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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 1st January 2017
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Wild Atlantic Way

Today marks the start of the Wild Atlantic Way award programme, based
around nine special call signs which will be active during 2017. These
call signs - EI11WAW through to EI99WAW - each represent one of the
counties on the Wild Atlantic Way. Clubs located in these counties will
be activating the WAW call signs during the year, but they are also
looking for other EI licensed operators to help them keep their calls
regularly on air throughout 2017 on all bands and modes. To assist WAW
operators, Paul EI5DI is providing a free special-event and DXpedition
logger, available from www.ei5di.com/sdxsetup.exe .

See www.irts.ie/waw for more information, including the arrangements
for other EI licensed operators to assist in this programme.
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Worked All GI Award

Today also marks the start of the Worked All GI (WAGI) Award, available
for working WAB Areas in Northern Ireland. Only contacts made after 1st
January 2017 are eligible for this award. There are 189 WAB areas in
Northern Ireland, so expect to hear a lot more GI/MI/2I activity in the
coming months. 40 metres is probably a good band for EI stations to
work WAB stations - the WAB net frequencies on 40 metres are 7.035 (CW)
and 7.160 (SSB).
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5 MHz Activity

Following the announcement last week of the release on a secondary
basis to EI radio amateurs of the WRC-15 band of 5351.5 to 5366.5 kHz,
we have been listening to activity on the band, particularly during the
afternoons and evenings. Many continental European countries have
similar allocations and they have been keen to work EI stations on this
experimental band. The allocation covers just 15 kHz, and it is
important to be familiar with the band plan, which is available at the
Downloads page on the IRTS web site www.irts.ie/downloads

Note that the new allocation does not affect the availability of the
existing channels for which special authorisation is required.
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Counties Contest

The IRTS 80 metres counties contest takes place today from 15:00 to
17:00 UTC. There are SSB only and SSB/CW mixed mode sections for fixed
and portable stations. There is also a mixed mode section for stations
using one of the nine Wild Atlantic Way special call signs, so the
contest will present a great opportunity to work these stations on the
first day of the Wild Atlantic Way project. To encourage more CW
activity in the mixed mode sections, CW QSOs earn double points. See
www.irts.ie/contests for the full contest rules.
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South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

Congratulations to the SEARG club members David Kirwan and Conor Lewis
who both passed the HAREC exam which was held on the 1st of December
last. David and Conor sat the exam in June 2016 and had been
unsuccessful, but they studied long and hard and put in a great effort
over the last few months and both passed this time around. Club members
hope they have many hours of DX and look forward to hearing them on the
air soon.

The January meeting of the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take
place in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford
on Monday the 30th January at 8.00 p.m. New members or anyone
interested in learning more about amateur radio are very welcome to
attend.

Anyone that wishes to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur
Radio Group and its activities can come along to any of the club's
meetings. Check the website www.searg.ie and follow the club on
Facebook and Twitter.
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South Dublin Radio Club

Club meeting resume after the Christmas break on Tuesday next (3rd
January). SDR meets every Tuesday at 8.30pm in the Ballyroan Community
Centre, Marian Road, Rathfarnham. New members and visitors are always
welcome.
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IRTS New Membership Offer

A timely reminder that IRTS is offering new personal EI licence holders
free membership for a year. Anyone who has been issued with a new EI
personal licence since 1st January 2016 can avail of this. Also,
existing IRTS members who qualify are entitled to a free one-year
extension of their membership. See the "Join Us!" page at
www.irts.ie/join for more details of this offer (which expires on 31st
March) and to download a free sample copy of the December 2016 issue of
the member's journal, Echo Ireland.
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DX News

An IOTA expedition will take place from Al Safliyah Island, off the
coast of Qatar, from 1st - 7th January. Among the group taking part
will be our own Jeremy EI5GM and Dave EI9FBB. The callsign will be
A70X. (A Seven Zero X). The island has not been activated since 1995 so
large pile-ups are expected from those chasing the IOTA Award. QSL
Manager is M0OXO.

Another IOTA expedition on the air at the moment is one by Josep EA3BT
and Nuria EA3WL using the callsigns H74B and H74W respectively. The
location is Big Corn Island off the coast of Nicaragua. The IOTA
reference number is NA-013 and they will be there until 6th January.
QSLs go via EA3BT.

Rolf DL8AZ will be active as 8Q7AZ from the Maldive Islands until 11th
January. Look for him on 40 - 10m SSB. QSL to the home call.

Bruce AA4XR will sign XW4XR from Vientiane, Laos on the HF bands using
CW, RTTY and JT65 from 3rd - 21st January. His QSL manager is E21EIC.

K7ADD will be QRV from Rarotonga in the South Cook Islands as E51AMF
from 5th - 9th January. This will be followed by a move to the North
Cook Islands again using the callsign E51AMF from 11th January - 6th
February. Then he will return to the South Cook Islands from 8th - 18th
February. QSLs go via K7ADD.
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Items for inclusion in next week's Radio News can be submitted via
e-mail to "newsteam /at/ irts / dot / ie" for automatic forwarding to
both the radio and printed news services. Urgent news items for the
radio news may be telephoned to the radio news editor, Aidan, EI7JC on
085 7100511.

Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no
later than midday on Thursday in order to be guaranteed inclusion in
the following Sunday's bulletin.

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