Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday October 1st, 2023
Silent Key Bob Williams EI7AF
The IRTS only learnt late last night of the passing of Bob Williams EI7AF. Originally from Birr and having spent some time in Clonmel where he worked as an instrumental engineer for MSD, Bob was residing in Kilkenny at the time of his death. He was only recently pre-deceased by his wife Anne. We extend our sympathies to his daughter Mary Francis, extended family, and friends. May he rest in peace.
Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club Update
Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club regret to announce that its 70cm repeater on 433.125 MHz located to the west of Limerick city on Woodcock Hill, County Clare has had to be shut down due to ongoing difficulties involving spontaneous transmission. Initial investigation suggests that it may be necessary to remove the complete system from the site. The club is dealing with this urgently but until they know the full extent of the problem it is impossible to say when the repeater will be available for use again.
The next club meeting will be held in the Technological University of the Shannon, Midlands and Midwest campus at Moylish on Thursday October 12th. More details about the programme for the meeting will be available nearer the date. New members, or anyone interested in learning more about amateur radio or the club are as always very welcome to attend.
Irish Schools Contact With The International Space Station This Week
Primary school pupils involved in the Technological University Dublin STEM: Try Five Project, which allows students to experience hands-on activities under the theme of space science & exploration, have a once in a lifetime opportunity to make contact through amateur radio with the International Space Station (ISS) this week. Six girls and six boys from 4th class representing the six participating DEIS primary schools will have about 11 minutes to put their local community on the astronomical map as they make direct contact via amateur radio with the ISS while it orbits Earth at a speed of 27,600 km per hour. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station programme (ARISS), which will see students from primary schools in Dublin speaking with an astronaut on board the ISS.
TU Dublin has set up a temporary amateur radio station on the roof of Central Quad, in City Campus. The technical team for this contact includes Robbie Phelan EI2IP, who has kindly organised all the equipment and station set up, Seamus McCague EI8BP, their ARISS radio mentor, Ana Canizares EI5IXB, coordinator of the activity in TU Dublin and schools, Mark Davis EI4ACB and Joe Ryan EI7GY as technical support and Enda Scully, a technician from the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering in TU Dublin.
All the equipment has been provided or sourced by Robbie Phelan EI2IP and it is in accordance with the requirements set up by ARISS. The ARISS ground station at TU Dublin has been allocated the very special callsign EI1ISS (Echo India One India Sierra Sierra) by ComReg for the occasion thanks to their ARISS radio mentor Seamus McCague. The station will be operated by Irish members of ARISS Europe and the Irish Radio Transmitters Society and the event will be streamed using TU Dublin's YouTube account.
The contact is scheduled for Friday October 6th starting from 2.11 p.m. local time. The ISS is scheduled to use the callsign OR4ISS. The downlink is also planned to be 145.800 MHz and it is expected to be easily received across Ireland even with handheld receivers.
Calling Clubs and Stations for IrishFest 2024
The Milwaukee Irish Fest, which promotes and celebrate all aspects of Irish, Irish American, and Celtic cultures is held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA during August. For IrishFest 2024, the organisers are seeking clubs in Ireland that might be interested in linking up a station from Ireland to a station in the USA during the event. Interested clubs are invited to also contact the IRTS secretary, Owen EI4GGB, who is coordinating the response, via email to irts_secretary /at/ irts.ie to learn more.
IRTS 2m/70cm Counties Contest Log Submission Deadline
Well done to everyone that took part in the recent IRTS 2m/70cm Counties Contest. The deadline to submit logs for this contest is today, Sunday October 1st. You can send your logs via email to contestmanager /at/ IRTS.ie.
Upcoming Contests
The IRTS 80m Evening Counties contest will take place on Tuesday October 3rd. This will be a one-hour SSB/CW contest that will start at 19:00 UTC. It also has a SWL section. Conditions on 80m have been relatively good in recent days so everyone is encouraged to take part and try your hand at the contest. The rules for the contests can be found at www.irts.ie/rules
The IARU Region 1 UHF/Microwaves Contest takes place over October 7th and 8th. The main objectives are to make as many contacts as possible and to have fun. Other objectives may include improving your operating skills, testing new equipment configurations and techniques, expanding your horizons by operating on the microwave bands and exploring radio propagation. This contest starts at 14:00 UTC on Saturday next and ends at 14:00 UTC on Sunday next. Further details may be found at www.iaru-r1.org
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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