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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday July 23rd, 2023
__________________________________________________________________

Galway Radio Club support the Joyce County Challenge

Paul EI5IPB reports that Galway Radio Club supported the Joyce County
Challenge. On Saturday July 15th, the Galway Radio Club involving Tom
EI3ER, Gerry EI8EXB, Joe EI3HM, and Paul EI5IPB provided radio support
for thirty-five walkers in the Joyce County Challenge. This is a
30-kilometre walking challenge around the mountain ridges at Lough
Nafooey taking up to twelve hours to complete depending on the weather.
The challenge walk started at 6:30 a.m. and completed this year at 7
p.m. due to the terrible weather. Radio support was extremely important
as there is little mobile coverage in some of the areas and the terrain
can be very difficult. Three checkpoints were manned with all
communicating back to a base station where the organizers were kept up
to date on overall progress. The Galway Mountain Rescue Team was also
on hand, and the radio club liaised between the organizers and the
mountain rescue team as needed. All radio communications were done on
VHF using a mixture of handhelds (two per checkpoint) with a Yaesu Dual
Band FT-8800 transceiver at the base station. The FT-8800 was tuned in
to a general frequency used for normal communications with a second
frequency tuned in to the Mountain Rescue Team just in case. The
weather was terrible with almost non-stop rain and very strong winds -
this was a real test of both the walkers and the temporary antenna
erected for the event. Thankfully everything went well on the day and
all walkers got back safely to the base station.
__________________________________________________________________

Update from IRTS Contest Manager Mark EI6JK

IRTS Contest Manager Mark EI6JK reports that the VHF/UHF Field Day
results are now published on www.irts.ie/results In total, sixteen logs
were received for the five VHF/UHF Field Day contests held over the
first weekend of July. Contest stations were in counties Longford,
Mayo, Louth, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, and Cork. Conditions were
variously described as "OK", "reasonable", and "tough going".
Nevertheless, some good DX was worked on all five bands. In particular,
timely Sporadic E propagation provided some good openings on the 6m
band. Mark continues with a reminder that the IOTA contest is just one
week away. A lot of Irish records are there for the taking and there
are IRTS trophies up for grabs in some categories. There is always big
participation from Ireland. Shannon Basin Radio Club is going again to
Inishbofin Island to activate EU121. Other EI contest groups are doing
multi-op categories. The contest starts at 1 p.m. local time on
Saturday 29th and finishes twenty-four hours later. Good luck to
everyone.
__________________________________________________________________

Collective Communications at the National Steam Rally

The place to be this coming August Bank Holiday weekend is Stradbally
Hall for the 59th National Steam Rally and Collective Communications'
next activation. EI3CC will be there on August 6th and 7th with their
mobile Radio Communication Unit, interactive displays, new Icom 7300
rig, and a warm welcome for all. They'll be active on the HF bands so
if you can't join them, please call them. They will post specific
frequencies and times on Facebook. Stradbally Hall is about ten minutes
east of Portlaoise along the N80 and is the same location as last
year's Electric Picnic. Come and meet the crew who you've been hearing
so much about. Bring the family too and enjoy a day at an event that
holds national acclaim. Whether you watch, join in, or just absorb the
ambiance, you'll be very welcome. If you're curious to see what EI3CC
has been up to recently, visit their QRZ.com page.
__________________________________________________________________

Eirpak Packet Radio Network in the Midlands

The resurgence of interest in packet radio and making 1200 and 9600
baud communications cool again has continued in recent weeks. A
terrestrial amateur radio packet network is now established in the
midlands region of Ireland. Called the Eirpak network, it operates on
144.950 MHz using 1200 baud packet radio. Any operators interested in
knocking the dust off any packet modems in the shack and trying to
connect or even extend the network is very welcome. In fact, you don't
even need a hardware modem to get involved; a very popular
software-based terminal node controller called Direwolf can be used to
get you active on packet and automatic packet reporting system (APRS).
In addition to this, Shannon Basin Radio Club members are continuing
with a construction project focusing on a new version of a packet modem
called the NinoTNC. Further information about the NinoTNC kit can be
found at www.tarpn.net Each Sunday from 8 p.m., anyone interested in
learning more is invited to meet via the club's repeater, EI2SBR, to
discuss progress. Further information can be also found via the club's
social media channels.
__________________________________________________________________

