Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday November 7th 2021
PAR Grant for the Howth Martello Radio Group
Tony, Ei5EM reports that the Howth Martello Radio Group is very grateful to the IRTS for the grant of 800 Euro from the Promoting Amateur Radio fund, PAR. This will go a long way to enable the Group to upgrade the station equipment at EI0MAR. A new Icom IC7300 is currently on order and should be in service soon. The Martello is in such an exposed coastal location that antennas take a battering from the weather, especially during the winter months. Over the last several years a commercial Cobwebb and a HF vertical antenna have been totally destroyed by the weather and a new HF antenna is also on the shopping list. The PC running the logging software dates from 2005 and is still running on Windows XP. Its hard-drive contains lots of irreplaceable archive material and the machine urgently needs replacing, lest this be lost. Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio is still closed due to Covid-19, however access to the shack is still available to members of the Group, so listen out for us on the bands.
LCARC Rally
The Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club are holding their Rally today, Sunday the 7th, in the Radisson Blu Hotel. Doors opened at 11:00. Entrance fee is 5 Euro per person. As with previous Rallies, there is a well stocked bring and buy opportunity, as can be seen on their updated -market place- section of their website at www.limerickclareamateurradioclub.ie
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group
The November meeting of The South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will be held on Monday the 29th of November at 8:00 p.m. sharp at The Sweep Bar, Adamstown, Kilmeaden, Co. Waterford Eircode X91 H588. As with all public gatherings the management of The Sweep Bar will only allow access to those who are fully vaccinated and produce their EU Digital Covid Certificate and valid photographic identity, e.g. Driving Licence, Passport. No cert and no ID means no entry!
There will be a lot to discuss on the night including plans for the year ahead with some exciting new activations in the pipeline, so we look forward to seeing many familiar faces in attendance. Any non-members who are interested in finding out more about the hobby or the group are also very welcome on the night. For anyone that wishes to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and their activities you can drop them an email to southeasternarg /at/ gmail.com or please feel free to go along to any of their meetings. You can check their website www.searg.ie and you can also join them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
Contest News
The results of the IRTS 40 metres Counties Contest held during October have now been published. Band conditions on 40 metres have been good in recent weeks, and propagation favoured local contacts during this short contest. 28 Transmitting station logs along with one SWL log were submitted, showing activity in 17 EI and GI counties. Some of the leading ststions managed to work most of these counties. Our Contest Results page at www.irts.ie/results has links to the detailed results for this event.
The JA International DX Contest und OK and OM DX Contest will take place next weekend, but many leading contesters claim that the Worked All Europe DX Contest is the most challenging contest of the year. The second weekend of November is the date for the RTTY leg of WAE DX.
The unique feature of QTC-traffic adds much fun and another operating challenge to the contest. Here the DX stations transfer real telegrams to the European stations. These telegrams contain data of previously logged QSOs. Each of these records counts one additional point for the sender and the receiver, given that the complete record was logged correctly. Thus, a DX station can actually double its score by sending QTCs. Some European stations, and not only the leading ranks, gain more than 70 percent of their score from QTC traffic. European stations multipliers come from DXCC entities worked and the numerical call areas of several big countries. Because multipliers are counted per band and on the low bands they count more than on the high bands, there is significant activity on 40m and 80m. The 24 hour WAE DX RTTY Contest starts midnight, next Saturday, the 13th of November.
DX News
Nejc, S56NE, will be active with the special event callsign S5630NE from Idrija to celebrate 30 years of independence of the Republic of Slovenia. The Slovenian Amateur Radio Union will celebrate the country's 30 years of Independence by issuing a special award. In order to obtain the award, a foreign amateur radio station must have at least 30 contacts with a S5 station until the end of the year. More information on www.hamradio.si
In his spare time, David, F4FKT is active as FT4YM/P from Antarctica, until late February or early March of next year. He is operating mainly SSB on the 20 and 40m bands from various bases. Updates are posted to the Polar DX Group’s Facebook group. QSL via F5PFP.
