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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 01 May 2022
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Club News

The South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC reports: Tramore was the
location for the group to activate the EI2IMD call-sign which was
specially got for the Marconi Day 2022 activation. International
Marconi Day 2022 took place on Saturday April 23rd and once again it
proved to be a very successful activation with massive pile-ups on all
bands that the call was used on. Early on Saturday morning three
Australian stations were worked on 20m SSB and throughout the morning
many other countries were worked using the club's Yaesu FT857 and Wayne
EI7HKB's home-brew 49:1 EFHW antenna. John EI3HQB also made some CW
contacts using the club's Elecraft K2. Many club members visited the
station throughout the day with many members of the public also
stopping while passing to ask what the funny wires in the sky were for!
It was a very special day for club member Jamie EI1578 who logged his
first contact on HF using the EI2IMD call under supervision from a
EI2WRC member. Well done Jamie and we all know it will be the first of
many. With band conditions dying in the late afternoon the station
closed down and everyone headed for home. Even though it was a cold and
windy day in Tramore a great day was had by all. Tramore has a direct
connection with Marconi as he often stayed there with his aunt, a Mrs.
Cookman who resided at the Cove, Tramore.

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.

A first update was sent in by Anthony, EI7LB, regards the setting up of
the new shack in Carlow. He writes: "I am happy to advise you that we
have been contacted by Sean, EI2HZB and Stefan, EI4KU who have offered
their services in helping to set up the Irish Wheelchair Association
Club here in Carlow. We were also contacted by Joe EI8DY who has gifted
us a HF Receiver made by JRC, Model NRD 345 . This will be a fantastic
start to the Service users, so thank you very much. If any other
operators would like to loan of gift us something unused from their
shack we would be very grateful. Remember we don't have much at this
stage but we are hoping other Radio Hams will help us out. I'll keep
everyone updated on our progress." Anthony can be contacted via email,
his address is Anthony.Brophy /at/ iwa.ie
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YOTA and YHOTA

IRAU YOTA Organizers can finally announce the 10th edition of "YOTA
Summer Camps" this August. After the COVID-related cancellations in
2020 and 2021, the Croatian Amateur Radio Association HRS generously
offered to proceed with the planning. Thus, they ask every Youth
Coordinator in IARU Region 1 to apply for their national YOTA Teams
according to the "Call of Applications". One team can consist out of up
to four participants. The final number of participants per member
society will be announced after the application deadline on the 8th of
May 2022. Therefore, if you are a youngster wanting to participate at
this year's YOTA Summer Camp, feel free to reach out to your national
Youth Coordinator and show your interest today. International Aid
Organizations also support Amateur Radio related activities. Part of
this are the upcoming "Young Helpers On The Air" YHOTA Activity Days,
held on the 14th and 15th of May, and again on the 24th and 25th of
September.
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EI0MAR

Tony, EI5EM sends the Newsteam this report: "Saturday 23rd of April was
a very special day at the Martello tower in Howth. At 10 a.m. we held a
ceremony to celebrate the life of Pat Herbert, founder of the vintage
radio museum. Pat sadly passed away almost two years ago when the
pandemic was at its height, and it wasn't possible to do justice to the
memory of this legend until now. Members of Pat's extended family and
friends, from home and abroad, gathered outside the Martello to
remember him. Several people spoke warmly of their own personal
memories of Pat, including Simon, his son and Evonne his daughter.
Pat's son Noel was the main man at the event. After the speeches, all
joined in in singing Danny Boy. Refreshments were then served in the
Abbey Tavern. It was a fitting tribute to Pat. Thanks to Simon for
organizing the commemoration, which was planned to coincide with
International Marconi Day at EI0MAR, an event that Pat loved, as it
generated a great atmosphere and was a hive of activity. He would sit
in his chair taking it all in. IMD 2022 was not the same without Pat,
it couldn't be. Nonetheless, it proved to be a very enjoyable day with
lots of visitors and QSOs. Thanks to everyone who made the effort to
attend, making it a very special day. Pat's spirit will no doubt be
ever-present in the Martello, along with the spirits of Lee de Forest
and Marconi, three great giants of radio. The museum is Pat's legacy to
us. Long may it continue into the future. The museum is now open for
visitors every day between 11am and 4pm until the end of October, when
it will revert to weekend opening.

