Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 28th June 2020
VHF/UHF Contest Next Weekend
Due to the continuing need for social distancing, VHF/UHF Field Day, which normally takes place over the first weekend of July, will not take place this year. Instead, IRTS is running a series of one-off VHF/UHF contests over the weekend of 4th and 5th July. Stations entering the contest may be fixed or portable, provided any travel to the station QTH is in accordance with government guidelines. There are separate contests for each of the five VHF/UHF bands, with two hours each for 6 metres, 4 metres, 70cms and 23cms, and three hours for the 2 metres event. Full details may be found at www.irts.ie/contests the IRTS Contests page. Last years open section was won for the 13th successive time and 15th time in total by the crew at EI9E/P. The 50MHz and 144MHz sections were won by the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group EI7T/P and John Brown EI7FAB/P was the winner in the 432 and 1296MHz sections. There was no entry on 70MHz.
Echo Ireland Summer Edition
The summer edition of Echo Ireland should have been received by all members during the week. The 48-page edition, edited by Veronica Holohan, contains all the usual regular columns, plus lots of other informative articles, including information on digital repeaters, getting going on CW, echolink conference list, APRS activity, setting up a portable station, how to call CQ on CW and much more. A list of all trophy winners that should have been presented at the postponed AGM in April is included and if you are a winner and would like to collect your trophy, please get in touch. Also included is a selection of operator and shack photographs. Thanks to the many members who contributed to the summer issue and any input for the autumn issue can be sent to newsteam/at/irts/dot/ie.
EI News
The monthly IRTS online publication, EI News, is sent out to all members who have submitted an email address on the first day of the month. If you do not receive a copy and have an email address, please send it to memrecords/at/irts/dot/ie. You may still have time to get material included in the July edition by emailing it to newsteam/at/irts/dot/ie. All mail sent to the newsteam address will reach the editors of Echo Ireland, EI News and the weekly radio news bulletins.
Licence Exams
Licence exams will be held in Dublin on Saturday 25th July in the Maldron Hotel, Tallaght, closing date July15th, in Cork on Saturday 8th August in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Little Island, closing date July 29th and in Galway on Saturday 15th August in the Menlo Park Hotel, closing date August 5th. See www.irts.ie/exam for full details of these exams, including the application process and latest dates for receipt of applications. Places for exams are limited, they are allocated on a first come first served basis and are only reserved on receipt of an application form and the exam fee.
Islands on the Air Contest 2020
This year’s Islands On The Air Contest run by the RSGB will take place over the weekend of July 25th and 26th. Due to the situation with Covid-19, entries will be restricted to single operators using their home stations. Trophies will not be awarded this year, but downloadable certificates will be available to winners. A significant rule change this year is that a signal report will have to be included in every QSO.
Kerry Amateur Radio Group 80m net
The Kerry Amateur Radio Group hold a weekly net on 3.650MHz at 1930 local time on Tuesday evenings. Everybody is welcome to give a call.
Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club
LCARC members are looking forward to re-activating the club facility in the Atlantic Air Adventures Aviation Museum in Shannon over the coming weeks. A hex beam is expected to be delivered shortly, VHF and UHF antenna will be installed and coupled with a number of other projects, they expect to have a busy summer. With the IRTS announcement of the dates for the next HAREC Exam, LCARC club members are available to help anyone preparing for the exam. Club members are also available to run the HAREC course - anyone interested should contact LCARC Chairman, Dermot Gleeson (via e mail) ei2gt at eircom.net.
IARU HF Championships
The annual IARU HF Championships contest will be held in two weeks time, over the weekend of July 11th and 12th. National society headquarters stations count as multipliers in this contest and the IRTS HQ station EI0HQ will be operated on all bands on CW by Ger EI5KF. If anybody wishes to operate the callsign on SSB, either single band or all band, please contact the Contest Manager Joe Ryan EI7GY as soon as possible. Email Joe at IRTS.contests/at/gmail/dot/com
Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club Lectures on Zoom.
This Tuesday June 30th, Mid Ulster ARC will be hosting another one of their Lecture Series via the Zoom platforms at 7pm. The topic will be 'Amateur Radio and Raspberry Pi projects' with Nathan Mi0NPR. Their Tuesday night lecture series started at the beginning of lockdown and the series has become more popular as the weeks have gone on. Everyone is welcome and as the platform is online it does not matter where you are. They will have a presentation followed by a discussion and question and answer session. MUARC Tuesday Night Lecture Series happens every Tuesday evening at 7pm. For further info and zoom information contact Dave 2i0SJV via dcparkinson /at/ icloud.com
Irish EI1KNH VHF beacon on 60 MHz now uses FT8
Tim, EI4GNB reports that the new configuration for the EI1KNH 5-metre beacon is FT8 - CW - Carrier, with FT8 being in the first period of every minute. There are no breaks, just 60 phases an hour non-stop. This should make it easier for people to listen for it as there is a huge user base running the FT8 and WSJT-X software. Previously it was running PI4 which is a specialised digital mode for beacons. If anyone hearing the beacon tunes to 60.012 MHz USB, they should see FT8 decode at 1240 Hz. Tim writes..."It is hoped that the FT8 addition will encourage more people to check for the beacon, it being a simple task of adding the 60.012 frequency to their software's FREQUENCIES list, as ALL REGIONS and ALL MODES, then they can just quickly flip over when working ft8 on 6m to see if the MUF is rising to at least 60 MHz." More information on ei7gl.blogspot.com
Items for inclusion in next week’s radio news can be submitted by email to newsteam/at/irts/dot/ie for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. The deadline is midnight on Thursday Urgent news items for the radio news may be telephoned to 087-6290574.
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