Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday June 15th, 2025
News from the IRTS
HF newsreaders are required to join our current panel of newsreaders for the weekly Sunday morning 40m and 80m IRTS news bulletins. There is very little involved in reading a bulletin and no experience is necessary. If any licensed IRTS member living in EI feels like that they would be interested in becoming part of the IRTS newsreaders panel or if you require more information, please get in touch with the IRTS News Coordinator Seany EI2HZB by phone on 083 4713001 or via email to irts_pro /at/ irts.ie.
Preparations are in full swing for IRTS Hamfest 2025. This new initiative by the IRTS will take place over the weekend of September 6th and 7th in conjunction with the IRTS SSB Field Day weekend. It will take place at the Mullingar Showgrounds, Culleen, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. It brings novice and experienced people together in one place along with a very wide array of amateur radio equipment, technologies, and experience. You are invited to come along and learn via hands-on practical tutorials that you can take part in or bring your radio-related gear to show others how to set it up correctly. Camping and campervan parking is available and encouraged.
If interested in getting involved or for further information, please contact the team via email to hamfest /at/ irts.ie
Welcome to the new Irish radio amateurs
Please welcome 18 new Irish radio amateurs! They attended the latest training course, class Hotel, that was offered by the National Short Wave Listeners Club. Out of the 50 who started this six-month journey, 25 took the ComReg licensing exam in May. They have reported that the exam was fair, but, unfortunately, not everyone made it this time. Seven of the students were out of luck. However, they are planning to continue revising over the summer, and to take the autumn exam.
The NSWLC would like to thank ComReg, and the IRTS Exam Board for their hard work on what is the most essential step in turning hopeful candidates into new Irish radio amateurs.
The National Short Wave Listeners Club is planning an open evening session on the 9th of October 2025. It will explain how to get an Irish amateur radio station licence. This evening will be aimed at anyone interested in joining the next HAREC course, likely to start some time in November. More details will be announced soon. The NSWLC Training Coordinator wishes to thank the entire team which consisted of ten tutors and many more mentors and revision assistants who dedicated over 500 hours of volunteering effort.
Tipperary Amateur Radio Group
The next meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will be held at The Princess Bar, Irishtown Upper, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary on Wednesday the 18th of June 2025 at 8 p.m. The Eircode for this venue is E91 PW90. The meeting is open to all and Short Wave Listeners are in particular very welcome to attend. For more information about Tipperary Amateur Radio Group, visit their group website at www.ei7trg.ie
Abbey Theatre stage a play inspired by amateur radio
The Abbey Theatre in Dublin is bringing the world of ham radio to the stage with their new play called Static. This thrilling world premiere which explores an astronaut's chance connection with a Donegal radio operator over the airwaves is at the Abbey Theatre from the 20th of June until the 18th of July.
This play is inspired by events at the end of the Soviet Union when a radio operator in Donegal contacted a cosmonaut on Mir. The Abbey Theatre is delighted to offer all of the IRTS community 10% off tickets with the discount code Static2025. Tickets are on sale at www.abbeytheatre.ie or via the box office which can be contacted by phone at 01 87 87 222. We hope you enjoy the show!
VHF/Microwave Updates
Throughout the coming week, watch out for periods of enhanced tropospheric propagation. For FM operators, you may find opportunities to work repeaters well beyond your normal range. CW, SSB, and digital mode operators may also find some exciting but somewhat fleeting opportunities to work short lived but strong Sporadic E openings if conditions reported over the past few days continue.
The IRTS VHF-plus management team continues to review the list of repeaters, gateways, and beacons listed on the IRTS website. Information regarding both new and off-air repeaters to help update the records would be most welcome via email to vhf_manager /at/ irts.ie.
The team is also seeking interest from operators regarding a series of potential EI-led multimode activation events for the 2m, 70cm, and 23cm bands. These will likely take place during evening times based on feedback received so far. If you are interested in getting involved, please get in touch via email to vhf_manager /at/ irts.ie. Ideas and input regarding any aspect of VHF and above in EI are welcome at any stage via email to the same address.
Anniversary Day at Grimeton Radio Station
The 100th anniversary of World Heritage Site Grimeton takes place on July 2nd, 2025. On this day in 1925, the establishment was formally inaugurated. To mark this occasion, two transmitter launches are planned along with the transmission of a telegram using the callsign SAQ. The frequency used will be 17.2 kHz and the mode is CW. Several online receivers are available for you to listen in to the activity on the day. The event will also be livestreamed on YouTube. Further information may be found at alexander.n.se
IARU Monitoring System Region 1 Newsletter
The May edition of the IARU Monitoring System Region 1 newsletter is now available for download. It reports that a transmission mode that wasn't previously encountered within amateur radio HF bands was received. The report states that it is a proprietary military system. In addition, nearly one thousand radar transmissions were reported during May of this year. Closer to home, reports of Irish fisherman without amateur radio licences on the 80m band paint a colourful picture regarding life on the sea.
This free and insightful report can be downloaded from the Monitoring System section of the IARU website located at www.iaru-r1.org
Contest and Events
For those that took part in the IRTS CW Field Day last week, please note that the deadline for logs is next Sunday June 22nd. Logs should be sent to the IRTS contest manager via email to contestmanager /at/ irts.ie
The next IRTS field day focuses on the VHF and UHF bands. It will run over the weekend of July 5th and 6th. Five separate contests take place on each of the 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cm, and 23cm bands. Further details including the rules may be found at www.irts.ie/contests
The 53rd Bangor and District Amateur Radio Society Annual Radio Rally takes place next Saturday, the 21st of June. The venue is Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church Hall, 376 Belfast Road, Bangor BT19 1UH. Doors open at 11.30 a.m. and admission is £5.
Items for Inclusion in Next Week's Radio News
That is the news for this week. 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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