Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday July 16th, 2023
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC
The July meeting of the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC will take place on Monday the 31st of July 2023 at 8 p.m. sharp at the New Community Men’s Shed, Ozanam Centre, Coffee House Lane, Waterford. New members, or anyone interested in learning more about amateur radio or the group are as always very welcome to attend. For anyone that wishes to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and their activities you can email them at southeasternarg /at/ gmail.com or please feel free to go along to any of their meetings. Their website is www.searg.ie and you can also find them via their social media channels.
Activation of Gallinara Island during IOTA 2023
The IP1X team will be active from Gallinara Island (EU-083) on 29-30 July 2023. This is a small private island off the northern Italian coast. They will be active continuously during the IOTA Contest 2023 on CW and SSB from 80 to 10 metres in the multi-operator low power category. QSL is via IU1JCZ direct or via the bureau. For more details and updates check QRZ.com.
IARU Region 1 Monitoring System Newsletter
The June edition of the IARU Region 1 Monitoring System has been published. Michael Foertig EI3GYB is the IARU Region 1 coordinator for Ireland. In this edition, he reports intruders ranging from radar, commercial radio, fishermen, and even Brazilian CBers. You can find the report via www.iaru-r1.org
International CW Council Activities
The International CW Council (ICWC) is running a series of CW contests to promote the use of CW on the bands. An upcoming activity called the Medium Speed Test is intended to help populate the CW bands. It is active on Mondays and Tuesdays at the speed of 20-25 words per minute. These run on Mondays from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. local time and from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. local time. For night owls, there is also an opportunity from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Tuesday mornings. You can find out more about the activities at internationalcwcouncil.org.
Data Mode Activities This Week
The RSGB FT4 Contest takes place on Monday 17th July from 19:00 to 20:30 UTC. The recommended dial frequencies will be 3.576, 3.579 and 3.582 MHz (USB) on 80m, 7.047.5 MHz (USB) on 40m and 14.080 MHz (USB) on 20m. Logs must be submitted within 24 hours of the end of the event. Further information can be found at www.rsgbcc.org
For 23cm band operators, you will have an opportunity to take part in a FT8 contest on Wednesday evening, July 19th. This is part of the regular series of FT8 activities styled as open contests taking place to help drive more activity on the VHF, UHF, and microwave bands. Further information may be found at ft8activity.eu.
Update from IRTS Contest Manager Mark EI6JK
IRTS Contest Manager Mark EI6JK wishes to remind operators that the log submission deadline for the VHF/UHF field day is today, Sunday 16th. Although the conditions weren't great over the field day weekend, some logs have been received already and all logs are welcomed.
Mark reports that last weekend was the IARU HF championship with good participation from Ireland. The headquarter station EI0HQ was operational from seven different locations. EI7M had three stations running and EI9E had two stations. Approximately 11,000 QSOs were made setting a new record for the Irish headquarter station. Rafal EI6LA was involved in networking the stations together and this worked extremely well. Congratulations to all involved who worked really hard to make this one for the books.
The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) ran concurrently with the IARU contest. Held every four years, this is considered the Olympics of radio contesting with fifty invitation-only two person teams from across the world involved. Many congratulations to Megan Lorenz EI5LA who took part in the youngest team in this year’s contest based in Italy. The feat is even more admirable given that Megan and her teammate, Leon DL3ON, had to operate for twenty-four hours straight under the watchful eye of a referee using unfamiliar equipment and in an unfamiliar location.
Martin Platt GD4XUM/EI6KX qualified as a team leader and operated with Dave Sharred G3NKC. These were the first EI entrants to fly the flag for Ireland in the championship. The overall winner was the Ukrainian and Canadian duo of Yaroslav UW7LL and Yuri VE3DZ. It was also announced that the 2026 WRTC will be held in the East Anglia region of England. Qualifications start in October this year with the CQWW SSB contest.
The IOTA contest is taking place in two weeks’ time. This is always a top attraction in the Irish contesting calendar and a lot of Irish records are there for the taking. Both 12 and 24-hour sections are catered for and IRTS trophies up for grabs in some categories. There is always big participation from Ireland and this year, even more participation is encouraged to bring amateur radio to our islands. The contest starts at 1 p.m. local time on Saturday 29th and it finishes twenty-four hours later.
Items for Inclusion in Next Week’s Radio News
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.
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