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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday November 21st 2021
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New Transceiver at EI0MAR

Tony Ei5EM reports that on Saturday the 13th of November, the new Icom
IC7300 was unveiled at EI0MAR, the amateur station in Ye Olde Hurdy
Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio in Howth. The purchase of the radio was
partially funded by a grant from the IRTS and its Promoting Amateur
Radio Fund, for which The Howth Martello Radio Group is very grateful.
Tony EI5EM cut the blue ribbon on the new rig, which was then unboxed
and installed. Several QSOs were made on CW and SSB by Tony and Ana
EI5IXB respectively. Annard EI4IQB set up his Icom IC705 and portable
antenna just outside the Martello Tower and made a QSO to French Guiana
on SSB with only five Watts. A wonderful day was had by all. Thanks to
all who attended, Ana EI5IXB, Joe EI2JZ, Annard EI4IQB, Howard SWL,
Tony EI5EM and a special word of thanks to Mick EI6IKB for supplying
face masks, hand gel, wipes, surface cleaner and paper towels.
Unfortunately, the museum is closed to the public at present due to
Covid-19, but will reopen as soon as possible. So watch this space for
further announcements.
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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 for example a driving
licence or 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.

The 89th Irish Radio Transmitters AGM weekend will take place over the
weekend of the 9th and 10th of April 2022 in the Woodford Dolmen Hotel,
Kilkenny Road, Carlow. Tickets for the Gala Dinner can now be
pre-booked from John EI7IG for collection on arrival at the event.
Tickets cost EUR35 and more information including contact details for
John can be found on the IRTS Gala Dinner section on the club's webpage
for that event on irtsagm2022cw.blogspot.com 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.
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IARU presents award to Don, G3BJ

Former IARU Region 1 President and RSGB Past-President Don Beattie,
G3BJ, was recently presented with the prestigious Michael J. Owen Award
by the IARU Administrative Council. The award recognises those
outstanding volunteers whose exceptional service to the IARU reflect
the spirit, hard work and dedication of the late Michael Owen. IARU
President Tim Ellam, VE6SH offered his congratulations to Don.
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Reading Material for long Winter Nights

This week the Icelandic Radio Society received a large packet from the
National Association of Radio Amateurs in Switzerland, USKA. The swiss
amateurs sent them a collection of their magazine, HB Radio, for the
years 2016 to 2021. USKA publishes 6 issues a year and each issue is
50-80 pages. The magazine provides an interesting insight into the
extensive work of the National Association of Radio Amateurs in
Switzerland. Articles in the paper are mostly in German, French and
Italian.
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Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, DARC Honorary Member

Professor Karl Meinzer, DJ4JZ, the leading visionary, inventor and
driving force behind the amateur radio satellite program has been made
an honoury member of the german amateur radio organization DARC. He
became a licensed ham in 1957 at the age of 17. After studying physics
he worked in the development laboratories of the University of Marburg
until his retirement in 2005. His university faculty hosted AMSAT-DL,
and there they built the AO-10, AO-13, AO-21 und AO-40 OSCAR
satellites. His latest project, Phase 3E is essentially good to go, but
still awaiting a launch opportunity. Not only did he build those birds,
he also wrote their operating systems from scratch, creating the
software that is now used on QO-100. So it is no surprise that DJ4ZC
was one of the first hams to work via QO-100. Karl Meinzner's expertise
dos not only cover satellites, developed from early balloon experiments
testing Arthur C. Clarke's seminal 1948 paper, in which Clarke proposed
orbiting radio relays. Over 50 years later, with a special license from
the german telecoms authorities, he succeeded in reflecting signals
from the planet Venus, using 5 kW on 2.4 GHz, besting his earlier EME
achivements. Karl Meinzner, DJ4ZC, a real oldtimer, who keeps pace with
modern development.
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Hams in Space

Raja Chari, KI5LIU, is the newest commander of a NASA space mission.
Raja and his three fellow members of SpaceX Crew-3 are now aboard the
International Space Station. It promises to be a busy six months for
the crew, which includes Matthias Maurer KI5KFH from the European Space
Agency. The German astronaut will be involved in more than 35
experiments while on board the ISS. He will also be using the German
callsign DP0ISS during a dozen scheduled contacts with German schools
through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program.
The first of those contacts is set for a school in Bavaria sometime
between the 29th of November and the 5th of December.
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Contesting

This year's Scandinavian Activity CW Contest preliminary scores from
1442 logs have been published. Congratulations to Gerard, EI5KF, his
226 QSOs resulted in a score of 17854, giving him 49th place in Europe.
The highest european entry was by LZ5R, operated by LZ3ND with 636 QSOs
giving him a top score of 98.580 points. Scandinavia is counted
separately from all other regions, the top 3 ranks are held by three
finish stations with close to 5000 contacts each.

Members of the K1USN Radio Club, who are also members CWops, short for
the CW Operators' Club, run a one-hour slow speed CW contest called the
SST. For those who prefer a more leisurely CW pace or are new CW
operators or contesters, this just might be what you're looking for.
The SST runs every Friday from 2000 to 2100 UTC and on Mondays from
00:00 to 01:00 UTC. There is more info on www.k1usn.com

The last major contest for this year is the CQ WW DX Contest on the
27th and 28th of November, starting 0000 UTC on Saturdays and ends at
2359 UTC Sunday. 48 hours contesting certainly requires endurance.
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The DX Window

DT8A - SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS

Lee, DS4NMJ broadcasts as DT8A from King George Island, IOTA AN-010
until the end of the year. He operates in his spare time on all HF
bands with CW, SSB and FT8. QSL via DS5TOS

Until the middle of December, Peter, G4ENL is on air from Bhutan with
the callsign A52CC on 80m to 6m with SSB and FT8.

V31HT - until next weekend, Damian, G4LHT operates as V31HT from San
Pedro, IOTA NA-073 off the Coast of Belize. QSL via homecall G4LHT or
eQSL.

Ali, EP3CQ, is once again active as 6O1OO from Mogadishu until sometime
during the first week in December. Activity has been on 30 meters with
FT8 and FT4. His activity is limited to his spare time because he works
for the UN Department of Safety and Security in Mogadishu. He will also
use 40m and 20m FT8, but also on CW and SSB with up to 180 Watts into
basic antennas. Ali suggests to listen for him from after 1800 to 1900
UTC until midnight. The 6O1OO station is currently the only active and
licensed Amateur Radio Station in Somalia.

In case you think you missed part of the suffix when talking to hams in
ON: As of this week, individual Belgian amateurs can apply for a
secondary 2+1 vanity callsign with all possible ITU-prefixes for
Belgium except ON.
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The Propagation Horoscope

After last week's bathing in solar wind, Earth will receive the next
wave from a large coronal hole near the sun's south pole. The plasma
stream is already making an impact as you listening to this bulletin.
NOAA forecasters say that a so-called corotating interaction region is
traveling just ahead of the stream. And that sparks geomagnetic
activity and some arctic auroras this weekend. As of Friday night the
solar flux eased off to around 80, the x-ray flux is at the class A2
level. The other two visible active regions are quiet. As we go into
the winter, the higher bands don't give as many opportunities any
longer, and there is little respite on 7 MHz due to the ongoing severe
interferences blotting out most of the voice segment, leading to
crowding in the usable portions. 80 and 160m have become most lively
thanks to a shorter day time for the D layer to persist, and for the
first time this year reliable topband contacts to North America are
possible again.
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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]
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