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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday June 15th, 2025
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News from the IRTS

HF newsreaders are required to join our current panel of newsreaders
for the weekly Sunday morning 40m and 80m IRTS news bulletins. There is
very little involved in reading a bulletin and no experience is
necessary. If any licensed IRTS member living in EI feels like that
they would be interested in becoming part of the IRTS newsreaders panel
or if you require more information, please get in touch with the IRTS
News Coordinator Seany EI2HZB by phone on 083 4713001 or via email to
irts_pro /at/ irts.ie.

Preparations are in full swing for IRTS Hamfest 2025. This new
initiative by the IRTS will take place over the weekend of September
6th and 7th in conjunction with the IRTS SSB Field Day weekend. It will
take place at the Mullingar Showgrounds, Culleen, Mullingar, Co.
Westmeath. It brings novice and experienced people together in one
place along with a very wide array of amateur radio equipment,
technologies, and experience. You are invited to come along and learn
via hands-on practical tutorials that you can take part in or bring
your radio-related gear to show others how to set it up correctly.
Camping and campervan parking is available and encouraged.

If interested in getting involved or for further information, please
contact the team via email to hamfest /at/ irts.ie
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Welcome to the new Irish radio amateurs

Please welcome 18 new Irish radio amateurs! They attended the latest
training course, class Hotel, that was offered by the National Short
Wave Listeners Club. Out of the 50 who started this six-month journey,
25 took the ComReg licensing exam in May. They have reported that the
exam was fair, but, unfortunately, not everyone made it this time.
Seven of the students were out of luck. However, they are planning to
continue revising over the summer, and to take the autumn exam.

The NSWLC would like to thank ComReg, and the IRTS Exam Board for their
hard work on what is the most essential step in turning hopeful
candidates into new Irish radio amateurs.

The National Short Wave Listeners Club is planning an open evening
session on the 9th of October 2025. It will explain how to get an Irish
amateur radio station licence. This evening will be aimed at anyone
interested in joining the next HAREC course, likely to start some time
in November. More details will be announced soon. The NSWLC Training
Coordinator wishes to thank the entire team which consisted of ten
tutors and many more mentors and revision assistants who dedicated over
500 hours of volunteering effort.
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Tipperary Amateur Radio Group

The next meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will be held at
The Princess Bar, Irishtown Upper, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary on Wednesday
the 18th of June 2025 at 8 p.m. The Eircode for this venue is E91 PW90.
The meeting is open to all and Short Wave Listeners are in particular
very welcome to attend. For more information about Tipperary Amateur
Radio Group, visit their group website at www.ei7trg.ie
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Abbey Theatre stage a play inspired by amateur radio

The Abbey Theatre in Dublin is bringing the world of ham radio to the
stage with their new play called Static. This thrilling world premiere
which explores an astronaut's chance connection with a Donegal radio
operator over the airwaves is at the Abbey Theatre from the 20th of
June until the 18th of July.

This play is inspired by events at the end of the Soviet Union when a
radio operator in Donegal contacted a cosmonaut on Mir. The Abbey
Theatre is delighted to offer all of the IRTS community 10% off tickets
with the discount code Static2025. Tickets are on sale at
www.abbeytheatre.ie or via the box office which can be contacted by
phone at 01 87 87 222. We hope you enjoy the show!
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VHF/Microwave Updates

Throughout the coming week, watch out for periods of enhanced
tropospheric propagation. For FM operators, you may find opportunities
to work repeaters well beyond your normal range. CW, SSB, and digital
mode operators may also find some exciting but somewhat fleeting
opportunities to work short lived but strong Sporadic E openings if
conditions reported over the past few days continue.

The IRTS VHF-plus management team continues to review the list of
repeaters, gateways, and beacons listed on the IRTS website.
Information regarding both new and off-air repeaters to help update the
records would be most welcome via email to vhf_manager /at/ irts.ie.

The team is also seeking interest from operators regarding a series of
potential EI-led multimode activation events for the 2m, 70cm, and 23cm
bands. These will likely take place during evening times based on
feedback received so far. If you are interested in getting involved,
please get in touch via email to vhf_manager /at/ irts.ie. Ideas and
input regarding any aspect of VHF and above in EI are welcome at any
stage via email to the same address.
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Anniversary Day at Grimeton Radio Station

The 100th anniversary of World Heritage Site Grimeton takes place on
July 2nd, 2025. On this day in 1925, the establishment was formally
inaugurated. To mark this occasion, two transmitter launches are
planned along with the transmission of a telegram using the callsign
SAQ. The frequency used will be 17.2 kHz and the mode is CW. Several
online receivers are available for you to listen in to the activity on
the day. The event will also be livestreamed on YouTube. Further
information may be found at alexander.n.se
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IARU Monitoring System Region 1 Newsletter

The May edition of the IARU Monitoring System Region 1 newsletter is
now available for download. It reports that a transmission mode that
wasn't previously encountered within amateur radio HF bands was
received. The report states that it is a proprietary military system.
In addition, nearly one thousand radar transmissions were reported
during May of this year. Closer to home, reports of Irish fisherman
without amateur radio licences on the 80m band paint a colourful
picture regarding life on the sea.

This free and insightful report can be downloaded from the Monitoring
System section of the IARU website located at www.iaru-r1.org
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Contest and Events

For those that took part in the IRTS CW Field Day last week, please
note that the deadline for logs is next Sunday June 22nd. Logs should
be sent to the IRTS contest manager via email to contestmanager /at/
irts.ie

The next IRTS field day focuses on the VHF and UHF bands. It will run
over the weekend of July 5th and 6th. Five separate contests take place
on each of the 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cm, and 23cm bands. Further details
including the rules may be found at www.irts.ie/contests

The 53rd Bangor and District Amateur Radio Society Annual Radio Rally
takes place next Saturday, the 21st of June. The venue is Ballygilbert
Presbyterian Church Hall, 376 Belfast Road, Bangor BT19 1UH. Doors open
at 11.30 a.m. and admission is £5.
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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 newsteam /at/ irts.ie with the
details. These will be automatically forwarded to the IRTS radio and
printed news services. The deadline each week is midnight on Thursdays.

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