It is with the greatest of sympathy we report the passing of Bob Loftus EI7DG/VK2ADG, in Australia on the 8th of April 2019 aged 71 years. Formerly of Raheny Dublin, Bob was a very active radio amateur, experimenter and constructor. He was well known on the two metre band in the Dublin area in the 1970’s and 1980s and specialised in ten metre operation. Bob was a gifted constructor of HF, VHF and microwave equipment, was awarded the Folan Shield for microwave equipment construction and was a former committee member of IRTS. We wish to extend our condolences to his family and friends at this time.
The international space station will be talking to a school in Surrey UK on Thursday 20th of June. Signals will be audible all over Ireland from 1:48pm Irish time for ten minutes on 145.800FM
The next meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will take place in The Park Hotel, Clonmel on Tuesday 25th June at 8.30pm. Preparations will be finalized for participation in the VHF/UHF field day. New members or anyone interested in amateur radio are very welcome.
For anyone who wishes to find out more about the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group and its activities you can attend any of their meetings. You can also check out their website www.ei7trg.ie or contact club PRO Ronan EI4KN at QTHR for further information.
On Saturday the 25th of May 2019, Phil EI9KP managed to work DG1VL in Germany for the first 8-metre to 6-metre crossband contact. Several more have been made at this stage showing the potential of Sporadic E propagation on this new VHF band. Over the weekend of Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th of May 2019 , Phil EI9KP in County Sligo and Tim EI4GNB in Bray County Wicklow managed to hear each others manned beacons at a distance of about 208 kms. Power usage for this contact was 5 Watts.
Gildas F6HMQ and Michel F6GWV will be on Guadeloupe Island until 25th June using FG/homecall. During contests they will use the callsign TO1T. Activity will be holiday-style.
Haru JA1XGI will be QRV as V6K from Kosrae Island in Micronesia from 17th – 24th June. He will be using CW, RTTY and FT8 on 40 – 10m. QSL via Club Log OQRS.
IOTA hunters may be interested in looking out for HR9/AD8J who will be active from Guanaja Island (IOTA NA-057) from 22nd June – 6th July. As well as radio John enjoys scuba diving during his trips to Honduras. QSL to his home call.
Erling LB2PG will operate as JW/LB2PG from Bear Island from Mid-June. He will be active on 80 – 20m SSB and Bear Island counts as EU-027 for the Islands on the Air award.
Items for inclusion in next week’s Radio News can be submitted via e-mail to “newsteam /at/ irts / dot / ie” for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. Urgent news items for the radio news may be telephoned to the radio news editor, Mark EI6HPB on 086 355 2370.
Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no later than midday on Thursday in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following Sunday’s bulletin.
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