(BUTTON) Go Back

This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday November 5th, 2023
__________________________________________________________________

Silent Key - Paul Barnett EI7JM

We regret to report the death of Paul Barnett EI7JM on Friday Oct 27th.
Based in Donegal, Paul was an avid fan of topband operation, big tube
amps, and broadcast radio. Using his big aerial system, he was one of
the most well-known and regular operators taking part in the popular
1.933 MHz topband net. May Paul rest in peace.
__________________________________________________________________

IRTS AGM Weekend 2024

The IRTS is delighted to announce that the 91st AGM Weekend will take
place over the weekend of April 13th and 14th 2024. The event, which
will be hosted by the Shannon Basin Radio Club, will take place in the
Shearwater Hotel, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.

The weekend will consist of the usual very interesting Saturday
afternoon workshops/talks, the Saturday night gala dinner, the
ever-popular Sunday morning radio rally, and of course, the IRTS 2024
AGM which will take place on Sunday afternoon April 14th. A special
room rate package has been negotiated for the event.

Further details will be released in due course. Everyone in the IRTS
would like to express their sincere thanks to the Shannon Basin Radio
Club for undertaking the task of hosting next year's event.
__________________________________________________________________

South Dublin Radio Club Discuss Software Defined Radio

On Tuesday November 14th, 2023, at 7:30pm, Mark EI4ACB will give a talk
titled "Introduction to Software Defined Radio". Visitors are welcome
to attend at the community centre on the Marian Road in Rathfarnham in
Dublin. The talk will begin with a brief introduction to the
fundamental principles that lie at the heart of Software Defined Radio
(or SDR) including sampling, the significance of Nyquist zones,
undersampling, and the quadrature representation of signals. This will
be followed by a review of the development of Software Defined Radio
and the evolution of the various SDR architectures from the early days
in the 1990s through to those used today.

To illustrate the various principles and design concepts behind the
development of SDRs, the talk will be illustrated with examples that
include the popular Icom IC-7300 transceiver, the HACK RF One SDR and
SDRPlay devices, and the RTL SDR dongle. Finally, several of the
popular SDR software applications such as SDR Console, AirSpy, SDR Uno,
and SDR Plus Plus will be discussed. The presentation will conclude
with practical demonstrations of a few of the SDR radios discussed.
__________________________________________________________________

Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club Update

Regular meetings of the Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club have resumed
on the second Thursday of each month in the Technological University of
the Shannon, Midlands, Midwest in Moylish, Limerick at 7.30 p.m. A
central feature of each meeting is a presentation on a theoretical or
practical topic of relevance to members, students and anyone interested
in radio. The next meeting will be held on November 9th. Joe, EI9HG,
will give a presentation on his experience with the horizontal loop
antenna.

The club station, callsign EI4SAM, will continue to be activated every
Saturday in November between 11.00 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. The usual calling
frequency is 7.123 MHz, plus or minus QRM, is the usual frequency
although other bands on HF and VHF are also monitored. They are always
glad to receive feedback on their signals and urge as many people as
possible to get in touch.

Many Transition Year students have visited the club station recently
and have received detailed presentations on various aspects of radio
and electronics. The club attaches great importance to this activity
and includes both theory and practical sessions. Generally, the group
has found that students are not very aware of amateur radio and
sessions such as these are excellent to enhance their knowledge and
promote interest in the hobby.
__________________________________________________________________

Irish Hour Net

The Irish Hour Net is a HF net that takes place daily from 17:00 UTC.
Mike McHugh KD2DYY is the net controller based in Syracuse, New York
State. The present and longstanding frequency for the net is 21.317
MHz. If required due to propagation and/or contest activities, the net
uses an alternative frequency centred on 18.112MHz +/- QRM. The Irish
Hour Net enjoys regular call-ins from operators all around the world.
Everyone is welcome to join, and participants do not have to be Irish.
__________________________________________________________________

RSGB 1.8MHz Club Calls Contest

The RSGB 1.8MHz Club Calls Contest take place on Saturday 11th
November. Running from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC, this is intended to be a fun
introduction to 160 metre band contesting. Operators can choose one
either SSB only or CW & SSB sections using a maximum power of 32 Watts.
Further information may be found at www.rsgbcc.org
__________________________________________________________________

Marquesas Islands and Chatham Island DXpeditions

The TX7L DXpedition team is operating from the Marquesas Islands in
French Polynesia. This is an overseas country of France in the Pacific
Ocean. This DXpedition is scheduled to run from November 4th up to
November 19th. Nine operators will be working four stations on the 160
to 6-metre bands using CW, SSB, FT8, FT4, and RTTY.

You can also listen out and try to work Chatham Island. The ZL7A
DXpedition team comprising three Japanese operators is scheduled to
operate from November 9th to the 22nd. Chatham Island is a South
Pacific archipelago 680km southeast of New Zealand's North Island. The
ZL7A team will be operating three stations on 160 to 10 meters using
SSB, CW, and digital modes. You may be interested to note that the
exact opposite side of Earth from Ireland is only 1,000km from Chatham
Island therefore making it one of the longest distance terrestrial
contacts you can attempt from EI.
__________________________________________________________________

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.ie for
automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. The
deadline is midnight on Thursday.

[C]
News Archives