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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday November 19th, 2023
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HAREC Class Golf Has Started

The National Short Wave Listeners Club has just started its latest
Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination (HAREC) training course, class
Golf. Out of 42 registered students, 30 have attended the first
session, which took place on Thursday November 9th via Zoom. Courses
takes place every week and will end in May 2024. If you know anyone
interested in obtaining the Irish amateur station licence, let them
know they are welcome to join at any time. All information is available
at swl.ie.
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South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC

The November meeting of the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC
will take place on Monday, November 27th at 8 p.m. sharp at the New
Community Men's Shed, Ozanam Centre, Coffee House Lane, Waterford.
Everyone is welcome to attend. They continue with a reminder that the
annual SEARG Christmas get-together will take place on Saturday,
December 9th at The Waterford Marina Hotel, Canada Street, Waterford
City. Tickets for the dinner at 6:30 p.m. cost EUR37.50 per person and
must be pre-booked in advance.

The club extends the hands of friendship and extends a very warm
welcome to anyone who is not a club member to come along on the night
and join in the festive activities. For more information or to book
dinner tickets contact their Events Coordinator, Edwin EI2HEB as soon
as possible please. To find out more about EI2WRC and their activities
and for contact details please see www.searg.ie
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Phoenix Amateur Radio Club Rally

Phoenix Amateur Radio Club wish to advise everyone that the provisional
date for the Phoenix Amateur Radio Club Rally which was last held in
2020 is now set for Sunday 11th February 2024. Further details will be
announced in due course.
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Santa is coming to Shannon Basin Radio Club

Shannon Basin Radio Club is delighted to announce that Santa is taking
time out from his busy schedule to have some QSOs with junior ops on
Saturday December 9th. He will be QRV on Echo Icicle Two Santa Before
Christmas (EI2SBC) repeater from 5 p.m. local time onwards. Junior ops
are welcome to have a QSO with Santa in his home QTH. It will be an
opportunity to confirm you're on his good list and that the correct
presents are in the bag. The EI2SBC repeater located on Sliabh B�n in
Roscommon has an output frequency of 145.775 MHz and uses a 77Hz CTCSS
tone. For details on setting up a sked with the big man himself, please
send your contact details to the club via email to admin /at/ sbrc.ie
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October edition of the IARU Monitoring System Region 1 Newsletter

The October edition of the IARU Monitoring System Region 1 Newsletter
has been published. In amongst the illegal fishing buoys, over the
horizon radars, and taxis, they also report observing an intriguing
unknown digital signal that they had never received before. The monthly
newsletters also demonstrate the highly interesting and diverse range
of signals that encroach on the amateur radio bands. Each month,
Michael Foertig, EI3GYB, who is the IARU Monitoring System Region 1
coordinator for Ireland includes his log of intruder signals to help
build up picture for the region. The newsletters may be downloaded from
the monitoring system page at www.iaru-r1.org
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Upcoming CW Contests

The RSGB 3.5MHz Autumn Series Contests continue on Thursday 23rd with a
CW event. For anyone relatively new to CW, you may like to note there
is a separate section at each power level for stations who send all CW
at 15 words per minute or slower for the entire contest. These contests
have what is called a 'Le Mans' start. This means that entrants must
not transmit during the two minutes immediately before the contest
start time or use any other method to reserve a frequency. Further
information may be found at www.rsgbcc.org

The UK and Ireland Contest Club (UKIECC) was formed in 2014 to promote
the development of HF contesting in Ireland and the UK in addition to
encouraging newcomers into HF contesting. The next 80m contest of the
UKEICC 2023-2024 season is on Wednesday 29th November 2023 at 8 p.m.
local time on CW. The bonus station EI5G will be operated by David
EI5KG. The second bonus station G5GEI will be operated by Dean G4WQI.
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DXpeditions To Listen Out For

There are some notable DXpeditions on air at present. Oleg, ZS1ANF is
active as ZS7ANF from Antarctica until 20 December 2023. He is
operating on 40 to 10m bands. Peter DC0KK is operating as 4S7KKG from
Sri Lanka on the 20m to 6m bands using CW and digital modes. The ZL7A
team members operating from the Chatham Islands are expected to
conclude their DXpedition on November 22nd. In addition to the 160 to
10m bands, they are reportedly trying packet contacts via the Greencube
satellite India Oscar 117. Marek is active as FH4VVK from Mayotte which
is an island approximately 300km northwest of Madagascar. He is using
the HF bands but should be contactable from EI using the 20, 15, or 10m
bands at the moment.
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Propagation Update

Unusually for this time of the year, the Hepburn forecast indicates
that moderate to high tropospheric ducting is expected from Tuesday
November 21st for at least two days. From the second half of Tuesday
and into early Wednesday next, the conditions may favour inter-EI QSOs
before expanding to the UK and parts of the continent later. VHF and
UHF operators may therefore get a welcome surprise with enhanced DX and
simplex or repeater activity well beyond your normal expected range. It
is also potentially an ideal first opportunity for newly minted
licensees to fully experience this phenomenon for themselves.
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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.ie for
automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. The
deadline is midnight on Thursday.

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