led by Eamo, EI7LC. It's a great way for newcomers to acquire CW skills, develop routine and learn from the old hands, with many thanks due to Keith EI5KJ and Simon EI7ALB for giving their time.
Paul EI6LC has arrived in Bermuda for a stay until the 2nd of May. He has made arrangements with Ed VP9GE who has a holiday apartment which caters for visiting amateur radio operators, it is fitted out with antennas and rigs. Paul is active as VP9KF, already logging a high number of CW QSOs. He will soon be joined by Dermot EI6FM. Keep an eye on the DX-cluster for activity.
The station of shortwaveradio.de is run by shortwave radio enthusiasts from their transmit site in Lower Saxony, Germany. Their program frequently features Amateur Radio related topics. The new transmission schedule for this summer is from 07:00 to 17:00 UTC at weekends and from 15:00 to 17:00 UTC from Monday to Friday on 6160 kHz AM, and also from 17:00 to 23:00 UTC daily on 3975 kHz AM. For sending in a reception report with at least 30 minutes of programme details, including comments to the programme, QSL-manager Mario will reply with a printed QSL card. for details visit www.shortwaveradio.de .
The Propagation Horoscope
With Solar flux levels at around 170, a Solar wind speed of 400 km per second and moderate proton density, combined with a quiet geomagnetic field yielded good conditions on all HF bands from 80m upward. The MUF reached 30 MHz at noontime and did not drop too far throughout the night, so that early morning long and short path openings toward Asia and Australia could be worked on 20 and 17m. However, Monday will bring a drastic change. A mid-week CME arrives during the morning, it's effects maybe enhanced by radiation from a large equatorial and earth-facing active region crossing the solar meridian around the same time, longer lasting radio blackouts are the likely result lasting into Tuesday.
Phil EI9KP is continuing his VHF and UHF propagation experiments, inviting reception reports. Operating on 23 cm, he is using a panel PA23R in horizontal polarisation and an Icom IC9700, with about 6 Watts reaching the antenna. He would like to trial his new setup and he is available for a test on 23cm from his home QTH in IO54MB, with a good 'take-off' in easterly directions. Modes available are SSB, FT8 and Q65. Phil can be contacted via email, ei9kp /at/ gmx.com, or through the irts.groups.io forum.
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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