It was with shock and sorrow that we announce the death of our great friend and long time South Dublin Radio club member Brendan Daly EI4BB three weeks ago. Brendan was licensed in 1965 and was a member of the Baggot Street club in those early days where he developed a great interest in building his own gear. Indeed building receivers, tuners, amplifiers etc., to a very high standard, was an interest he loved and happily shared right to the end. Brendan, with his calm nature and friendly smile, was always ready to help and encourage others in the hobby. He was a true gentleman and is deeply missed by all his friends, new and old, in Amateur Radio. We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife Carmel, his children, grandchildren and many friends in Amateur Radio. May he rest in peace.
It is with great sadness that we must announce the passing of Jim Monaghan N7HKO. Jim was originally from Westmeath and had the callsign EI4HD. Together with Amby EI4FP he had been instrumental in restarting the Irish Hour Net many years ago on 21317 kHz. Our thoughts go out to all of Jims family and friends at this time.
The IRTS 80 metres Evening Counties Contest takes place next Tuesday 24th March at 20:00 UTC. This is a one hour contest with separate SSB only and SSB/CW sections. Multipliers are the EI and GI counties; for EI and GI stations, overseas DXCC entities also count as multipliers. See www.irts.ie/contests for links to the rules, which include permitted frequency ranges. Note that there is a upper limit of 100 watts PEP for this contest. Due to social distancing advice, entries for this contest will only be accepted from single-operator stations
With the current constraints on face to face contact, an event like this contest is a great opportunity for local ops to meet up on the air; we hope that many who would not normally participate in contests will join in on this occasion.
Due to concern for the health of all club members, The weekly Saturday night NDR club meetings are suspended until further notice. The club has decided to bring back the weekly NDR net on Saturday nights at 8pm on 145.575 Mhz - That is the VHF Simplex Channel S23 , now known as Channel V46. All are welcome to pick up the microphone and call in.
Due to concern for the health of elderly members, Phoenix Amateur Radio Club meetings on Thursday in Coolmine are suspended until further notice.
As a precaution for club members due to Covid-19 South Dublin Radio Club has decided to temporarily close down club nights for three weeks. So the next meeting should be 7th April. It was also decided to have a SDR radio net instead on 7.123 MHz +|- QRM every Tuesday night from 8pm-10pm. The clubs usual VHF net 144.330 usb will continue every night except on Tuesdays. All club members & friends should keep in touch on their Ham Radio, not everyone has this facilities. So make use of your radio.
The next meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group which was scheduled for the 31st March has now been postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The meeting will be rearranged when it is safe and practical to do so.
Due to the current pandemic situation, in the interest of health and safety, nine days before leaving for Côte d’Ivoire, the TU2R Team members have decided to postpone the expedition to a later date in 2020.
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. If you currently receive a copy of the IRTS Radio News Bulletin by email as a news reader and wish to modify your address, please inform the editor in order to have it changed on the news readers mailing list.
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