South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC Meeting Reminder

This is a reminder that the July meeting of the South Eastern Amateur
Radio Group EI2WRC will take place on Monday the 31st of July 2023 at 8
p.m. sharp at the New Community Men's Shed, Ozanam Centre, Coffee House
Lane, Waterford. New members, or anyone interested in learning more
about amateur radio or the group are as always very welcome to attend.
For anyone wishing to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur
Radio Group and their activities you can email them at southeasternarg
/at/ gmail.com or please feel free to go along to any of their
meetings. Their website is www.searg.ie and you can also find them on
Facebook and /at/ seargnews on Twitter.
__________________________________________________________________

Tropospheric Ducting Forecast

There are early signs of potential tropospheric ducting or a lift on
the 2m and possibly 70cm bands towards the end of the week. The
strength may range from marginal to fair but will cover a large part of
Ireland and the U.K. It may be worth testing if you can access
repeaters beyond your normal range and experiment with 2m SSB or
digital modes.
__________________________________________________________________

Solar Activity Update

The region of time around the peak of the eleven-year solar cycle is
generally associated with excellent propagation but it's not always
good news. In recent days, the HF bands have been suffering the
drawbacks of a very active sun. A recent solar storm emitting vast jets
of charged particles caused yet another radio blackout and an increase
in noise on the HF bands. Another active sun region just rotating into
Earth's view is expected to result in further volatility on the HF
bands. After almost six and a half years in orbit, the amateur
satellite, EO-88, re-entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up on July
18th. The reason for this was increased drag on the satellite due to
the higher levels of solar activity over the past year.
__________________________________________________________________

Items for Inclusion in Next Week's Radio News

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.

[C]
News Archives

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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday July 23rd, 2023
__________________________________________________________________

Galway Radio Club support the Joyce County Challenge

Paul EI5IPB reports that Galway Radio Club supported the Joyce County
Challenge. On Saturday July 15th, the Galway Radio Club involving Tom
EI3ER, Gerry EI8EXB, Joe EI3HM, and Paul EI5IPB provided radio support
for thirty-five walkers in the Joyce County Challenge. This is a
30-kilometre walking challenge around the mountain ridges at Lough
Nafooey taking up to twelve hours to complete depending on the weather.
The challenge walk started at 6:30 a.m. and completed this year at 7
p.m. due to the terrible weather. Radio support was extremely important
as there is little mobile coverage in some of the areas and the terrain
can be very difficult. Three checkpoints were manned with all
communicating back to a base station where the organizers were kept up
to date on overall progress. The Galway Mountain Rescue Team was also
on hand, and the radio club liaised between the organizers and the
mountain rescue team as needed. All radio communications were done on
VHF using a mixture of handhelds (two per checkpoint) with a Yaesu Dual
Band FT-8800 transceiver at the base station. The FT-8800 was tuned in
to a general frequency used for normal communications with a second
frequency tuned in to the Mountain Rescue Team just in case. The
weather was terrible with almost non-stop rain and very strong winds -
this was a real test of both the walkers and the temporary antenna
erected for the event. Thankfully everything went well on the day and
all walkers got back safely to the base station.
__________________________________________________________________

Update from IRTS Contest Manager Mark EI6JK

IRTS Contest Manager Mark EI6JK reports that the VHF/UHF Field Day
results are now published on www.irts.ie/results In total, sixteen logs
were received for the five VHF/UHF Field Day contests held over the
first weekend of July. Contest stations were in counties Longford,
Mayo, Louth, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, and Cork. Conditions were
variously described as "OK", "reasonable", and "tough going".
Nevertheless, some good DX was worked on all five bands. In particular,
timely Sporadic E propagation provided some good openings on the 6m
band. Mark continues with a reminder that the IOTA contest is just one
week away. A lot of Irish records are there for the taking and there
are IRTS trophies up for grabs in some categories. There is always big
participation from Ireland. Shannon Basin Radio Club is going again to
Inishbofin Island to activate EU121. Other EI contest groups are doing
multi-op categories. The contest starts at 1 p.m. local time on
Saturday 29th and finishes twenty-four hours later. Good luck to
everyone.
__________________________________________________________________

