XPost: rec.radio.info

(BUTTON) Go Back

This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday November 7th 2021
__________________________________________________________________

PAR Grant for the Howth Martello Radio Group

Tony, Ei5EM reports that the Howth Martello Radio Group is very
grateful to the IRTS for the grant of 800 Euro from the Promoting
Amateur Radio fund, PAR. This will go a long way to enable the Group to
upgrade the station equipment at EI0MAR. A new Icom IC7300 is currently
on order and should be in service soon. The Martello is in such an
exposed coastal location that antennas take a battering from the
weather, especially during the winter months. Over the last several
years a commercial Cobwebb and a HF vertical antenna have been totally
destroyed by the weather and a new HF antenna is also on the shopping
list. The PC running the logging software dates from 2005 and is still
running on Windows XP. Its hard-drive contains lots of irreplaceable
archive material and the machine urgently needs replacing, lest this be
lost. Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio is still closed due
to Covid-19, however access to the shack is still available to members
of the Group, so listen out for us on the bands.
__________________________________________________________________

LCARC Rally

The Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club are holding their Rally today,
Sunday the 7th, in the Radisson Blu Hotel. Doors opened at 11:00.
Entrance fee is 5 Euro per person. As with previous Rallies, there is a
well stocked bring and buy opportunity, as can be seen on their updated
-market place- section of their website at www.limerickclareama
teurradioclub.ie
__________________________________________________________________

South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The November meeting of The South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will be
held on Monday the 29th of November at 8:00 p.m. sharp at The Sweep
Bar, Adamstown, Kilmeaden, Co. Waterford Eircode X91 H588. As with all
public gatherings the management of The Sweep Bar will only allow
access to those who are fully vaccinated and produce their EU Digital
Covid Certificate and valid photographic identity, e.g. Driving
Licence, Passport. No cert and no ID means no entry!

There will be a lot to discuss on the night including plans for the
year ahead with some exciting new activations in the pipeline, so we
look forward to seeing many familiar faces in attendance. Any
non-members who are interested in finding out more about the hobby or
the group are also very welcome on the night. For anyone that wishes to
find out more about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and their
activities you can drop them an email to southeasternarg /at/ gmail.com
or please feel free to go along to any of their meetings. You can check
their website www.searg.ie and you can also join them on Facebook and
follow them on Twitter.
__________________________________________________________________

Contest News

The results of the IRTS 40 metres Counties Contest held during October
have now been published. Band conditions on 40 metres have been good in
recent weeks, and propagation favoured local contacts during this short
contest. 28 Transmitting station logs along with one SWL log were
submitted, showing activity in 17 EI and GI counties. Some of the
leading ststions managed to work most of these counties. Our Contest
Results page at www.irts.ie/results has links to the detailed results
for this event.

The JA International DX Contest und OK and OM DX Contest will take
place next weekend, but many leading contesters claim that the Worked
All Europe DX Contest is the most challenging contest of the year. The
second weekend of November is the date for the RTTY leg of WAE DX.

The unique feature of QTC-traffic adds much fun and another operating
challenge to the contest. Here the DX stations transfer real telegrams
to the European stations. These telegrams contain data of previously
logged QSOs. Each of these records counts one additional point for the
sender and the receiver, given that the complete record was logged
correctly. Thus, a DX station can actually double its score by sending
QTCs. Some European stations, and not only the leading ranks, gain more
than 70 percent of their score from QTC traffic. European stations
multipliers come from DXCC entities worked and the numerical call areas
of several big countries. Because multipliers are counted per band and
on the low bands they count more than on the high bands, there is
significant activity on 40m and 80m. The 24 hour WAE DX RTTY Contest
starts midnight, next Saturday, the 13th of November.
__________________________________________________________________

DX News

Nejc, S56NE, will be active with the special event callsign S5630NE
from Idrija to celebrate 30 years of independence of the Republic of
Slovenia. The Slovenian Amateur Radio Union will celebrate the
country's 30 years of Independence by issuing a special award. In order
to obtain the award, a foreign amateur radio station must have at least
30 contacts with a S5 station until the end of the year. More
information on www.hamradio.si

In his spare time, David, F4FKT is active as FT4YM/P from Antarctica,
until late February or early March of next year. He is operating mainly
SSB on the 20 and 40m bands from various bases. Updates are posted to
the Polar DX Group's Facebook group. QSL via F5PFP.

