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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday October 1st, 2023
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Silent Key Bob Williams EI7AF

The IRTS only learnt late last night of the passing of Bob Williams
EI7AF. Originally from Birr and having spent some time in Clonmel where
he worked as an instrumental engineer for MSD, Bob was residing in
Kilkenny at the time of his death. He was only recently pre-deceased by
his wife Anne. We extend our sympathies to his daughter Mary Francis,
extended family, and friends. May he rest in peace.
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Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club Update

Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club regret to announce that its 70cm
repeater on 433.125 MHz located to the west of Limerick city on
Woodcock Hill, County Clare has had to be shut down due to ongoing
difficulties involving spontaneous transmission. Initial investigation
suggests that it may be necessary to remove the complete system from
the site. The club is dealing with this urgently but until they know
the full extent of the problem it is impossible to say when the
repeater will be available for use again.

The next club meeting will be held in the Technological University of
the Shannon, Midlands and Midwest campus at Moylish on Thursday October
12th. More details about the programme for the meeting will be
available nearer the date. New members, or anyone interested in
learning more about amateur radio or the club are as always very
welcome to attend.
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Irish Schools Contact With The International Space Station This Week

Primary school pupils involved in the Technological University Dublin
STEM: Try Five Project, which allows students to experience hands-on
activities under the theme of space science & exploration, have a once
in a lifetime opportunity to make contact through amateur radio with
the International Space Station (ISS) this week. Six girls and six boys
from 4th class representing the six participating DEIS primary schools
will have about 11 minutes to put their local community on the
astronomical map as they make direct contact via amateur radio with the
ISS while it orbits Earth at a speed of 27,600 km per hour. This
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is part of the Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station programme (ARISS), which will see students
from primary schools in Dublin speaking with an astronaut on board the
ISS.

TU Dublin has set up a temporary amateur radio station on the roof of
Central Quad, in City Campus. The technical team for this contact
includes Robbie Phelan EI2IP, who has kindly organised all the
equipment and station set up, Seamus McCague EI8BP, their ARISS radio
mentor, Ana Canizares EI5IXB, coordinator of the activity in TU Dublin
and schools, Mark Davis EI4ACB and Joe Ryan EI7GY as technical support
and Enda Scully, a technician from the School of Electronic and
Electrical Engineering in TU Dublin.

All the equipment has been provided or sourced by Robbie Phelan EI2IP
and it is in accordance with the requirements set up by ARISS. The
ARISS ground station at TU Dublin has been allocated the very special
callsign EI1ISS (Echo India One India Sierra Sierra) by ComReg for the
occasion thanks to their ARISS radio mentor Seamus McCague. The station
will be operated by Irish members of ARISS Europe and the Irish Radio
Transmitters Society and the event will be streamed using TU Dublin's
YouTube account.

The contact is scheduled for Friday October 6th starting from 2.11 p.m.
local time. The ISS is scheduled to use the callsign OR4ISS. The
downlink is also planned to be 145.800 MHz and it is expected to be
easily received across Ireland even with handheld receivers.
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Calling Clubs and Stations for IrishFest 2024

The Milwaukee Irish Fest, which promotes and celebrate all aspects of
Irish, Irish American, and Celtic cultures is held in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, USA during August. For IrishFest 2024, the organisers are
seeking clubs in Ireland that might be interested in linking up a
station from Ireland to a station in the USA during the event.
Interested clubs are invited to also contact the IRTS secretary, Owen
EI4GGB, who is coordinating the response, via email to irts_secretary
/at/ irts.ie to learn more.
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IRTS 2m/70cm Counties Contest Log Submission Deadline

Well done to everyone that took part in the recent IRTS 2m/70cm
Counties Contest. The deadline to submit logs for this contest is
today, Sunday October 1st. You can send your logs via email to
contestmanager /at/ IRTS.ie.
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Upcoming Contests

The IRTS 80m Evening Counties contest will take place on Tuesday
October 3rd. This will be a one-hour SSB/CW contest that will start at
19:00 UTC. It also has a SWL section. Conditions on 80m have been
relatively good in recent days so everyone is encouraged to take part
and try your hand at the contest. The rules for the contests can be
found at www.irts.ie/rules

The IARU Region 1 UHF/Microwaves Contest takes place over October 7th
and 8th. The main objectives are to make as many contacts as possible
and to have fun. Other objectives may include improving your operating
skills, testing new equipment configurations and techniques, expanding
your horizons by operating on the microwave bands and exploring radio
propagation. This contest starts at 14:00 UTC on Saturday next and ends
at 14:00 UTC on Sunday next. Further details may be found at
www.iaru-r1.org
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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.

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