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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday April 4th 2021
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Silent Key - Fr. Harry Houlihan EI3EN

Father Harry Houlihan EI3EN, a native of Dingle, Co. Kerry, passed away
suddenly on 22nd January at his home in the Franciscan Friary,
Multyfarnham, County Westmeath. He had become a radio enthusiast while
a missionary in South Africa where he spent almost forty years. On his
return to Ireland, he lived in Cork and Waterford before finishing his
days as a Franciscan Friar in Multyfarnham. Our deepest sympathy goes
to his brother Val, sister-in-law Julie and his extended family.
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IRTS Annual General Meeting

Due to the continuing and forecast Covid-9 pandemic restrictions, the
2021 IRTS Annual General Meeting will be held online on the Zoom
platform on Saturday April 24th at 1100. The annual committee report,
financial report, committee nominations and formal notice of the AGM
are included in the spring edition of Echo Ireland which is now with
all members. Also included are details of the email address to register
your attendance at the meeting on Zoom. Clubs are invited to give short
promotional presentations on their activities in the hour leading up to
the Annual General Meeting. Contact Declan EI9FVB for details.
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IRTS Contest News

Tomorrow, Easter Monday, IRTS is running a one-hour "Home QTH" contest
on 2 metres, starting at 3.00pm local time. This replaces the
traditional Easter Monday Counties Contest, which has been cancelled
this year due to the current travel restrictions. This year's contest
is a distance-scoring event and has SSB/FM mixed mode and FM only
sections, as well as an SWL section. See www.irts.ie/contests for full
details.

Also, a quick reminder from the Contest Manager that Tuesday next, 6th
April, is the deadline for logs for the recent 80 metres Evening
Counties contest: send your log to irts.contests/at/gmail/dot/com
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New National Shortwave Listeners Club.

A new club to cater for the needs of shortwave listeners and aspiring
radio amateurs was launched during the week. The club is called the
National Shortwave Listeners Club and is running the HAREC online class
that commenced on Tuesday last March 30th. This class will run for
eight weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There has been another massive
demand for the classes and sixty five prospective radio amateurs are
attending the class on the Zoom platform. Revision nights continue
weekly on Wednesdays for the two classes who recently finished their
courses and will run until they can sit an examination that will
hopefully be held soon, depending on progress made in controlling the
Covid-19 pandemic. The new SWL club will meet on Sunday nights at 2000
on the Zoom platform and will provide a forum where newcomers and
others can meet and improve on their experiences in our wonderful
hobby. The club is affiliated to the Irish Radio Transmitters Society,
Enquiries about the club for the time being can be directed to
harectraining at gmail dot com.
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South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC will be QRV as EI2IMD on
Saturday April 24th as an official Marconi station for the
International Marconi Day 2021. The station will be active solely from
Tramore, Co Waterford. Tramore has a direct connection with Marconi as
he often stayed there with his aunt, a Mrs. Cookman who resided at The
Cove, Tramore. Due to the current travel situation, the organisers, the
Cornish Radio Amateur Club, have allowed the EI2WRC members to run the
special call from their own homes. A special QSL card will be made
available once printed. More details will be made known in the coming
weeks in IRTS news articles and on the SEARG Facebook page and the
EI2IMD QRZ page. For more information on International Marconi Day on
April 24th, log on to www.gx4crc.com;

The only other EI station listed on the IMD site is EI0MAR from the
Martello Tower at Howth in Dublin
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The 5 MHz Newsletter Spring 2021

The latest edition of the 5 MHz Newsletter (No 26 -Spring 2021) is now
available for free pdf download from the the RSGB 5 MHz page. This
edition, edited by Paul Gaskell G4MWO includes 5 MHz news from 4
countries, MARS on 5 MHz, The SARL Worked All ZS 5 MHz Award, the
latest World of 5 MHz Map, Useful Websites for 5 MHz, Readers Feedback
and CQ Serenade.
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On the Air next week

The final UKEICC SSB one hour contest of this season will be held on
Wednesday next April 7th starting at 2000. Two Bonus callsigns
(Checklogs) worth 10 points each, will be active - EI5G and GM7V. The
Japanese JIDX CW contest will be held next weekend starting at 0700 on
Saturday and finishing at 1300 on Sunday. The exchange for non-Japanese
stations is report and CQ Zone while JA stations will give report and
prefecture number. The IG-RY Worldwide RTTY contest runs for 36 hours
from 1200 on Saturday next until 1800 on Sunday. The exchange for
everyone is RST plus the year you were first licensed. The OK/OM SSB 24
hour contest starts at 1200 on Saturday next and OK/OM stations will
give report plus three letter county code and all others give report
and serial number. The European FT8 Club run their 24 hour contest also
starting at 1200 on Saturday next. US and Canadian stations will give
signal report plus their state or province while all others give report
and serial number. Please see the European FT 8 Club website for all
the details Operators interested in the US Worked All States award
should note that State QSO parties are being held next weekend in North
Dakota, New Mexico, Nebraska and Georgia. The annual Yuri Gagarin
International DX CW Contest 2021 is dedicated to the memory of Yuri
Gagarin, who made the first human flight to space, on April 12, 1961.
It runs for 24 hours from 2100 on Saturday next and the exchange is RST
plus ITU Zone.

No DX news this week but we must mention a report in the ARRL Letter
that confirms what we all experience on the bands. The report says that
since zooming to prominence after its debut in mid-2017, the popular
FT8 digital protocol has become the mode of choice for some 60% of HF
operators, according to Club Log's latest activity report compiled by
Michael Wells, G7VJR. FT8 is one of the protocols in the WSJT-X suite
of free programs. Wells says FT8 activity level sits at nearly 85% on 6
metres. The dramatic FT8 upswing has come at the expense of phone, CW,
RTTY, PSK, and other modes.
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QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo

Ticket holders for the recent QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo have until
April the 16th to visit during the on demand period. Figures released
by the organisers show that 4,084 ticket holders have visited the Expo
with over 17,000 visits to the exhibitor's booths. After April 16th,
all the presentations will be available on their Vimeo and YouTube
channels and will be downloadable. The organisers regret the
inconvenience caused by software issues in the mid-March event but are
working hard to ensure that the next Virtual Ham Expo which will be
held on August 14th and 15th will be a great success.
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IARU Looks to the Future

Region One of the International Amateur Radio Union will hold a
Workshop titled "Facing the Future" in October 2021 hopefully in
Novi-Sad Serbia, hosted by SRS, the Serbian Amateur Radio Society. A
virtual alternative Workshop will be prepared as well. This will be a
root and branch examination of where the hobby of Amateur stands at the
present time and what is likely to happen in the future. All Region One
National Societies are being asked to participate fully in the debate
and IRTS representatives have already participated in preparatory
discussions with other national societies. IRTS members with views on
the subject are invited to submit them to any committee member.
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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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