This Week’s News
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday May 28th 2023
IRTS Committee
The first meeting of the newly elected IRTS Committee was held on Thursday last May 25th on the Zoom platform. This is the meeting where all the officer posts are filled and thankfully there were only four vacancies to fill. Long time IARU Liaison Officer Dave Court EI3IO has decided to step down from the role and the society is very grateful for all his work over the years. He will be handing over the role to IRTS Vice President Robbie Phelan EI2IP. Brian Canning EI8IU has been looking after the 8 series incoming QSL cards for over 15 years and will be handing over the job to Charlie Carolan EI8JB. Thanks to Brian for the great service. The vacancy for a radio news editor was filled with the appointment of Keith Nolan EI5IN. Almost fifty members are involved in running the Society and we thank them all for the commitment. The venue for next year’s Annual General Meeting has not been identified and expressions of interest are invited from clubs willing to host the event. Contact the IRTS secretary Owen O’Reilly EI4GGB at irts underscore secretary at irts.ie The next meeting of the IRTS committee will be held on Thursday June 29th on the Zoom platform. Affiliated cubs are reminded to advise the IRTS secretary of the names of their delegate and a substitute.
National Shortwave Listeners Club
Members of the National Shortwave Listeners Club are currently waiting to hear of all the results from the HAREC examination held on Saturday May 13th in both Dublin and Cork. To date they have twenty-eight new licencees on board. All new licensees are reminded to contact the Society’s membership officer David EI3IXB at memrecords at IRTS.ie with the details of their new callsigns so that their records can be updated. The Sunday socials will continue over the summer months and many interesting topics will be covered. Due to an extraordinary interest in the learning of CW among their members, the club will be holding three Thursday night special sessions in June to help members learn more about the subject. The club’s Annual General Meeting will be held on June 25th with the usual AGM agenda of reports, elections, future planning, etc. Information about the club is available on SWL.ie.
Contest News
Next weekend, the IRTS CW Field day will be run in conjunction with the IARU Region 1 CW Field Day. It starts at 1500z on Saturday and has three sections, 24 hours open, 24 hours restricted and a six hour restricted section. Full rules are available on www.irts.ie/contests The UK Six Metre Group run their summer contest over 24 hours from 1300z on Saturday June 3rd. Why not add a six metre station to your CW field day station. The modes permitted are SSB, CW, FM, AM, SSTV & RTTY. Full rules available on uksmg.org The ARRL International Digital Contest runs from 1800z on Saturday June 3rd to 2359z on Sunday 4th. Amateurs worldwide contact and exchange QSO information with other amateurs using any digital mode (excluding RTTY) that supports the 4-digit Grid Square exchange on the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, and 6 meter bands, attended operation only allowed.
ComReg New Amateur Station Guidelines 09/45 R5
On May 22nd, the Commission for Communications Regulation published a new document covering Amateur Station Licence Guidelines. The Reference is ComReg 09/45R5. This was a surprise development, and nobody was aware of the intended publication. An early perusal suggests that there is some positive news but also there are some anomalies that need further study. Members have already started discussions on the topic on the IRTS Groups.io forum and further input from members is welcome to help form Society policy on the documents content.
TinyGS Station Workshop in Cork
Jeffery Rowe EI7IRB is running a workshop in Cork on Friday June 9th from 1830 to 2030 where you will build and programme your own ground station and antenna to receive data from space. TinyGS is an open community-run network of Ground Stations distributed around the world to receive and operate LoRa satellites, weather probes and other flying objects, using cheap and versatile modules. With a TinyGS ground station, you can receive data from a variety of sources, such as CubeSats. No prior experience is required, and you will be provided with all the necessary materials, tools, and equipment to guide you through the process. The venue is Benchspace, Marina Commercial Park, Centre Park Road, Cork City, postcode is T12 YAE4. Book your place at https://benchspacecork.ie. The cost is €80.00.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC
The May meeting of the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC will take place on Monday the 29th of May 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 go along to any of their meetings. You can check their website www.searg.ie and you can also find them on Facebook. You can also follow them on Twitter /at/ seargnews
Collective Communications - Amateur Radio Direction Finding
On Sunday June 11th Collective Communication are having a pedestrian ARDF 'fox hunt' at Oughaval Woods near Stradbally in Co. Laois primarily for members of the National Short Wave Listeners Club. The idea behind the event is not a formal radio fox hunt as such, but more a hands-on demonstration and participation in pedestrian Amateur Radio Direction Finding, allowing newcomers to gain the basic experience and techniques required for successful Direction Finding. EI3CC will be supplying the equipment and offering encouragement and advice by demonstrating/helping those participating to find the elusive little foxes that will have been pre-hidden within the woodland. Oughaval woods is a reasonably central location and as such shouldn't be too difficult to get to from all parts of the country. A HF station will be on air from their caravan along with liquid refreshments for those requiring R&R following their hunting exertions.
LimerickClare 2m Repeater back on air
ComReg has issued the call sign EI2REG for the Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club 2M repeater. The repeater will be installed near Ardagh in West Limerick and will go "live" during the coming week. Full details will be available on the IRTS web site. LCARC congratulates all who sat the recent HAREC exam and welcomes new members including SWLs to join the club and to operate from the Club's station at the Shannon Aviation Museum.
HF Newsreaders Required
The Society’s HF radio news service on Sunday mornings on the 80 and 40 metre bands is in urgent need of additional volunteer newsreaders. Help is needed with both the SSB and RTTY broadcasts. If you feel you can help, please contact the IRTS Radio News Co-ordinator Seany EI2HZB directly on 083-4713001 or by email at irts underscore pro /at/ irts.ie.
EI0HQ in IARU HF Championships
It is intended that the IRTS HQ Station callsign will be used in this years IARU HF Championships over the weekend of July 8th and 9th. If you are interested in participating, either from your home station or from a multi-operator station, please contact contest manager Mark EI6JK at 087 673 8356 or by email at ei6jk /at/ hotmail.com. Headquarter stations are allowed multi station entries and Mark plans to have a good station on every band and mode for the contest. All stations will be using the DX-Log software and will be networked under the guidance of Rafal EI6LA.
Deadline for printed news
The deadline for the June EI News is Monday May 29th and the deadline for submissions to the summer edition of Echo Ireland is May 31st. 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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