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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 12 February 2023


Earthquake in Syria and Turkey

Please take a pen and paper, and write down the following emergency frequencies used by colleagues in Turkey during rescue operations following the catastrophic earthquake:

1.855 MHz LSB, 3.777 MHz LSB, 7.092 MHz LSB, 14.270 MHz USB, 18.155 MHz USB, 21.270 MHz USB, 24.955 MHz USB, 28.540 MHz USB,

There is more up-to-date information on the IARU-R1 website.


News from the IRTS

With the 2023 IRTS AGM taking place in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, over the weekend of the 29th and 30th of April, the IRTS Awards Committee is seeking nominations for "Awards for Services to the Society or to Amateur Radio" and for "Awards to IRTS Members for Other Achievements". The winners will be presented with their inscribed trophy or shield in person at the AGM. Please send your nominations for specific awards to the Awards Manager, Jim EI4HH, by email to holohaj2 /at/ hotmail.com no later than Wednesday, February 22nd. Again, with the 2023 IRTS AGM taking place in April, the 2022 Cup and Trophy award holders are asked to return their awards as soon as possible, so that the Awards Curator Mark Kilmartin EI4FNB can prepare them for the new recipients at the AGM 2023 awards ceremony in Ballinasloe. Mark will be present at the SEARG stand at the Limerick Clare Radio Club Rally on Sunday, the 26th of February and will be happy to accept returning trophies there. For anyone wishing to contact Mark you can find his details on the IRTS website. Cups and Trophies can also be returned to any IRTS committee member. Any member of the IRTS who is not receiving either of the society's magazines Echo Ireland by post or electronically or EI-News electronically is asked to contact membership officer David Gardiner EI3IXB by email to irts_treasurer /at/ irts.ie to rectify the situation. Members are also reminded to inform David of any changes to their contact details so he can keep the records up to date.


Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club AGM andRally

The LCARC Rally 2023 will take place in the Temple Gate Hotel, Ennis, Co Clare, Eircode V95 H0XK, on Sunday 26th of February 2023. The doors will open at 9.00am. LCARC welcomes the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group to the Rally. The usual traders including Long Communications, AirMast, and MakerShop Ennis will be in attendance. Laser Cutting and 3D printing will be on display at the MakerShop stand. The Maker Shop stand will also include a Boeing 737 games flight simulator panel. Tables can be booked by contacting Dermot EI2GT dermotgleeson1 /at/ gmail.com. Intending traders and individuals should contact Dermot immediately as there are only a limited number of tables left. Tables can be booked by contacting Dermot EI2GT via an email to dermotgleeson1 /at/ gmail.com. Also, individuals can email Dermot if they wish to have a list of their items for sale published on the LCARC web site at www.limerickclareamateurradioclub.ie . On the Saturday night the IRTS Shortwave Listeners Club will be holding their informal dinner in the Hotel. Those wishing to make reservations with the Hotel for Saturday night can do so by contacting them at info /at/ templegatehotel.com or telephone 065-6823300. Please mention the IRTS Shortwave Listeners Club when booking. Dinner in the Dining room costs EUR35 per person, Bar food is also available. The rally and the Saturday night event are open to anyone with an interest in Radio or associated interests. More information will be posted on the web site in the lead up to Rally.


Tipperary Amateur Radio Group

The next meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will be held at The Talbot Hotel, Clonmel on Tuesday the 28th of February 2023 at 8pm. This Hotel was formerly known as the Park Hotel.The meeting is open to all and Short Wave Listeners are in particular very welcome to attend. For more information about Tipperary Amateur Radio Group go to their group websitewww.ei7trg.ie


Galway Radio Experimenters Club EI4GRC

The February meeting of the Galway Radio Experimenters Club EI4GRC will take place on Monday the 13th of Februaryat 8.00 p.m. sharp at The Menlo Park Hotel, Terryland, Headford Road, Galway. The Eircode is H91 E98N. There will also be virtual access to the meeting, please contact the Club Secretary via email secretary /at/ galwayradio.com for access details. The club website is at www.galwayradio.com and anyone is welcome to come to our club nights or contact the secretary for more information.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC

The 2023 AGM of the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC will take place at 8pm sharp on Monday, February 27th, 2023. In the interests of public safety and to avoid a large physical meeting taking place and due to the ever-present risk of a Covid infection, the EI2WRC committee have decided to have the 2023 AGM on the Zoom platform. This will also be of benefit to our many members who live outside of the south east region. There will of course be a limited number of places available for non-members of the club to attend the online AGM. For anyone that is interested in attending you are asked to send an email to southeasternarg /at/ gmail.com to express your interest. Places are limited and people will be allocated a place upon a first come basis. Anyone interested is asked to get in touch to the above email before Friday, the 17th of February.