Stan, K5GO will be active as ZF9CW from Cayman Brac, IOTA NA-016, until
March of next year. He works mainly CW, and occasionally SSB. QSLs via
Logbook of The World, or direct to home call K5GO

W5JON will be active again as V47JA from Saint Kitts Island, IOTA
NA-104, from the 10th to the 24th of November, on 160 to 6m, including
60m, using SSB and FT8. QSL via home call W5JON direct and also LOTW.

Gunter, DK2WH is back on air as V51WH from Namibia until March 2022.
QSLs via DK2WH, direct or via bureau.

News from Gambia: The french and british hams of the C5C team are still
active from Kolili on 80 to 10m, until the 19th of November. Activity
is on 80-10 meters SSB, FT8/FT4. The C5B Team will relocate to the
Bijol Islands, IOTA AF060, on the 10th of November. They only QSL
direct via F5RAV

Kenneth, LA7GIA uses the callsign TL7M from the Central African
Republic for another week on the HF bands. QSL via M0OXO direct, LOTW,
ClubLog OQRS.

Dwight, VE7BV, was heard as TG9BBV from Guatemala on 40m. He will be on
the HF bands until the of November. QSL via home call VE7BV, LOTW,
eQSL.

Recent spots suggest that Take, JG8NQJ is on CW as JG8NQJ/JD1 from
Minami-Tori-Shima Island, japanese for Southern Bird Island, also known
as Marcus Island, IOTA OC073. QSL via JA8CJY.
__________________________________________________________________

General News

Seamus Ei8EP reports on the IARU Region 1 website that the 358 page
Final Report on the Study on the evaluation of the Electromagnetic
Compatibility Directive has now been published. It is publicly
available, free of charge, from the Publications Office of the European
Union. The Political Relations Committee of the IARU Region 1 responded
recently to a European Commission Roadmap on the environmental impact
of photovoltaics. The radio spectrum is an important finite natural
resource which must be protected. While PV technology of itself is to
be welcomed, the IARU submission pointed out the inherent problems of
non-compliant installations, particularly the installation or
retro-fitting of optimisers which can produce significant spectrum
pollution for very limited efficiency increase.

The RSGB has just published the individual presentations in the -Learn
more about...- stream from its online Convention. This means that you
can now see all 15 presentations in the RSGB's web video archive, or in
the RSGB Convention 2021 playlist on the RSGB's YouTube channel.

The latest ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications for 2022 is now
available in three usual formats as traditional softcover, as a
six-volume, shrink-wrapped book set, and as digital eBook.

In 2019, mounting operational costs were given as the reason by -France
Medias Monde- to withdraw from the Radio Monte Carlo at Doualiya in
Cyprus. The three landmark masts of the medium wave antennas which were
used by Radio Monte Carlo Middle East, Trans World Radio and the Voice
of America were blown up on Thursday and Friday, marking the final end
of one of the last remaining historical AM stations.

After an heroic repair effort to some failed remote equipment, there
are again four internet accessible KIWI-SDR receivers available in
Iceland, covering the frequency range from 10 kHz to 30 MHz. They are
located in the Blue Mountains, at Bjargtoeng and at Red Sea, and at
Reykjavik's planetarium, called the Pearl of Cinderella. The URLs for
those four receivers can be found on the current frontpage of the
webpage by the Icelandic Radio Amateurs at www.ira.is
__________________________________________________________________

The Propagation Horoscope

The geomagnetic field was quiet until the very severe storm on the 4th
of November, under the influence of strong CME effects. The high
latitude magnetometer at Andenes recorded quiet to severe storm levels.
The first effects of the CME were observed just at the end of last
Thurday's UKEI 80m Counties Contest, warbled SSB transmissions
indicated auroral activity further north. At the time of writing, the
Solarwind is at 435 km/s and the proton density is under 4 particles
per cubic centimetres. Expect elevated levels again around Wednesday
evening. The dxinfo.com website shows little or no tropo over the
British Isles, and live data shown on aprs.mennolink.org also show
little activity on vhf and uhf.
__________________________________________________________________

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 Friday.

[C]
News Archives

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)