• IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday August 4th, 2024

    From newsteam at irts dot ie@21:1/5 to All on Sun Aug 4 23:00:10 2024
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    This Week's News

    IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday August 4th, 2024
    __________________________________________________________________

    South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC

    EI2WRC will be QRV from the Inistioge Vintage Rally, in Inistioge, Co.
    Kilkenny today Sunday the 4th of August. Keep a listen out for them on
    HF. The vintage rally which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year
    is a great fun filled family day out with loads of vintage cars and
    engines from times gone past. There are loads of things for all the
    kids too. If you are looking for a great day out, head on down to
    Inistioge and call by the SEARG demonstration area where the SEARG crew
    will be delighted to meet you and explain all about amateur radio to
    you.

    EI2WRC will activate Hook Lighthouse ILLW reference IE0003 on Saturday
    and Sunday the 17th and 18th of August for the 27th International
    Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. The present structure at Hook is
    about 800 years old and is the oldest intact operational lighthouse in
    the world. This makes it the most sought-after lighthouse for this
    great event, not alone within Ireland but also internationally. For
    more info, please see www.hookheritage.ie EI2WRC would like to thank
    Larry Colgan and all the event staff at the Hook Lighthouse visitors
    centre and Phil Lawlor from Irish Lights for all their help in planning
    this event.

    For more information about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact
    details, please see www.searg.ie
    __________________________________________________________________

    The Next 145 Alive event is on Sunday 29th September

    Two metre FM will be sparked into action again across Ireland and the
    UK on the 29th of September. The next 145 Alive event will take place
    that afternoon from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Full details will be announced in
    coming weeks. Anyone interested in setting up a control station is
    asked to contact David Gardiner EI3IXB at ei3ixb /at/ gmail.com. David
    will coordinate locations and frequencies on a first come first serve
    basis. You are advised to get in early as they ran out of frequencies
    last September such was the interest.
    __________________________________________________________________

    Shannon Basin Radio Club Trialling a Repeater Linkup

    Shannon Basin Radio Club announce the live trial of a radio link
    between their club repeater EI2SBR and Donegal Amateur Radio Club s
    EI2TKR repeater on Truskmore. You can now also access EI2SBR via
    Echolink and Allstar. You are welcome to take part in the trial which
    even included a successful Echolink QSO while onboard on a
    transatlantic flight recently. The club wishes to thank all those
    involved and appreciates the joint club effort required to put this in
    place. If anyone notices any issues during the trial, you are asked to
    please send a note to admin /at/ sbrc.ie. Further information about
    Shannon Basin Radio Club may be found at www.sbrc.ie as well as via
    their social media channels.
    __________________________________________________________________

    ComReg Radio Spectrum Management Operating Plan Consultation

    ComReg has announced an open consultation regarding a Radio Spectrum
    Management Operating Plan for 2025 to 2028. Amateur radio is a part of
    this consultation. They note several areas of focus affecting the 2,216
    radio amateurs currently licensed by them. They welcome responses from
    all stakeholders and will review and consider all responses received.
    Once this process is complete, ComReg will issue a final decision. They
    have set a deadline of 5 p.m. on the 30th of August 2024 for
    submissions. Further information including the consultation document
    itself may be found via the news section of ComReg's website which is
    available at www.comreg.ie
    __________________________________________________________________

    Contest Updates

    IRTS Contest Manager Mark EI6JK reports that all EI0HQ logs from the
    IARU HF championship were received, and the final log was uploaded. He
    reports a great result with 3653 QSOs logged. Mark wishes to thank Joe
    EI7GY for organising and submitting logs and to everyone who operated
    the station. These included Declan EI6FR, John EI4L, John EI3ISB, Roger
    EI8KN, David EI5KG, Tim EI2KA, and Pat EI9HX.

    The results of the VHF/UHF Field Day which took place over the 6th and
    7th of July have been published. Activity was relatively low this year
    but well done to all that took part in running stations for the event.
    In partnership with the IRTS, RSGB, and the GMDX Group, the 2024 UK/EI
    DX SSB contest will take place over the weekend of August 31st and
    September 1st. This will run for 24 hours starting from 12:00 UTC on
    Saturday the 31st using SSB on the 80m to 10m bands. You can learn more
    about this at www.ukeicc.com
    __________________________________________________________________

    RSGB 2024 Convention Update

    The RSGB 2024 Convention will take place from October 11th to October
    13th in Milton Keynes. As a particularly notable part of this, the RSGB
    announce that their keynote speaker this year will be Rafal EI6LA who
    will be speaking about "The future of amateur radio licensing and
    education". Their booking system is now open, and you can find the
    details at www.rsgb.org
    __________________________________________________________________

    Possible return to Bouvet Island in January 2026

    Plans are afoot for another DX-pedition to Bouvet Island at the end of
    2025 or early 2026. The 3Y0K [Three-Yankee-Zero-Kilo] team will consist
    of up to 20 or more operators with extensive experience in DX-pedition
    and contesting. The current plan for their 1.6-million-dollar budget
    adventure is to stay for three weeks around Bouvet Island using a large
    vessel and helicopter to get to the island itself.
    __________________________________________________________________

    Perseids Meteor Shower

    Meteor scatter fans will be keenly awaiting the peak of the Perseids
    meteor shower which occurs over next weekend between August 11th and
    13th. The source of the shower is the Comet Swift-Tuttle. Earth moves
    through the comet's tail each year during late July and early August.
    Fragments of comet debris burn up in the Earth's atmosphere and the
    shower is most intense when Earth is in the dustiest part of the tail.

    This is typically the most anticipated meteor shower of the year.
    Operators can make VHF contacts up to 2000km away by using ionised
    trails caused by the fiery streaks to refract signals. For sky
    watchers, the best time to watch is during the hours before sunrise.
    __________________________________________________________________

    Items for Inclusion in Next Week's Radio News

    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.ie for
    automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. The
    deadline is midnight on Thursday.

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