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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday June 30th, 2024
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Silent Key William (Billy) Power EI8HR

We were saddened to learn of the death of William (Billy) Power EI8HR,
Leamy Street, Waterford whose death occurred on the 27th of June.
Licensed in the early 90s, William was a former long-time member of the
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and acted as PRO for many years. His
Requiem Mass will take place today, Sunday (30th June) in The Holy
Family Church at 1:30 p.m. followed by burial in St. Otteran's
Cemetery, Waterford. We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife
Marie, son Paschal, daughters Susan, Marteen, Claire, and Stephanie,
sisters, brother, grandchildren, extended family, neighbours, and
friends.
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EI0IRTS Summer Holidays

The IRTS news team will be taking its annual summer holidays from
Sunday, July 14th until Sunday, August 4th. This means that the last
IRTS HF bulletin before the break will be the 80m bulletin at 12 p.m.
on Sunday, July 14th and the next bulletin will be the 40m bulletin on
Sunday, August 4th at 11 a.m. For events that may be taking place
during the holiday period, people are advised to send them to the news
editor as soon as possible so they can be included in upcoming IRTS
news bulletins before the summer break. The IRTS wish to thank all of
our newsreaders both HF and local weekly readers for your continued
great service to the society. We hope you all enjoy your summer break!
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The 100th anniversary of the first amateur radio activity from the city of
Lviv

The first ever amateur radio QSO from the ancient city of Lviv was made
by Polish engineer Jan Zembicki in 1924. He used a spark gap
transmitter, detector radio receiver with coherer, and a loop antenna.
Zembicki chose the callsign LW3 as there were no frequency and callsign
country allocations at that time. This special memorial station will be
active from July 1st to December 31st, 2024. To qualify, the applicant
must prove making two-way contacts with Lviv region amateurs during
this period on different amateur bands including 160m up to 70cm using
different modes of emission and must score 10 points. The "100 YEARS ON
THE AIR" memorial award is free. Electronic PDF versions will be sent
to applicants by e-mail. For more information and to submit plain text
applications listing QSO data, email ur5whq /at/ ukr.net.
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IRTS Contests Updates

The IRTS VHF/UHF Field Day takes place next weekend. It will run from
14:00 UTC on Saturday July 6th until 14:00 UTC on Sunday July 7th.
There will be five separate contests: one on each band. The bands used
will be 50 MHz (6m), 70 MHz (4m), 144 MHz (2m), 432 MHz (70cm), and
1296 MHz (23cm). Modes used will be CW, SSB, and FM. This event
coincides with the IARU 3rd Subregional contest and RSGB National Field
Day taking place at the same time and using the same bands so plenty of
activity can be expected with potential for good DX contacts. Further
details may be found at www.irts.ie/contests

If anyone is interested in using the headquarter station callsign EI0HQ
representing Ireland in the IARU HF Championship on the 13th and 14th
of July, you are asked to contact the IRTS Contest Manager, Mark EI6JK
to check for availability. Mark may be contacted via email to
contestmanager /at/ irts.ie.
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FT8 Activity on 2m

For digital mode enthusiasts on VHF and above, VHF-UHF FT8 Activity is
an open contest that promotes FT8 and FT4 activity on the 2m, 70 cm,
and 23cm bands. The next round takes place on 2m on Wed July 3rd from
17:00 to 21:00 UTC. Further information is available at
www.ft8activity.eu
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Alexanderson Day is today, Sunday June 30th

For those listening to this news on Sunday June 30th, you may still
have time to try receiving a special CW message from the unique
Alexanderson alternator transmitter operating on 17.2 kHz at 12:00 UTC.
This dates from 1924 and uses the call sign SAQ. Almost a hundred years
ago, on December 1st, 1924, the long wave transmitter at Grimeton Radio
Station was put into commercial operation.

To receive the message, you can try using a wire as long as possible
connected to the microphone socket of a laptop or PC soundcard. The
soundcard can then be used as a receiver allowing you to try to receive
the transmissions. You can watch the transmitter in action live via
YouTube by searching for their AlexanderSAQ channel or visiting
www.alexander.n.se
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Perseids Meteor Shower

The Perseids meteor shower is almost upon us again with activity
expected from July 17th until August 24th. This year, the peak dates
are August 12th 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.

For meteor scatter fans, 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.
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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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