Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday July 11th 2021.
Silent Key – Henry Cassidy EI7KU
We regret to report on the unexpected death at home of Henry (Cass) Cassidy EI7KU, ex EI9FG, on July 2nd, 2021. Henry had returned to the hobby in recent years and was a very active DXer on all bands especially on CW. Henry served in signals in the Irish Army and was widely recognised as a very proficient high speed CW operator. He was very active as OD/EI9FG while on overseas duty in the Lebanon. We extend our deepest sympathy to his family, relatives and friends. May he rest in peace.
IRTS Committee Meeting July 17th
The next meeting of the IRTS committee will be held on the Zoom platform on Saturday next July 17th at 1100. Affiliated clubs and societies with at least five IRTS members amongst their membership are reminded that they may nominate one of their members to attend IRTS committee meetings. The name of the elected club representative should be advised to the IRTS secretary. Club representatives do not have a vote. Members should be aware that matters of concern to them can be raised with the committee by way of a letter to the Secretary and should be aware that posts on Facebook do not appear on meeting agendas.
YOTA Contest
The second session of the 2021 Youngsters On The Air contest will take place on Sunday next July 18th from 1000 to 2159utc. This is a change of date from the originally announced July 17th. The contest is organised by the IARU Region One Youth Working Group co-operating with the Hungarian national Society MRASZ. The objective of the contest is to increase youngster’s activity on the air, promote the YOTA programme and demonstrate support for youngsters in radio across the world. The exchange for single operator stations is report plus operator age on January 1st. It would be very helpful if you can accommodate a young operator, licensed or not, in your station for the event. The full details can be found on www.ham-yota.com/contest/ or you can contact the IRTS Youth Officer Niall EI6HIB at yota /at/ irts.ie.
National Short Wave Listeners Club
Meetings of the National Shortwave Club on Sunday evenings at 2000 on the Zoom platform will continue over the Summer months and they continue to attract around half of the membership of almost 120 most weeks. A decision has been made to suspend the weekly Wednesday revision classes until it looks like an examination will be held within a reasonable time. Hopes are high that following next Thursdays Government announcement, an exam date will be published as soon as possible thereafter. Interest in the new on-line classes which will begin in the autumn is already high and anyone interested is invited to reserve their place via email to ‘training at SWL.ie’
The RV Braveheart For Sale
The RV Braveheart, is well known to most serious DXers, and it has been chartered by numerous DXpedition teams over the years, is now up for sale. The asking price is 250,000 New Zealand Dollars or approximately 145,600 Euro. The research and expedition ship was built in Japan in 1981 and is now registered in New Zealand. It is 36 metres long with a beam of 9.5 Metres and has berths for 6 crew members and 12 passengers. The Braveheart while owned by Nigel Jolly was responsible for providing a new country to many DXers world-wide and our own Declan EI6FR made trips on her to operate at ZL9CI, VP8THU, VP8GEO and ZL8R. Let us hope that the new owners will be as accommodating to the amateur radio community.
OH2BH Book now available online for free.
Marti Lane OH2BH is one of the world’s best known DXers and his book ”Where Do We Go Next” published in 1991 has gone on to be a classic with over 12,000 copies published in four languages. Now, thanks to the Northern Californian DX Foundation, it is available for free download as a PDF online at www.ncdxf.org/pages/oh2bh.html The 300 page book looks at all aspects of DXpeditions from both an organiser and operators’ point of view.
Slow Morse Club EI1SMC 17th to the 25th July
Starting next Saturday, July17th and running for 9 consecutive days until Sunday July 25th special event stations EI1SMC, GB1SMC and TM1SMC will celebrating the "Slow Morse Club's" first year of operation. Intended for those radio operators who prefer a more leisurely approach to using or learning CW, the Slow Morse Club welcomes new, and not so new CW operators from around the globe and now has over 1900 members. Both CW and SSB modes will be used by all three special event stations from time to time on HF and VHF amateur bands as propagation permits. From Monday the 19th to Friday July 23rd, EI1SMC operated by Keith EI5KJ and John EI3HQB can be found working at 10 to 12 words per minute CW (with extended pauses between letters) each afternoon from 1500z on either 80 metres (3.550 to 3.560Mhz), 40 metres (7.020 to 7.030MHz), 30 metres (10.110 to 10,120MHz), or 20 metres (14.050 to 14.060MHz) depending on the vagaries of afternoon propagation. Keep an eye on the cluster and the Slow Morse Club Facebook page for more updates.
International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend
The International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend is normally run over 48 hours on the third full weekend in August and this year it starts at 0001z on the 21st August and finishes at 2359z on the 22nd. There are currently 206 lighthouses listed for activation on illw.net. The only Echo India entrants listed at the time of writing are the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group who will again be activating the Hook Lighthouse in County Wexford.
On the Air next week
The IARU Region One 70MHz contest runs for twenty-four hours from 1400z on Saturday next. The modes are CW and SSB and the exchange is report, QSO number and your 6 character grid square. The North American QSO Party on RTTY starts at 1800z on Saturday next and runs until 0559z on Sunday. The exchange is just your name while stations in North America send name plus state, province or country. The CQ Worldwide VHF Contest runs on both 2 metres and 6 metres next weekend, starting at 1800z on Saturday and finishing at 2100z on Sunday. The exchange is your 4 character grid square. The RSGB International Low Power Contest is run over two sessions on Sunday next the 18th. The first one is from 0900 to 1200z and the second one is from 1300 to 1600z. The maximum power allowed is 10 watts and the mode is CW on the 80, 40 and 20 metres bands. Full rules on rsgbcc.org. The Russian Radiosport Team Championship will be held on Saturday next staring at 0700z and finishing at 1459z. This is a field day style contest where thirty teams representing districts in the Russian Federation set up in one area with a separation of roughly 500 metres between stations. The callsigns used are R31AA to R39ZZ and teams can change callsigns every two hours. Operation will be on CW and SSB on the 40, 20, 15 and 10 metre bands and the exchange is report and three character number for Russian stations and everyone else sends report and ITU Zone. Also running at the same time will be a similar style Bulgarian contest with callsigns ranging from LZ0AA to LZ0AF The Amplitude Modulation Amateur Radio Society and the AM Amateur Radio Europe Facebook group are running their Summer 2021 AM QSO Party from 1800utc on Friday July 16th to 1800utc on Sunday the 18th on all the HF bands. Full details of the event are available at amqsoparty.wixsite.com/mysite.
DX news Gerry, G3WIP is QRV as ZD7GB from Jamestown until September 6. Activity is in his spare time on 40 to 10 metres, including Satellite QO-100, using SSB, FT8 and FT4. Frank, K3TRM will be QRV as VP2V/K3TRM from Tortola, IOTA North America-023, from July 4 to 17. Activity will be on 40 to 6 meters, including some Satellite activity, using SSB, RTTY and FT8. Special event call sign R100KOMI is QRV until September 30 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Komi Republic, created on August 22, 1921, as an Autonomous Oblast. Special event stations 3Z1980LL, HF1980LL, SN1980LL, SO1980LL, SP1980LL, SP1980LS and SQ1980LL are QRV until July 31st to commemorate the strike actions of 1980 in the Lublin region of Poland.
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/dot/ie for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. The deadline is midnight on Thursday. Urgent items for the news may be telephoned to News Editor Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574.
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