Stan, K5GO will be active as ZF9CW from Cayman Brac, IOTA NA-016, until March of next year. He works mainly CW, and occasionally SSB. QSLs via Logbook of The World, or direct to home call K5GO
W5JON will be active again as V47JA from Saint Kitts Island, IOTA NA-104, from the 10th to the 24th of November, on 160 to 6m, including 60m, using SSB and FT8. QSL via home call W5JON direct and also LOTW.
Gunter, DK2WH is back on air as V51WH from Namibia until March 2022. QSLs via DK2WH, direct or via bureau.
News from Gambia: The french and british hams of the C5C team are still active from Kolili on 80 to 10m, until the 19th of November. Activity is on 80-10 meters SSB, FT8/FT4. The C5B Team will relocate to the Bijol Islands, IOTA AF060, on the 10th of November. They only QSL direct via F5RAV
Kenneth, LA7GIA uses the callsign TL7M from the Central African Republic for another week on the HF bands. QSL via M0OXO direct, LOTW, ClubLog OQRS.
Dwight, VE7BV, was heard as TG9BBV from Guatemala on 40m. He will be on the HF bands until the of November. QSL via home call VE7BV, LOTW, eQSL.
Recent spots suggest that Take, JG8NQJ is on CW as JG8NQJ/JD1 from Minami-Tori-Shima Island, japanese for Southern Bird Island, also known as Marcus Island, IOTA OC073. QSL via JA8CJY.
General News
Seamus Ei8EP reports on the IARU Region 1 website that the 358 page Final Report on the Study on the evaluation of the Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive has now been published. It is publicly available, free of charge, from the Publications Office of the European Union. The Political Relations Committee of the IARU Region 1 responded recently to a European Commission Roadmap on the environmental impact of photovoltaics. The radio spectrum is an important finite natural resource which must be protected. While PV technology of itself is to be welcomed, the IARU submission pointed out the inherent problems of non-compliant installations, particularly the installation or retro-fitting of optimisers which can produce significant spectrum pollution for very limited efficiency increase.
The RSGB has just published the individual presentations in the -Learn more about…- stream from its online Convention. This means that you can now see all 15 presentations in the RSGB’s web video archive, or in the RSGB Convention 2021 playlist on the RSGB’s YouTube channel.
The latest ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications for 2022 is now available in three usual formats as traditional softcover, as a six-volume, shrink-wrapped book set, and as digital eBook.
In 2019, mounting operational costs were given as the reason by -France Medias Monde- to withdraw from the Radio Monte Carlo at Doualiya in Cyprus. The three landmark masts of the medium wave antennas which were used by Radio Monte Carlo Middle East, Trans World Radio and the Voice of America were blown up on Thursday and Friday, marking the final end of one of the last remaining historical AM stations.
After an heroic repair effort to some failed remote equipment, there are again four internet accessible KIWI-SDR receivers available in Iceland, covering the frequency range from 10 kHz to 30 MHz. They are located in the Blue Mountains, at Bjargtoeng and at Red Sea, and at Reykjavik's planetarium, called the Pearl of Cinderella. The URLs for those four receivers can be found on the current frontpage of the webpage by the Icelandic Radio Amateurs at www.ira.is
The Propagation Horoscope
The geomagnetic field was quiet until the very severe storm on the 4th of November, under the influence of strong CME effects. The high latitude magnetometer at Andenes recorded quiet to severe storm levels. The first effects of the CME were observed just at the end of last Thurday's UKEI 80m Counties Contest, warbled SSB transmissions indicated auroral activity further north. At the time of writing, the Solarwind is at 435 km/s and the proton density is under 4 particles per cubic centimetres. Expect elevated levels again around Wednesday evening. The dxinfo.com website shows little or no tropo over the British Isles, and live data shown on aprs.mennolink.org also show little activity on vhf and uhf.
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 Friday.
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