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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday March 24th, 2024


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC

The March meeting of the EI2WRC group will take place tomorrow, Monday, March 25th at 8 p.m. sharp at the New Community Men’s Shed, Ozanam Centre, Coffee House Lane, Waterford. Anyone that has an interest in amateur radio or communications in general is very welcome to come along. SWLs are, in particular, very welcome to attend. For more information about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact details please see www.searg.ie


Shannon Basin Radio Club Net Update

Shannon Basin Radio Club will be hosting their final top band DX SSB net of the season on Monday March 25th at 9 p.m. The final 80-meter net of the season also will be on Thursday March 28th from 9 p.m. The club would like to thank all who called in to the nets and texted in reports over the last six months. They report receiving lots of positive comments and praise especially for bringing a bit of life back to the 160-meter band. The club plans to be back in the autumn to recommence the nets.


IRTS QSL Bureau

Anthony EI6GGB is the IRTS QSL sub-manager for member callsigns with the number five in them. He asks that anyone looking for number five QSL cards, to contact him via email and to include your callsign. He will have QSL cards for distribution at the Shannon Basin Radio Club table at their rally in Ballinasloe on April 14th. Anthony’s contact details may be found in Echo Ireland.


7P8EI DXpedition to Lesotho

Thirteen operators of the EIDX group are active in Lesotho. They are on the air until March 29th operating as 7P8EI. The station is operating on SSB, CW, and FT8 stations running MSHV. It is reported that can be worked relatively easily even using ten-meter FM. They have already gotten some EIs in their logs and look forward to getting plenty more EI stations logged.


Upcoming Rally Dates

Shannon Basin Radio Club rally and monster raffle featuring top prizes from fifteen different sponsors takes place on Sunday April 14th. It will be held in the Shearwater Hotel in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway as part of the 2024 IRTS AGM weekend. Doors will open at 10.00 a.m. and admission will be €5. Further information may be found at www.sbrc.ie/agmweekend

Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club’s 40th rally will get underway on Sunday 5th May 2024. The venue is the Share Discovery Village located at 221 Lisnaskea Rd, Lisnaskea, Enniskillen BT92 0JZ. Doors will open at 11 a.m. Admission will be five euro or five pound which includes a ticket for the draw on the day.


Contest Calendar Update

The next UK and Ireland Contest Club (UKIECC) 80m contest of their season is on Wednesday March 27th, 2024, at 20:00 UTC on CW. The bonus stations EI5G operated by Tim EI2KA and G5GEI operated by Geoff G0UVX will be active.

Following this on Thursday evening next, March 28th, the RSGB 3.5MHz Club Championship Contest series runs. This time, the mode used will be SSB. It takes place from 20:00 UTC to 21:30 UTC. You can learn more about this at www.rsgbcc.org

On Bank Holiday Monday, April 1st, you are invited to take part in the IRTS 2m and 70cm Counties Contest. The fast-paced 70cm counties contest starts at 2 p.m. local time and runs for just thirty minutes. Immediately afterwards, the two-metre contest starts and runs for ninety minutes from 2.30 p.m. until 4 p.m. The modes used will be FM and SSB. Six different contest sections are supported which include a SWL category. Further information and the rules may be found at www.irts.ie/contests


Digital Amateur Television Returning to the International Space Station

In 2019, the digital amateur television unit on board the International Space Station (ISS) called HamTV was brought back down to Earth for repair following a failure. A SpaceX resupply mission to the ISS launched on Thursday March 21st which included the new HamTV system in the payload. It is not expected be activated for at least a few weeks yet, however. When operational again, it is anticipated it will transmit digital video and audio in the 13-centimetre band.


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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