As part of the International Marconi day event located at EI0MAR, Mick,
EI6IKB set up a portable station in the grounds of the Tower in Howth,
using a Yaesu FT-857, helped by an auto-tuner driving an end-fed
half-wave antenna for 80m. In a posting on irts.groups.io he decribes
the antenna shown in the photos as a "Concoction of fiberglass poles
and a fishing rod." He writes: "This was my first portable activation
and a dry run for many more. The wire element of the antenna is approx
40 mtrs long and as i used 2.5 square it proved quite heavy and caused
the poles to bend quite a bit. This was the first time i used this
length with a 49:1 balun and the readings on the analyzer were
promising. I use a copy of this antenna at the house, but it is only a
half wave on 40m, approximately 24 meters long. It became apparent
quite quickly that I was hearing stations that would usually be
unworkable at the house. I could hear Japan for the first time, but was
unable to break into the pile up. I did a lot of listening around and
made a few contacts including Israel and Kazakhstan. The lessons
learned were: Remake the antenna with a lighter grade wire. Source some
stiffer fiberglass poles, i.e. linesman poles. Have a proper printed
log book. Source a decent extension speaker, VHF is no problem with the
FT857, but HF sounds very high pitched. A big thanks to Tony, EI5EM for
letting me set up and use the EI0MAR call for some of the contacts, and
for the cuppa." EI6IKB's report on irts.groups.io shows how it's done:
Going "portable" to make use of an open space for building a big
antenna, escaping the city QRM, enjoying the fresh air, make new
contacts near and far, all while honing one's skill for the next
portable activation.
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HF Activities and Contests

A few sought after prefixes have been activated by European hams.
Janusz, SP9FIH and Leszek, SP6CIK, are operating from Nepal as 9N7WE
and 9N7CI until the 19th May, covering the 40 to 6 meter bands. QSL to
their home calls, with details shown on the pzk.org.pl webpage.

Yuri, YL2GM has arrived on the Andaman Islands, meeting up with Manoj,
VU2CPL and Deepak, VU2CD. Together they are on the air as PVU4W until
the middle of May. On their webpage of the Latvian Amateur Radio
League, at www.lral.lv/vu4w they will post updates of their activities
on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, IOTA reference AS-001.

Two of the contests that took place earlier this year have their
results published. The Final-Results sheet for the Hungarian DX 2022
confirmed a strong participation of stations from EI. Preliminary
results have been posted on the CQWW website for the 160m CW and SSB
legs of their 48 hour mammoth contests held each January and February.

Slim pickings for the five participanting stations from EI in last
Wednesday's UKEICC one hour CW contests. LY6A lead the field in a tight
competition, helped by a long skip, with many contacts over 2000 km
distance.

The more demanding 24 hour UK EI Contest Club CW contest on 80 to 10m
wound down Sunday noon, we'll report on the results in next week's
news.

Across the Irish Sea, the 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest takes place on
Wednesday from 1900 to 2100UTC, a good chance to test one's VHF DX
capabilities. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator.
Details on the RSGB website.

Due to Ukraine's inability to participate in radio sports competitions,
the Lithuanian Radio Sport Federation LRSF, in consultation with
representatives from Latvia and Estonia and following a membership
survey, decided to suspend this year's international HF competition
"Baltic Contest".

In contrast, the 24 hour duration Italian Postheadericon A.R.I.
International DX Contest is going ahead, starting at 12:00 UTC next
Saturday. Beside the usual power and operating classes it also features
a SWL, a Rookie and a Youth Section, all with various overlays.

Also on Saturday, starting at 08:00 UTC the European EME contest on
23cm, also known as the "VK3UM Memorial EME Contest" takes to the
ether. This 16 hour contest is sponsored by the VHF, UHF and SHF
enthusiast's DUBUS Magazine and the French REF. Intended to promote
random EME contacts and is in this way different from contests where
contacts solicited via different channels like Internet chat forums,
DX-clusters or other ways of communicating are allowed.

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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