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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 3rd June 2018


Upcoming IRTS Meetings

The IRTS would like to remind all affiliated clubs to nominate a member of their club who is also a member of IRTS to act as the club's representative for this year. Some clubs have already done so. For additional information regarding this role, please make contact with the IRTS Secretary.

IRTS Officers and Club Reps are entitled to attend the monthly IRTS meetings.

Below please find the Date - Time – Venue for the next 3 IRTS Committee Meetings.

Saturday 23rd June, 11am. Creggan Court Hotel, Athlone.

Saturday 21st July, 11am. Maldron Hotel, Portlaoise.

Saturday 15th September, 11am. Creggan Court Hotel, Athlone.


Shannon Basin Radio Club

The Shannon Basin Radio Club will be operating from The Cavan and Leitrim Railway in Dromod Co. Leitrim on Sunday 17th June as part of the museums on the air weekend. It is open to the public from 13:00 so please come by and say hello. See www.shannonbasinradioclub.com or www.cavanandleitrim.com for directions.


100 kHz for South Africa on 60m

On Friday 25 May South African regulator ICASA published the National Radio Frequency Plan 2018 in which amateur radio was allocated 100 kHz on a shared basis in the 60 metre band, as well as channel 5290 kHz for the 5 MHz propagation research project. The spectrum 5350 to 5450 kHz is now available to all licensed radio amateurs operating under this plan on a shared non-interference basis, with a power limit of 15W EIRP. The SARL Council is working on the 60 m band plan using Recommendation LA17_C4_REC_02 from the 2017 Region 1 General Conference as its basis. Council will publish the band plan as soon as possible and then operation on 60 metres can begin.

In addition, the channel 5290 kHz has been allocated for WSPR beacons deployed in the SARL Propagation Research project and its members can continue to use this frequency.


Howth Martello Radio Group

Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio will take part in the International Museums Weekend event on Saturday and Sunday 16th and 17th of June from the Martello Tower in Howth using the callsign EI0MAR. Visitors are welcome to come along and particularly welcome are volunteer operators on CW or SSB. If interested in operating please send details of when you would be available to “ei0mar /at/ eircom /dot/ net”.


IECRO Radio Club - EI0IPN

The IECRO radio club in Mullingar will be shortly beginning its next session of training courses to prepare candidates for the license examination at the end of this year. If you have been thinking of personally becoming an amateur radio operator, or have a friend who may be interested in becoming licensed, then the IECRO Radio Club in Mullingar may be able to assist in preparation for the examination. The aim of the clubs training programme is to ensure that examination candidates have both a very high level of knowledge relating to all aspects of the exam syllabus and plenty of practical experience. A good number of candidates have already signed up. To enquire or to book a place, contact can be made via email to “info /dot/ iecro /at/ gmail /dot/ com”. Anyone who has already emailed the club and received a confirmation reply, will be notified of the start date closer to the time.


EIDX Group

The EIDX Group has begun to activate all Irish IOTA Groups. Using the 'Echo Juliet' prefix, EJ0DXG will be QRV from IOTA EU-006, EU-007, EU-103 and EU-121 this summer.

Supported by dxwanted.net a beautiful plaque will be available for whoever works them on 4 different IOTA Groups. So, as a 'Bonus' or 'Wildcard' station, EI0DXG will also be QRV from Mainland Ireland (EU-115) throughout and until September 30th 2018.

Teams are already confirmed with all necessary permissions in hand. 6m fans should note that some of these islands are also in rare Grid squares and for Worked All Ireland followers...will also count towards the Island award.

Starting off with 'Little Saltee Island' EU-103 on June 15/16/17/18th....the group will be QRV on HF and 6m bands using CW, SSB and Digital modes.

July will see activity from the Great Blasket Island EU-007 where as August will see EU-121 grace the bands from Bere Island. Their last Island activity ends September 16th as part of their DX Féile weekend from Inishmore, Aran Islands EU-006.

More information can be found on their Facebook page, just search for Irish Islands IOTA Tour 2018.


DX News

Harald DF2WO will be active again as 9X2AW from Kigali, Rwanda from 5th – 24th June. Look for him on all bands CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8. His QSL manager is M0OXO.

Several Costa Rican amateurs will be QRV from Uvita Island as TE6DX from 7th – 11th June. This will count as NA-155 for the Islands on the Air award. QSL via Club Log OQRS.

Walter HB9XBG will sign FO/HB9XBG from the island of Bora Bora in French Polynesia from 7th – 17th June. Look for him on 20m SSB. QSL to his home call.

David EB7DX is active as S9ZZ from Sao Tome Island until 9th June. This is a holiday style operation using SSB, RTTY and FT8 and some CW. Sao Tome counts as AF-023 for the IOTA Award. QSL to the home call.

The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers is a day to remember those who served in UN peacekeeping operations. Members of the UN Global Service Centre located in Brindisi, Italy are marking the day by using the special callsign 4U29MAY until 30th June. For DXCC this counts as Italy and the QSL manager is 9A2AA.


Items for inclusion in next week’s Radio News can be submitted via e-mail to “newsteam /at/ irts / dot / ie” for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. Urgent news items for the radio news may be telephoned to the radio news editor, Mark EI6HPB on 086 355 2370.

Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no later than midday on Thursday in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following Sunday’s bulletin.

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