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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday February 21st 2021
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IRTS Training Courses

The IRTS Training section has been running two online classes since
mid-November and these classes are in their final scheduled week.
However, as the scheduled HAREC examination cannot currently be held
due to Covid-19 pandemic, revision classes for both groups will
continue on Wednesday evenings at 2000 until the date for the
examination is finalised. Our sincere thanks to the following tutors
who volunteered to run the first two classes, Michael Lee EI4HF, Jim
Holohan EI4HH, Stefan Zalewski EI4KU, Keith Crittenden EI5KJ, Jerry
Cahill EI6BT, Simon Kenny EI7ALB Larry McGriskin EI9CN and Dave Moore
EI4BZ who co-ordinated the whole effort. The classes are held on the
Zoom platform and have proved very successful with only a few drop-outs
from the forty seven starters. A third class will begin on March 30th
and will run twice weekly for eight weeks on Tuesday and Thursday
nights leading to an examination in June. Intending participants should
be IRTS members or intending members and should contact the IRTS
training team by email on training /at/ irts.ie. For anyone interested
in studying for the HAREC examination, there is a wealth of information
and study guides available on the IRTS website at www.irts.ie
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New Additions to the IRTS Publications Library

The IRTS Publications Library at www.irts.ie/library contains
newsletters and other IRTS publications up to the year 2000. We have
recently added more than 40 newsletters and annual reports to the
library - these latest additions are highlighted on the web site. They
include a complete set of publications for 1948 and 1949, which provide
a good insight into the activities of radio experimenters at a time
when they were working mostly with home-built or modified war-surplus
equipment. More details of the new additions to the library will be
included in the next edition of Echo Ireland, the IRTS Members'
Journal.
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Request for nominations for IRTS Awards.

The IRTS Awards Committee is seeking nominations for "Awards for
Services to the Society or to Amateur Radio" and for "Awards to IRTS
Members for other achievements". The winners in the above categories
would normally be presented with their inscribed trophy/shield in
person at the AGM. However, due to the Corona-19 virus pandemic the
trophies/shields will be inscribed but will not be distributed to the
winners except where a winner specifically requests delivery of same.
It is important that our fellow experimenters and operators whose work
and effort on behalf of each one of us and for the Society be
recognised and rewarded. Please send your nominations for specific
awards to the Awards Manager to - holohaj2 /at/ hotmail.com
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IRTS Committee meeting

The next IRTS Committee meeting will take place on Saturday next at
1100 on the Zoom platform. The committee will, as usual, receive
reports from the office holders delivering the many services to
members. The Spring edition of Echo Ireland will carry the notice of
the Annual General Meeting and committee and financial reports and
these will be finalized at the meeting. The deadline for receipt of
input for the Spring Echo Ireland is March 1st. The Echo Ireland Editor
is urgently seeking a new HF correspondent as the current correspondent
Don Brennan EI6IL is stepping down from the role. Our thanks to active
DXer Don for always producing an informative and educational HF column.
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Mayo Lock Down Net

The Mayo VHF Group - Covid Lockdown Net takes place on Wednesday
evenings at 2000 on 145.375MHz FM. This Net will run for the duration
of the Government Level 5 lock down. So, join in and say hello, all
welcome including Shortwave Listener reports.
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On the Air next week

The UKEICC monthly one hour 80m CW Contest will be held on Wednesday
next the 24th at 2000. EI5G and, for this contest at least, GM7V will
be bonus stations. Any valid QSO with these stations will score a flat
ten points regardless of distance. This will somewhat counterbalance
the distance-related scores enjoyed by stations well away from the EI/G
centre of activity and hopefully make it more interesting for modest
stations that are based in EI/G and further afield. Joe EI7GY will be
operating EI5G for this contest and he will be certainly be running
some pileups. The big event for SSB Top Band operators is on next
weekend when the CQ Worldwide SSB 160m contest kicks off at 2200 on
Friday night and runs until 2200 on Sunday night. North American
stations will give report plus state or province while all others will
give report and CQ Zone. The EI single operator high power record
holder in this contest is EI7M operated by Dan EI3JZ in 2013 while the
low power record is held by Paul EI3ENB since 2012. Gerard EI5KF holds
two records, QRP at EI1E and the single high power operator assisted in
2018. The multi op high power record is held by EI7M since 2011.
Hopefully, some of these records will be challenged next weekend. Also
on next weekend is the French REF SSB contest starting at 0600 on
Saturday next and finishing at 1800 on Sunday, while the Belgian UBA CW
contest runs from 1300 on Saturday until 1300 on Sunday. Digital mode
operators have the 24 hour FT4 contest starting at 1200 on Saturday
next and this is run by the European FT8 Club. The exchange is report
plus state or province for North American stations while all others
will give report and serial number. It is important that participants
in this one study the rules which are available on
europeanft8club.wordpress.com.

Now some DX news: Tom, NL7RR, is expected to be active starting around
February 26th, as KH9/NL7RR from Wake Island (Oceania-053) for about 6
weeks, as time permits. Tom hopes to be on 40 and 20 meters on SSB. The
Greek Ministry of Digital Governance are allowing Greek radio amateurs
to use the following special prefixes throughout 2021 to celebrate
Greece's bicentennial of the 1821 Greek Revolution, where Greek
revolutionaries fought against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and
1830. Greek Radio Amateur Radio with Class 1 licenses (SV) can use
SZ200. Those with introductory Level licenses (SY) can use SY200 and
club stations can use SZ200. These special prefix stations (along with
other special Greek stations) are valid for a special "200 Years of
Greek Independence Award" and this is available in four different
levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The award manager is SV2RCK.
Complete award details are available at: sv2rck.gr/200YEARS. Mireille,
3A/F4FRL and Patrice, 3A/F5RBB will be active from Monaco between the
24th of February and the 2nd of March. They will operate SSB and
digital modes on the 40 to 20m bands. QSL via LOTW and eQSL.
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Youth Working group of IARU Region 1

The Youth Working Group within IARU Region 1 have created a new program
called "YOTA online". In these monthly gatherings they try to bring the
YOTA feeling towards the online community and spread the word that
there is youth in ham radio. A YOTA team consisting of active
youngsters will present different topics, each month while answering
questions from the community. Summits on the Air, Islands On the Air,
Worldwide Flora and Fauna and other radio-friendly outdoor activities
will be the focus of discussion during the next YOTA Online session at
1900 UTC on Thursday next, the 25th of February. This episode is called
"Gone exploring" and shares different ways to enjoy outdoor
activations. It will be followed by a question-and-answer period
afterwards. The event will be livestreamed on YouTube, Twitch and
Facebook. Search for `hamyota' on these platforms. IRTS Youth Officer
Niall Donoghue EI6HIB is always interested in hearing from anyone
interested in promoting amateur radio to our youth and has set up YOTA
pages on Facebook and more recently TikTok which is a newly emerging
social media platform popular amongst those under the age of 18. Niall
can be contacted by email at nialldonohoe15 at hotmail.com.
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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/dot/ie for
automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. The
deadline is midnight on Thursday. Urgent items for the news may be
telephoned to News Editor Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574.

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