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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 27 February 2022
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Silent Keys

We begin today's bulletin with the sad news of the passing of three
well know radio amateurs.

Ken McDermott EI4DW late of Ballybofey, Co. Donegal passed away
peacefully in Letterkenny University Hospital on February 17th after a
long illness. Ken was a very active DXer and contester and held several
EI contest records over the years. He served as Vice President of IRTS
from 1994 to 1996 and spent several more years as a committee member.
We extend our deepest sympathy to his brothers Chris EI7HI and Derek
and his extended family.

Frank Malone EI6EF late of Malahide, Co. Dublin passed away peacefully
in the Mater Hospital, Dublin on February 21st after a long illness.
Frank was on the news reader rota for the IRTS VHF broadcasts in the
Dublin area on Sunday mornings. Our deepest sympathy goes to Frank's
wife Bernie and his extended family.

Ben Gaughran EI4IN late of Skerries, Co. Dublin passed away on February
20th in Beaumont Hospital. Ben was a long time member and a great
supporter of Skerries Radio Club, EI2NCR and was always to the
forefront in club activities, in particular portable operations. Ben
was also a regular supporter of the IRTS News service and rarely missed
a Sunday morning call in.

We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife Pauline and extended family.
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Club News

Shannon Basin Radio Club

The Shannon Basin Radio Club will be holding its AGM on 4th March 2022
at 8pm in Hannons Hotel, Roscommon Town. This is open to all club
members and also to anyone interested in Radio and who would like join
the club. Finger food and refreshments will be served after meeting.
For more information contact admin /at/ sbrc.ie.

South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

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. Final reminder that the special room rate
secured for the event will end on this Tuesday, the 1st of March so
there will be no rooms available after that date at the reduced rate
and rooms will cost the standard hotel prices. Dinner tickets for the
Gala Dinner can now be prebooked from John EI7IG for collection on
arrival at the hotel. Tickets cost EUR35 and must be pre-booked before
the 4th of April.

Only two tables remain for the SEARG radio rally on Sunday the 10th of
April. So, if you require one or both tables contact John EI3HQB
immediately. The rally will open its doors at 10:30 a.m. sharp and
close at 2:00 p.m. There will be no admittance to the rally to the
public until 10:30 a.m. The rally promises to be a great day with
Ireland's main radio dealers and equipment suppliers in attendance.
There will also be many individual traders also in attendance so come
early to grab a bargain! Entry to the rally will be EUR5. For more
information about the weekend please see www.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.

Lough Erne Rally

The Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club are delighted to announce that this
years's Annual Club Rally will take place on May 8th in the main arena
at the Share Discovery Village in Lisnaskea, Co. Fermanagh. Doors will
open at 11:30.

Tables can be booked by contacting Alan Gault by email at alangault91
/at/ gmail.com Keep an eye on their website at lougherneradioclub.co.uk
for more details.

Cork Radio Club

Members of Cork Radio Club continue to meet every Monday evening at
2030 on the Zoom platform. The on-line meeting facilitates the
attendance of members and visitors from outside the immediate area and
regularly includes amateurs from the US, Germany and Belgium. Everybody
is invited to join in and the link can be found on the Cork Radio Club
Facebook page. You can also email info at corkradioclub.ie for more
information.
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Soldering Workshop in Tog Hackerspace

Many radio operators have to rely on ready-made radios, patch leads and
antennas, because they never had the chance to learn the one skill that
all true experimenters can't do without: soldering. The Tog Hackerspace
aims to change that with a 2 hour long workshop taking place on the 6th
of March.

This hands-on workshop will cover various aspects of soldering; from
the basic techniques of soldering, to soldering electronic components
to make simple circuits. Participants will learn how to solder and
finish off the workshop with a kit they can bring home.

If you ever wanted to start your journey into electronics or want to
move on from breadboard, learning to solder is a great step. We will
have all the equipment and safety gear that you will need. The workshop
will be led by Jeffrey EI7IRB and Gary. They have many years of
experience building projects and leading workshops.

Tea, coffee and a few biscuits will be on hand before starting the
workshop. Tours will be available for participants of the hackerspace
to see the equipment and tools such as laser cutters, 3 D printers,
machine room and lock picks.

