This Week’s News
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday April 19th, 2026
Updates from the IRTS
IRTS traces its roots to the pioneering radio experimenters of the early 20th century, including Colonel Meade Dennis EI2B, a key figure and founding member of the Dublin Wireless Club established in 1913. This club held frequent lectures and telegraph circuit demonstrations. Complementing this was the Radio Association of Ireland formed in 1922, which embraced both experimenters and the radio listenership public, even as commercial receiver sets remained scarce and expensive. Following the amalgamation of the Dublin Wireless Club and the RAI, the IRTS was formally founded in 1932, with Colonel Dennis EI2B elected as its inaugural president, a role he held until the outbreak of the Second World War. Visit irts.ie/ei2b to find out more about IRTS's history. The society’s annual general meeting takes place today, Sunday April 19th. The IRTS wishes all members another fruitful year!
Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club
Today, Sunday April 19th, the Limerick Clare Amateur Radio club rally and monster draw takes place in the Oakwood Hotel in Shannon. It is followed by the IRTS 2026 AGM starting at 2.00 p.m. Entry to the AGM is only permitted to IRTS members and in line with previous practice, membership will be checked prior to entry.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC
EI2WRC will be active from Rosslare Strand, Co. Wexford as an official Marconi Day Award station over the weekend of April 25th and 26th for the 2026 International Marconi Day activation. The International Marconi Day activation is a yearly special event to celebrate birthday of Marconi. He established a wireless transmitting station on the site where Marconi House now stands in Rosslare in 1901. Special thanks to the Cornish Radio Amateur Club G4CRC and to the Rosslare Development Association, Wexford County Council, Eleanor White, Lorna Morris, and EI2WRC’s own Steve Kelly EI2JLB. Keep a listen out on HF and the southern Ireland repeater network throughout the day for the group.
The April meeting of the EI2WRC group will take place on Monday, April 27th at 8 p.m. sharp at the South East Technological University. Netlabs Research and Innovation Building, SETU West Campus, Carriganore, Waterford. The Eircode is X91 WR86. New members or anyone that has an interest in amateur radio or communications in general are very welcome to come along. SWLs are in particular very welcome to attend also. Visit www.searg.ie for more information about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact details.
EIOMAR Active for International Marconi Day
EI0MAR will be QRV as an award station on Saturday the 25th of April during International Marconi Day. The station is located in Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio at the Martello Tower in Howth. Visitors are welcome to drop by and operate from 1100 hours. Access to the Martello is up a narrow pathway on Abbey Street, opposite the Abbey Tavern. The Eircode is D13 V099.
Galway Radio Experimenters Club at the Kiltulla and District Vintage Show
The Galway Radio Experimenters Club (GREC) is pleased to announce that they will be attending the Kiltulla and District Vintage Show on Sunday, 3rd May 2026 in Kiltullagh, Athenry. This event offers an excellent opportunity to showcase amateur radio to the public and highlight the value of our hobby within the wider community. GREC members will be operating a fully equipped demonstration station throughout the day, with a selection of modern HF/VHF/UHF equipment on display. Visitors will be able to see live operation, learn about radio technology, and discover how amateur radio continues to thrive in an increasingly wireless world.
As part of the event, the club will be active on-air using their callsign EI4GRC. Operators across Ireland and beyond are encouraged to keep an ear open for us on HF and VHF throughout the day. Any contacts made will help promote the hobby and demonstrate the reach and relevance of amateur radio to show attendees. This appearance at the Vintage Show is part of GREC’s ongoing commitment to public outreach, education, and strengthening the amateur radio community in the West of Ireland.
Shannon Basin Radio Club SSB Nets
Shannon Basin Radio Club will hold its second last 80m SSB DX net of the season on Thursday night next from 9 p.m. The net is generally held on 3.775MHz plus or minus QRM. All are welcome including SWLs. Visit sbrc.ie for further information about the club and its activities.
VHF/Microwave News
Short periods of marginal tropospheric propagation in the early part of the week will develop into strong ducting opportunities from Thursday for a time. This should enable some interesting DX QSOs and may be the best opportunity this year so far. The VHF/Microwave team is seeking further input for the 2025 squares table published on the IRTS website. This table shows the number of Maidenhead locator squares worked each year by EI operators. Contact the team via email to vhf_manager /at/ irts.ie
UKEICC CW Contests on April 25th and April 29th
The UKEICC has two CW contests coming up in the next two weeks. The first is the 24-hour UK/EI DX CW Contest starting at 1200 UTC on Saturday, April 25th. This is a work-everyone contest. EI and UK stations are very popular since DX stations score double points for working them, and each EI/GI county and UK district counts as a multiplier per band. For this reason, even a modest EI station can enjoy large pileups. EI and UK stations earn double points between the hours of 0100 UTC and 0459 UTC which makes it well worth staying up for. The teams’ competition allows you to join two other stations from any location. Note that the deadline for submitting logs is 24 hours after the contest ends.
The second contest happens three days later on Wednesday, April 29th at 2000 UTC. This is the last in the UKEICC’s 80m contest series for the 2025/26 season and will determine final standings in the league table and teams’ competition. Bonus stations will be operated by Dave EI4BZ and Dean G4WQI and are worth 15 points each. The log submission deadline is one hour after the contest ends, and preliminary results are published a few minutes after that. Rules for both contests can be found at www.ukeicc.com The UKEICC team wishes to thank all EI/GI stations who participated in contests this season and especially those who joined them for the first time. The 2026/27 season starts in September after their usual summer break.
Items for Inclusion in Next Week’s Radio News
That is the news for this week. Thanks to everyone for sending items into the weekly IRTS radio news. They are very much appreciated and are a great way to update the rest of the community about activities. If you have any club events, activities, meetings, or other items of interest, you are very welcome to email the radio news editor Keith EI5IN via email to newsteam /at/ irts.ie with the details. The deadline each week is midnight on Thursdays. Items intended for inclusion in Echo Ireland, which is the IRTS quarterly journal, should be sent to echoireland /at/ irts.ie
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