Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday June 22nd, 2025
Silent Key - EI3JF Maurice Donworth
This week, we learned the sad news that Maurice Donworth EI3JF passed away on June 8th, 2025. Maurice lived in Bruff, Co. Limerick. We extend our sympathies to his family Mandy, Lewis, and Desmond, extended family, and friends. May he rest in peace.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC
There will not be a physical June meeting of the EI2WRC club. The next in-person meeting will be the July one, which will take place Monday, July 28th at 8 p.m. sharp at the South East Technological University. Netlabs Research and Innovation Building, SETU West Campus, Carriganore, Waterford. The Eircode is X91 WR86. New members or anyone that has an interest in amateur radio or communications in general are very welcome to come along. SWLs are in particular very welcome to attend also.
For more information about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact details please see www.searg.ie
Shannon Basin Radio Club Meeting
Shannon Basin Radio Club will host their next meeting on Friday the 27th of June at 8 p.m. sharp. This will take place in a new location which is St. Brigid's GAA Clubhouse in Kiltoom, Co. Roscommon. This is just outside Athlone and the Eircode is N37 WK60. All are welcome to attend and discuss the upcoming events, contests, and participation in the "IRTS Hamfest" weekend. Further details about Shannon Basin Radio Club may be found at www.sbrc.ie or via email to admin /at/ sbrc.ie
AllStar/EchoLink Node on Truskmore Back Online
The AllStar/EchoLink Node on the EI2TKR Truskmore repeater in Co. Sligo, operated by Donegal Radio Club went offline in the middle of May. The issue was investigated by keeper EI5IMB and found to be a failure of the Raspberry Pi computer.
Subsequently, difficulties with firmware upgrades and configuration compatibility of the LTE router prolonged the overall restoration of service. However, Donegal Radio Club is happy to announce it is back online as of June 18th.
Keeper Dave and the Donegal Club would like to convey their thanks to John EI5INB of the Shannon Basin Radio Club for his patience and assistance in restoring the router element of the system.
EI2TKR is part of a network with permanent links to the EI2SBR Sliabh Bawn and EJ7IBD Inishbofin repeaters, except on Tuesday nights when it separately connects to the Southern Ireland Repeater Network for the IRTS News.
Emergency Frequencies for Hurricane Erick
AREN reports that Hurricane Erick was expected to make landfall in Mexico over the past few days. The Director of the National Emergency Network of the Mexican Federation of Radio Experimenters requested protection for emergency frequencies for use during the approach and aftermath up of the hurricane.
These are 3.960kHz, 7.128kHz, and 14.120kHz. The frequencies are centres of activity, and some emergency activity may take place in adjacent frequencies. The hurricane may have passed before this news bulletin, but follow-up activities may still be using the frequencies.
Anniversary Day at Grimeton Radio Station
The 100th anniversary of World Heritage Site Grimeton takes place on July 2nd, 2025. The establishment was formally inaugurated on this day in 1925. 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 17.2kHz and the mode is CW. Several online receivers are available for you to listen in to the activity. The event will also be livestreamed on YouTube. Further information may be found at alexander.n.se
VHF/Microwave News
Round 7 of the European FT8 activity series takes place on Wednesday July 2nd. This runs from 17:00 to 21:00 UTC using both FT4 and FT8 modes on the 2m band. Increased activity will provide the possibility of working new DXCC or squares. It can make use of short-lived propagation or even detect great openings which have been occurring over recent days and might otherwise go unnoticed. Further information about this activity may be found at ft8activity.eu
For users of Automatic Packet Reporting System or APRS, a weekly net called APRSThursday takes place for 24 hours. Each Thursday, a global network of amateur radio operators use this mode to share messages. 144.800MHz is the APRS frequency in Europe. For operators both old and new, it is a great opportunity to explore APRS and make contacts with other stations joining the net. It has steadily grown in popularity with now over 500 operators taking part in APRSThursday each week. Further information may be found at aprsph.net
Contests and Events
The RSGB 50MHz CW Contest takes place next Sunday June 29th. It will run for three hours starting at 09:00 UTC and the scoring is one point per kilometre.
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
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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