Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday March 16th, 2025
Silent Keys – Bill Igoe EI7IK and Willie Brown EI7CGB
This week, we begin with the sad news regarding two Silent Keys.
Bill Igoe EI7IK passed away on Saturday 1st March 2025 while visiting Edinburgh with his family. Bill was originally from County Roscommon and lived in Naas for the last 50 years where he operated his station, EI7IK. Bill was a warm, kind gentleman and a cherished member of his community in Naas where he was actively involved in local sports and community groups for many years. We extend our sincere condolences to his daughter, Trish, sons Dermot and Ken, eight grandchildren, and friends.
We also regret to announce the death of Willie Brown EI7CGB of Gurranabraher in Cork City. Willie passed away unexpectedly at home on Monday March 10th. Requiem mass was held on Thursday last followed by cremation in the Island Crematorium in Ringaskiddy. Licenced in 1986, he was a very well-known operator particularly on the VHF bands from his high site on the North side of Cork City. We extend our deepest sympathies to his children Vicky and Liam and his extended family.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha. May they both rest in peace.
News from the IRTS
The Spring 2025 edition of Echo Ireland is currently being distributed to members. It is also available to be downloaded for those who choose to receive it electronically. This jampacked 32-page edition contains all the usual articles as well as club reports from SEARG, Galway Radio Club, and Shannon Basin Radio Club amongst others.
Prior the 2025 AGM of the society, the 2025 Spring edition of Echo Ireland contains the auditors report for the year ending December 31st, 2024, the nominations for IRTS Committee for IRTS AGM 2025 on April 13th, as well as a 16-page pull out section which contains reports from over 15 IRTS committee and society officers outlining some of their work done during 2024.
The pull-out section is also available to members as a separate PDF download from the usual Echo Ireland download location. A special mention of thanks must go to Echo Ireland editor Veronica Holohan for the magnificent job she did on the publication.
The EIDX Group is once again active on the air, this time as 6Y7EI from Jamaica IOTA NA-097. The team has been active from Thursday last, March 13th and will be active until March 24th on all HF and 6m bands using CW, SSB, and FT8.
From Monday, March 17th, 6Y7EI will be running a dedicated 6m station and they are hoping the green path will be open back to Ireland so keep an eye out! The 12-man team this year include Heye DJ9RR, Enda EI2II, Thos EI2JD, David EI3IXB, Pete EI4GZB, Jim EI4HH, Jeremy EI5GM, Dermot EI6FM, Charlie EI8JB, Dave EI9FBB, Declan EI9HQ, and Kenneth OZ1IKY.
You can follow the group by searching Facebook for 6Y7EI or donate on the webpage www.eidxg.com to support the group. They would like to express thanks to those who have already been so generous. The QSL manager is Charles, M0OXO through his online OQRS system.
The group hopes to see even more EI callsigns in the log and improve on last year’s successful operation. On behalf of the society, we wish them well and hope you all get them in your logs.
With the 2025 IRTS AGM weekend taking place over the weekend of April 12th and 13th, the IRTS awards committee is seeking nominations for “Awards for Services to the Society or to Amateur Radio” and “Awards to IRTS members for Other Achievements”. Details of these awards are available at www.irts.ie under the awards section. Nominations should reach the IRTS Awards Committee by email to awards /at/ irts.ie before Sunday, March 23rd please.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC
Tables for individual traders or people who may have surplus radio gear or second-hand equipment to sell at the SEARG Radio Rally are now available to be prebooked. As the club must hire extra tables for the event, this will mean that any person who requires tables will be charged 10 euro per table which includes admission for one person into the rally. Additional tables will cost 10 euro per table and additional personnel will be 5 euro per person.
Table enquiries can be made to Seany EI2HZB on 083 4713001. Tables are limited and will be allocated on a first come-first served basis so contact Seany before March 30th, 2025, please. SEARG members will be on-hand on the day to help traders transport equipment in and out of the rally area.
With regards to the dinner tickets, EI2WRC would like to inform people that unless you have a dinner ticket, you will be unable to attend the IRTS Gala Dinner. All dinner tickets must be booked and paid for before 4 p.m. on April 8th, 2025.
In previous years, people could turn up on the day or let the club know the day before they wanted a dinner ticket but due to a change in hotel protocol this is no longer the case. Whatever number is given to the hotel at close of business on April 8th is the number of people the club is then required to pay for whether or not that amount of people may be seated for dinner.
Likewise, anyone that might have purchased a dinner ticket and needs to get a refund, a full refund will be given if you request it before 4 p.m. on April 8th. Unfortunately, requests for refunds cannot be catered for after that deadline.
For more information about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact details please see www.searg.ie
Dundalk Amateur Radio Society Update
Dundalk Amateur Radio Society operates a 2 metre VHF internet gateway using the Echolink protocol. The gateway is currently off air due to necessary upgrading works. Further information will be available via their Facebook page regarding completion of the works.
Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club
Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club reports that it has had a couple of very busy and successful weekends recently.
On the 1st of March, the club hosted a visit by ten members of the Patriot Radio Club from North Cork to the Shannon Aviation Museum, callsign EI4SAM. The visitors were given demonstrations by club members of the full range of club equipment and a lively discussion ensued.
Twenty members of the National Short Wave Listeners Club visited the station on the 8th of March and were hosted by Dermot EII2GT, Simon EI7ALB, and Gerry EI8CC. They demonstrated the extensive range of equipment at the station, including their most recent acquisition which is a full QO-100 satellite station. They also discussed the use of Peanut and Zello software in addition to online SDRs.
The annual club rally took place on March 9th at the Oakwood Hotel in Shannon and was a very successful event. LCARC wish to thank all of those who attended and all traders who had tables in particular Long Communications. A wide range of new and used equipment was on sale and many shacks are now sporting the items purchased. There was great interest in the raffle and the club wishes to thank Jane McGill of the Shannon Aviation Museum for donating a prize of a Boeing 737 Simulator session valued at 150 euro as well as Long Communications for donating a power supply at cost price.
LCARC will be celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2026 and as part of the celebrations will host the IRTS AGM in the Oakwood Hotel in Shannon. Planning for the anniversary is already underway, and a series of activities will be announced shortly.
PoLo Portable Logger Now Supports Worked All Ireland Squares
Paraic EI2LH reports an exciting update for portable operators. PoLo is a popular free portable logging app developed by Sebastián Delmont KI2D. He has released a March 2025 update which now includes Worked All Ireland (WAI) square tracking.
PoLo has gained rapid popularity among SOTA, POTA, WWFF, and Bunkers on the Air operators worldwide, including Irish Bunkers on the Air. Its intuitive design and excellent logging features make it a must-have tool for portable and mobile activators, supporting a wide range of award schemes.
Following a recent National Shortwave Listeners Club social, which featured a presentation on the WAI awards scheme by Dave EI4BZ, Paraic contacted the PoLo developer to explore adding WAI support. Sebastián kindly agreed, and the latest PoLo release now enables users to log WAI squares effortlessly. Paraic extends his sincere thanks to Sebastián KI2D for implementing this feature and encourages all portable operators to check out PoLo at polo.ham2k.com.
Items for Inclusion in Next Week’s Radio News
That is the news for this week and thanks to everyone for sending items into the weekly IRTS radio news. They are very much appreciated and are a great way to update the rest of the community about activities. If you have any club events, activities, meetings, or other items of interest, you are very welcome to email newsteam /at/ irts.ie with the details. These will be automatically forwarded to the IRTS radio and printed news services. The deadline each week is midnight on Thursdays.
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