Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday August 4th, 2024
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC
EI2WRC will be QRV from the Inistioge Vintage Rally, in Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny today Sunday the 4th of August. Keep a listen out for them on HF. The vintage rally which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year is a great fun filled family day out with loads of vintage cars and engines from times gone past. There are loads of things for all the kids too. If you are looking for a great day out, head on down to Inistioge and call by the SEARG demonstration area where the SEARG crew will be delighted to meet you and explain all about amateur radio to you.
EI2WRC will activate Hook Lighthouse ILLW reference IE0003 on Saturday and Sunday the 17th and 18th of August for the 27th International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. The present structure at Hook is about 800 years old and is the oldest intact operational lighthouse in the world. This makes it the most sought-after lighthouse for this great event, not alone within Ireland but also internationally. For more info, please see www.hookheritage.ie EI2WRC would like to thank Larry Colgan and all the event staff at the Hook Lighthouse visitors centre and Phil Lawlor from Irish Lights for all their help in planning this event.
For more information about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact details, please see www.searg.ie
The Next 145 Alive event is on Sunday 29th September
Two metre FM will be sparked into action again across Ireland and the UK on the 29th of September. The next 145 Alive event will take place that afternoon from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Full details will be announced in coming weeks. Anyone interested in setting up a control station is asked to contact David Gardiner EI3IXB at ei3ixb /at/ gmail.com. David will coordinate locations and frequencies on a first come first serve basis. You are advised to get in early as they ran out of frequencies last September such was the interest.
Shannon Basin Radio Club Trialling a Repeater Linkup
Shannon Basin Radio Club announce the live trial of a radio link between their club repeater EI2SBR and Donegal Amateur Radio Club s EI2TKR repeater on Truskmore. You can now also access EI2SBR via Echolink and Allstar. You are welcome to take part in the trial which even included a successful Echolink QSO while onboard on a transatlantic flight recently. The club wishes to thank all those involved and appreciates the joint club effort required to put this in place. If anyone notices any issues during the trial, you are asked to please send a note to admin /at/ sbrc.ie. Further information about Shannon Basin Radio Club may be found at www.sbrc.ie as well as via their social media channels.
ComReg Radio Spectrum Management Operating Plan Consultation
ComReg has announced an open consultation regarding a Radio Spectrum Management Operating Plan for 2025 to 2028. Amateur radio is a part of this consultation. They note several areas of focus affecting the 2,216 radio amateurs currently licensed by them. They welcome responses from all stakeholders and will review and consider all responses received. Once this process is complete, ComReg will issue a final decision. They have set a deadline of 5 p.m. on the 30th of August 2024 for submissions. Further information including the consultation document itself may be found via the news section of ComReg's website which is available at www.comreg.ie
Contest Updates
IRTS Contest Manager Mark EI6JK reports that all EI0HQ logs from the IARU HF championship were received, and the final log was uploaded. He reports a great result with 3653 QSOs logged. Mark wishes to thank Joe EI7GY for organising and submitting logs and to everyone who operated the station. These included Declan EI6FR, John EI4L, John EI3ISB, Roger EI8KN, David EI5KG, Tim EI2KA, and Pat EI9HX.
The results of the VHF/UHF Field Day which took place over the 6th and 7th of July have been published. Activity was relatively low this year but well done to all that took part in running stations for the event. In partnership with the IRTS, RSGB, and the GMDX Group, the 2024 UK/EI DX SSB contest will take place over the weekend of August 31st and September 1st. This will run for 24 hours starting from 12:00 UTC on Saturday the 31st using SSB on the 80m to 10m bands. You can learn more about this at www.ukeicc.com
RSGB 2024 Convention Update
The RSGB 2024 Convention will take place from October 11th to October 13th in Milton Keynes. As a particularly notable part of this, the RSGB announce that their keynote speaker this year will be Rafal EI6LA who will be speaking about "The future of amateur radio licensing and education". Their booking system is now open, and you can find the details at www.rsgb.org
Possible return to Bouvet Island in January 2026
Plans are afoot for another DX-pedition to Bouvet Island at the end of 2025 or early 2026. The 3Y0K [Three-Yankee-Zero-Kilo] team will consist of up to 20 or more operators with extensive experience in DX-pedition and contesting. The current plan for their 1.6-million-dollar budget adventure is to stay for three weeks around Bouvet Island using a large vessel and helicopter to get to the island itself.
Perseids Meteor Shower
Meteor scatter fans will be keenly awaiting the peak of the Perseids meteor shower which occurs over next weekend between August 11th and 13th. The source of the shower is the Comet Swift-Tuttle. Earth moves through the comet's tail each year during late July and early August. Fragments of comet debris burn up in the Earth's atmosphere and the shower is most intense when Earth is in the dustiest part of the tail.
This is typically the most anticipated meteor shower of the year. Operators can make VHF contacts up to 2000km away by using ionised trails caused by the fiery streaks to refract signals. For sky watchers, the best time to watch is during the hours before sunrise.
Items for Inclusion in Next Week's Radio News
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. The deadline is midnight on Thursday.
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