The IRTS Awards Committee is seeking nominations for “Awards for Services to the Society or to Amateur Radio” and for “Awards to IRTS Members for Other Achievements”. The winners in the above categories would normally be presented with their inscribed trophy/shield in person at the AGM. However, due to the Corona-19 virus pandemic the trophies/shields will be inscribed but will not be distributed to the winners except where a winner specifically requests delivery of same. It is important that our fellow experimenters and operators whose work and effort on behalf of each one of us and for the Society be recognised and rewarded. Please send your nominations for specific awards to the Awards Manager to - holohaj2 /at/ hotmail.com
The Phoenix Amateur Radio Society have announced that unfortunately, due to the current circumstances, the Coolmine Rally will not take place as usual this February, but they look forward to seeing you again sometime in the future. They are looking at the options for a rally in the future, so stay safe until then. The Phoenix Club continues to meet on Skype on Tuesdays and Thursdays circa 2030, but you'll have to make your own tea and bring your own biscuits
The UK and Ireland Contest Club is privileged to have been assigned the historic call sign EI5G as its club call. The call sign was heard for the first time in sixty years in the UKEICC 80m CW contest on 27 January when used by Paul EI5DI for contacts with Joe EI7GY and Pete EI7CC among others Its previous holder was Pete Daly who held the call from the early 1930s until his sudden death in 1961 at the age of about 50. Pete Daly was a keen participant in National Field Day and in ARRL and CW contests, and was one of the early editors of the IRTS Newsheet, now Echo Ireland. Reviving the call sign honours the memory of its previous holder and, with its EI and G components, captures the ethos of the UKEICC. EI5G and a planned UK club call will eventually be used as bonus stations in UKEICC 80m and DX contests. Club members will be invited in future to request guest operation of the club’s call signs. The Pete Daly Memorial Cup, presented to the IRTS, in memory of EI5G, by former President Bill McIlwaine EI9F is awarded to the highest scoring station in the IRTS CW Field Day. Last Wednesdays UKEI CC 80m CW one hour contest attracted a record 142 entries including seven from Echo India. The overall winner was Nikolay RM4F whose QSO with Gerard EI5KF was the best DX at 3,510 kilometres.
Europe’s largest gathering of ham radio enthusiasts is held annually in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Last years event was cancelled due to Covid-19 but the organisers are optimistic about going ahead with the 2021 event on June 25th to the 27th. Details have been released by the organisers and DARC, the German national society, of the safety procedures proposed to enable the event to go ahead. These cover mask wearing, disinfectant use, cleaning, social distancing, cashless payments , contact tracing plus much more. Let’s hope it all goes to plan and that we are allowed leave the country at that time.
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) and its partners are troubleshooting a failure within the on-board NA1SS amateur station in the ISS Columbus module. The problem does not appear to be with the radio equipment in Columbus. ARISS realized the problem when a contact with a school in Wyoming, between ON4ISS on Earth and astronaut Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, at NA1SS, had to abort when no downlink signal was heard. During a January 27 spacewalk to install exterior cabling on the ISS Columbus module, the current coax feed line installed 11 years ago was replaced with another built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus. On reconnecting the radio equipment, the problem was discovered. Work is ongoing to resolve the problem.
The contest manager, Joe EI7GY, is undertaking a review of the VHF/UHF Field Day Rules, with a view to encouraging more participation in this contest. Details of proposed changes are included in the February issue of EINews, the monthly newsletter which is circulated to members on the first of every month.
When the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, Denmark pledged to assist the United Nations Command by providing humanitarian aid to the Allied forces in South Korea. Medicinal products were made available very quickly, and after negotiations it was agreed that Denmark would also send a hospital ship. In the autumn of 1950, EAC agreed to make Jutlandia available to the Danish government and after rebuilding, the ship departed on 23 January 1951, heading for Korea. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of this event, Experimental Danish Radio Amateurs are activating a special radio station with the call sign OVØJUTLANDIA. From the 1st of February to 31st of March, this call sign will be active on most amateur radio bands with CW, SSB, RTTY and other digital Modes. All HF bands, including WARC bands, and all Modes can be used. EDR, the Danish National Society is awarding a special diploma that radio amateurs around the world who qualify can apply for.
The monthly UKEICC SSB 80m contest is on Wednesday next February 3rd running for one hour from 2000 to 2100. Logs must be submitted by 2200 and the results will be published by 2300. There were ten EI entrants in the January 80m SSB contest and the leading EI was Enda EI2II who finished in third place overall. We look forward to hearing a few more EI callsigns on Wednesday evening.
Ten metre enthusiasts should keep an ear of the band next weekend as the 10-10 International Winter SSB Contest takes place from midnight Friday 5th to 2359 on Sunday 7th. Non members in EI will send name, Zero and EI. Ten-ten members will send name, ten-ten number plus country. The Eurasia HF Championship is on CW and SSB next weekend from 0800 to 1759 on Saturday 6th. Single operators can only operate for six hours and the exchange is signal report plus your full six character locator. Scoring is based on distance and the multipliers are the locator squares. RTTY operators can enjoy the Mexican RTTY International contest which runs for 36 hours from midday on Saturday next to midnight on Sunday. Report is RST plus serial number and the multipliers are DXCC countries and Mexican States. The European Union DX Contest in both CW and SSB runs from 1800 on Saturday next to 1800 on Sunday. European Union stations will send RST and a two number and two letter code to identify their region. EI stations will send IE01 for Leinster, IE02 for Ulster, IE03 for Minster and IE04 for Connacht. Look up the WA7BNM contest calendar at contestcalendar.com for the full rules of all these contests.
Now some DX news: Bouvet Island is the second most wanted DXCC entity after North Korea and news from the Rebel DX Group Facebook page suggests that we may get a chance to work it during this year. Some members of the Group have been in Cape Town, South Africa since earlier this year preparing the paperwork and equipment for the trip. They report that they are going forward with a 2021 DXpedition in spite of not yet having the full operating budget, noting that they are not applying to any DX foundations or clubs for assistance. Their previous attempt in 2019 was abandoned after their vessel was damaged by a cyclone. Look out for operators from the OH0W contest team from the Aland Islands for a few days this week following the CQWW 160 metre contest. Giorgio, IU5HWS is QRV as YI9WS until March while on assignment on 80 to 15 metres.
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. Urgent items for the news may be telephoned to News Editor Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574
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