The SEARG Twitter page has recently undergone an overhaul and is once again back to its former glory with almost 3,000 followers, managed and run by Siobhan Heaney from Co. Laois. Siobhan is an avid SWL and social media guru and in recent weeks she has been doing a live feed of the Tuesday night IRTS news bulletin read by EI2WRC members on her TikTok channel. Assisted with technical advice from Hugh EI2HI and Robbie EI2IP the live feed is reaching over 200 people world-wide, every Tuesday night on Siobhan's channel under the TikTok username `TheIrishOutdoorCook'. A big thanks to Siobhan for taking on the Twitter account and the Tuesday night live TikTok feeds. If you wish 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 to go along to any of their meetings. You can check the website www.searg.ie, the SEARG Facebook page, or follow /at/ seargnews on Twitter.


YOTA Camp 2023

The IARU Region 1 Working Group have announced that the YOTA Camp for 2023 will take place inin the town of Gyo"r, in northwest Hungary, near the border with Austria and Slovakia. This year is the 11th edition of the camp and it is being operated with the help of the Hungarian Amateur Radio Society, MRASZ. Previous years' camps have been hosted by Bulgaria, Croatia and South Africa. The event itself will be held from 5th to 12th August 2023 and will host100 ambitious youngsters from around IARU Region 1 and guest teams from Regions 2 and 3. The Camp is a great chance for Young Ops to sharpen their skills, meet like-minded amateurs and also experience the hospitality of radio friends from other countries. The IRTS are keen to participate and the Youth Officer, Niall EI6HIB has already registered IRTS interest in sending a team in August.


Radio Scouting Ireland

The IRTS are pleased to announce that Radio Scouting Ireland have been successful in their affiliation application. The IRTS are keen to ensure youth participation in the hobby and Radio Scouting Ireland are similarly focused on the same objective. Radio Scouting Ireland are affiliated with Scouting Ireland and the IRTS and they hold the key objective of using scouting as a platform to demonstrate the amateur radio hobby. To get in contact with Radio Scouting Ireland email radioscoutingireland /at/ gmail.com


Nicolaus Copernicus

To celebrate the birth of polymath and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus 550 years ago, on the 19th of February 1473, the Polish Amateur Radio Union PZK will issue a commemorative award for contacts with one or more of the nine PZK special event stations. From February 17th, 00:00 UTC to March 5th, 23:59 UTC there will be nine special event stations on the air, one as SP550K, and eight others using the prefix and number SN550, followed by the suffix E, I, K, N, O, P, R or NC. The President of the PZK will award merit plaques for the most active stations from SP, the EU and DX . Collecting all eight commemorative QSL cards will create a large Copernican banner. The website for this event is at 550mk.pzk.org.pl.


St Patrick's Day Award

There is just over a month to register to participate in the annual St Patrick's Day Award. The event takes place over a 48 hour period from12 noon UTC on the 16th of March to 12 noon UTC on the 18th of March, in order to allow worldwide participation in all time zones.The St Patrick's Day Award is 48 hours of non-competitive fun for licensees and SWL. Anyone can participate, but also register to be a participating station for the St Patrick's Day award by completing short registration form online at stpatricksaward.com


ARRL Contest

The ARRL International DX Contest starts at 0000 UTC next Saturday, and ends at 2359 UTC on Sunday. Using CW on the 160 to 10m contests segments, the exchange is signal report and transmission power. American stations also send their State and Canadians stations send their province.


The Propagation Horoscope

Nearly a full week of constant M-class flare activity, one reaching almost X-class level on Tuesday was surpassed on Saturday with an X1.1 flare from active region 3217 producing an R3 radio blackout over much of Africa, the Americas and Europe. It peaked at 1548 UTC, the associated CME plumes can be expected to soon cause a wobble in the geomagnetic field. The kP index will not drop below 4 most days. Aurora modulated signals on the northern latitude Topband and 80m DX circuits will struggle to reach S9, combined with weak openings on 20, 17 and 15m, also strongly affected by Aurora. This will drive even more activity towards an already congested 40m band. 60m and 30m are currently open around the clock, with many Asian stations audible. Always check 12 and 10 meters and above, strong sporadic openings can be expected.

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.

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