The workshop takes place on Sunday, the 6th of March, from 12:00 to
14:00, at a cost of 35 Euro plus credit card fees, at Unit 1B Motor
City, Kylemore Road, Dublin 12, Eircode D12 KRW1. Booking information
can be found on their website at www.tog.ie
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Amateur Radio prohibited in Ukraine

The executive of the Ukrainian Amateur Radio League, LRU has informed
international Amateur Radio organizations that following a decree by
the Ukrainian President, dated 23rd of February, all use of amateur
radio stations is banned for 30 days.
__________________________________________________________________

Contests

Last weekend's CQ RTTY WPX had a good participation from EI, with the
Avondhu Radio Club just making it into the high score table. Team
members Donal EI3KY, Denis EI4KH, Charles EI5FK, Gerard EI5KF, David
EI6IQB, Nikolay EI6IWB, and EI6MHB put in a strong performance with
over 4 million points in the two transmitter high power section. Single
OPs Tony EI2INB, Justin EI3CTB on 10meters, Denis EI6HB, and Mark Ei6JK
put in respectable scores, with the highlight being an outstanding
entry by Ryan, EI8KW in the Youth section.

Listeners on Sunday can still help by giving a few points to EI and GI
stations taking part in the 160m CQ WW SSB contest, you will find a
crowded topband until 22:00 UTC.

The UK and Ireland Contest Club will hold their next one hour SSB 80m
contest on Wednesday, the 2nd of March. This polite contest has
certainly gained in popularity around Europe, thanks to the many
friendly voices heard from the British Isles. Please have a look at
their website at ukeicc.com for more information about this unique
contest.

The ARRL's International DX Phone Contest is taking place next weekend,
starting 0000Z on the 5th of March, and ends 48 hours later, at 2359Z
on Sunday. The ARRL website has the details at contests.arrl.org
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The 5MHz Newsletter

The 10th birthday edition of The 5 MHz Newsletter, number 28 for autumn
and winter 2022, is now available as a free PDF download from the
'External Links' section of the Wikipedia.org 60m Band page, or from
the RSGB 5 MHz page.

This edition includes 5 MHz news from 6 countries, Malaysia Emcom
Response, 10 Years of The 5 MHz Newsletter, Exercise Blue Ham 22-1, and
World of 5 MHz.
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A Chess-Playing Ham Radio Satellite

The Union de Radioaficionados Españoles, URE hopes to make URESAT-1
available October 2022, hitching a ride from from Cape Caneveral.

A translation of the URE announcemnt on their website reads: URESAT-1
is based on the architecture used in the GENESIS, EASAT-2 and HADES
missions, but will include significant improvements, such as a 32-bit
computer instead of the 8-bit computers used in previous satellites,
and improvements in the deployment mechanisms of antennas and
batteries. It will have a VHF and UHF FM repeater and a FSK data mode,
allowing for voice QSOs and digipeating of AX.25 and APRS.

The payload is not yet defined, but it could be the same SSTV camera
that flies in HADES, a thruster, or some kind of experiment. Talks with
universities and companies and are expected to be closed in the coming
weeks.

One of the projects that is confirmed is a chess game that will allow
radio amateurs to play the on-board computer as an opponent. This will
work by sending FSK frames with the moves, to which the on-board
computer will answer in its telemetry. Several radio amateurs are
working on the project and if it is completed by the time the satellite
is due to be delivered, it will be included.

The expected orbital altitude is around 525 km and the inclination will
be polar, probably around 97 degrees, which would place it in the same
orbital plane as its companions EASAT-2 and Hades.

Detailed information on the Spanish Amateur Radio satellites can be
found on the URE website at uresat.ure.es
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The Propagation Horoscope

The number of cosmic rays entering Earth's atmosphere are decreasing as
a result of the see-saw relationship between the solar cycle and cosmic
rays, a more active sun displaces the cosmic rays before they can reach
the inner solar system. There are currently close to 50 sunspots
visible on the earth facing side. Returning sunspot AR2936 has been
re-numbered AR2954, as sunspots receive a new number each time they
reappear on the solar disk. Sunspot region 2954 is likely to produce C
and M Flares, the solarwind is already increasing towards 600km/s with
a moderate proton count. No pronounced geomagnectic disturbances are
predicted for the week. Topband and 80m may be be affected by Aurora in
the northern paths, combined with usable greyline propagation at
sunrise. Expect good and stable DX from 40 to 15m, with the MUF2
increasing to around 25MHz at noon time.

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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