Collective Communications at the National Steam Rally

The place to be this coming August Bank Holiday weekend is Stradbally
Hall for the 59th National Steam Rally and Collective Communications'
next activation. EI3CC will be there on August 6th and 7th with their
mobile Radio Communication Unit, interactive displays, new Icom 7300
rig, and a warm welcome for all. They'll be active on the HF bands so
if you can't join them, please call them. They will post specific
frequencies and times on Facebook. Stradbally Hall is about ten minutes
east of Portlaoise along the N80 and is the same location as last
year's Electric Picnic. Come and meet the crew who you've been hearing
so much about. Bring the family too and enjoy a day at an event that
holds national acclaim. Whether you watch, join in, or just absorb the
ambiance, you'll be very welcome. If you're curious to see what EI3CC
has been up to recently, visit their QRZ.com page.
__________________________________________________________________

Eirpak Packet Radio Network in the Midlands

The resurgence of interest in packet radio and making 1200 and 9600
baud communications cool again has continued in recent weeks. A
terrestrial amateur radio packet network is now established in the
midlands region of Ireland. Called the Eirpak network, it operates on
144.950 MHz using 1200 baud packet radio. Any operators interested in
knocking the dust off any packet modems in the shack and trying to
connect or even extend the network is very welcome. In fact, you don't
even need a hardware modem to get involved; a very popular
software-based terminal node controller called Direwolf can be used to
get you active on packet and automatic packet reporting system (APRS).
In addition to this, Shannon Basin Radio Club members are continuing
with a construction project focusing on a new version of a packet modem
called the NinoTNC. Further information about the NinoTNC kit can be
found at www.tarpn.net Each Sunday from 8 p.m., anyone interested in
learning more is invited to meet via the club's repeater, EI2SBR, to
discuss progress. Further information can be also found via the club's
social media channels.
__________________________________________________________________

South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC Meeting Reminder

This is a reminder that the July meeting of the South Eastern Amateur
Radio Group EI2WRC will take place on Monday the 31st of July 2023 at 8
p.m. sharp at the New Community Men's Shed, Ozanam Centre, Coffee House
Lane, Waterford. New members, or anyone interested in learning more
about amateur radio or the group are as always very welcome to attend.
For anyone wishing to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur
Radio Group and their activities you can email them at southeasternarg
/at/ gmail.com or please feel free to go along to any of their
meetings. Their website is www.searg.ie and you can also find them on
Facebook and /at/ seargnews on Twitter.
__________________________________________________________________

Tropospheric Ducting Forecast

There are early signs of potential tropospheric ducting or a lift on
the 2m and possibly 70cm bands towards the end of the week. The
strength may range from marginal to fair but will cover a large part of
Ireland and the U.K. It may be worth testing if you can access
repeaters beyond your normal range and experiment with 2m SSB or
digital modes.
__________________________________________________________________

Solar Activity Update

The region of time around the peak of the eleven-year solar cycle is
generally associated with excellent propagation but it's not always
good news. In recent days, the HF bands have been suffering the
drawbacks of a very active sun. A recent solar storm emitting vast jets
of charged particles caused yet another radio blackout and an increase
in noise on the HF bands. Another active sun region just rotating into
Earth's view is expected to result in further volatility on the HF
bands. After almost six and a half years in orbit, the amateur
satellite, EO-88, re-entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up on July
18th. The reason for this was increased drag on the satellite due to
the higher levels of solar activity over the past year.
__________________________________________________________________

Items for Inclusion in Next Week's Radio News

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.

[N]
News Archives

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