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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday December 10th, 2023
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News from the IRTS

Due to an unfortunate delay outside our control with the distribution
of the winter edition of Echo Ireland containing the draft
constitution, the original proposed response date for feedback on the
constitution has been extended to December 31st. This is to allow IRTS
members a better opportunity to review it. The current constitution is
available on the downloads section of the IRTS website should you wish
to compare the two documents. The email address for feedback is
constitution /at/ irts.ie. Please note that submissions will only be
accepted from fully paid up IRTS clubs and members. All related
information is available on the IRTS Constitution and Rules Review page
at www.irts.ie/constreview

The IRTS wish to announce the appointment of a new Youth Officer to the
society. Ana Ca�izares Bejarano EI5IXB takes over the youth officer
role from Niall Donohue EI6HIB who recently resigned due to family
commitments. Ana brings a wealth of experience to the role in dealing
with youth and will bring this experience to the fore in promoting the
hobby to the youth and this in turn will lead to more youngsters taking
up this great hobby. Ana was also very heavily involved with the recent
ISS contact between schools based in Dublin and the International Space
Station. We all wish Ana the best of luck in her new role.

The first IRTS contest of 2024 will be the IRTS 80m Counties Contest
and it will take place on Monday the 1st of January 2024, starting at
17:00 UTC, for the duration of one hour. This generally follows the
very successful format of the 40 meters contest. The full rules are
available in the contest section on the IRTS website www.irts.ie The
contest is open to all. EI and GI stations must send their county
abbreviation as well as the report and a serial number starting with
001 for the first contact. Please note the rule about the permitted
frequencies for this contest, which are for CW 3.510 MHz to 3.560 MHz
and for SSB, 3.600 MHz to 3.650 MHz, in addition to 3.700 MHz to 3.775
MHz. The very popular contest logging software SD by EI5DI supports
this contest and is available as a free download from EI5DI.com.

The society would like to extend its thanks to Engineers Ireland for
the opportunity to present a talk in its headquarters on Clyde Rd,
Dublin earlier this week, on how amateur radio can help in the
development of science, technology, engineering, art, and maths and
have a positive influence on future engineers. Attending Radio amateurs
were made very welcome on the night and a good online attendance also
joined in. The presentation can be viewed on the Engineers Ireland
YouTube channel (https://www.youtub e.com/watch?v=AaXonLS3njo).

To coincide with the launch of EIRSAT-1, the recently formed teacher
support body "OIDE" has with the assistance of South Dublin Radio Club,
developed a learning pack for 2nd level students based on "Radio
Communication". This pack also contains a SDR receiver station which
can be put together in minutes and students can see a visual display of
the radio spectrum. Castleknock College in Dublin was amongst the five
to receive this pack during the week where it went down as a great
success amongst students. More details can be found on the ScoilNet
website located at www.scoilnet.ie/l earning-path/ref/22901

As in previous years, the IRTS News Team will be taking a small break
over the Christmas period. The last 40m and 80m IRTS news bulletins for
2023 will be transmitted on Sunday, December 17th. There will be no
news bulletins on either Sunday December 24th or Sunday, December 31st.
Normal bulletins will resume on Sunday, January 7th, 2024.

The committee and officers of the IRTS would like to wish all our
members and their families a very happy and peaceful Christmas and we
hope that 2024 is a great new year for all of you. Thank you all for
your great support of the society in 2023 and we look forward to your
continued support throughout 2024 and beyond.
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South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC

The committee and members of EI2WRC would like to take this opportunity
to wish all their radio friends and families in Ireland and all around
the world a very happy, safe, and peaceful Christmas 2023. The club
hopes you all have a wonderful festive time, and that Santa is good to
you and brings you all the latest Yaesu and Icom radios! They would
also like to extend every good wish to you all for the new year ahead.
The club hopes that 2024 brings you all the very best of health,
wealth, and of course, plenty of new DXCC entities. To find out more
about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact details, please see
www.searg.ie
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Tipperary Amateur Radio Group AGM

On Wednesday the 6th of December 2023 last, members of the Tipperary
Amateur Radio Group met at the Princess Bar, Clonmel at 8 p.m. for
their Annual General Meeting. This was a well-attended meeting with
group members travelling from Co. Kilkenny, Co. Waterford, and Co. Cork
joining their Co. Tipperary based colleagues. Andy EI5JF chaired this
very productive meeting, and TARG Secretary John EI7IG read the minutes
of the previous AGM. Group treasurer Thomas EI2IT reported a healthy
financial situation.

A review of the year as well as upcoming activities were discussed at
length by the group members. The callsign EI30T will be aired on the
various Amateur Radio Bands over the coming year to mark the 30th
Anniversary of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group since its formation in
1994. Congratulations were extended to group members Tom EI5JDB and
Eddie EI5JNB who were successful in passing the HAREC exam which they
sat last November. Brian EI2JKB was acknowledged for his efforts in
reading the weekly IRTS News every Sunday at 9.30 p.m. on 145.450 MHz
FM. It was decided that the venue for all group meetings in 2024 will
be the Princess Bar, Irishtown, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. The meeting
concluded at 11 p.m. when Andy EI5JF thanked all for their input and
attendance at this AGM of TARG.

The new committee was elected as follows: Chairman Andy Jay EI5JF, Vice
Chairman Brian Kelly EI2JKB, Secretary John Ronan EI7IG, Treasurer
Thomas Hallinan EI2IT, Group PRO Hugh O'Donnell EI2HI, and Events & QSL
Manager Paul Norris EI3ENB. For more information about T.A.R.G, visit
the group website www.ei7trg.ie or you can email them at ei7trg /at/
gmail.com.
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South Dublin Radio Club Christmas Party

South Dublin Radio Club wish to remind you that their Christmas Party
will take place on Tuesday the 12th of December 2023 at 8 p.m. The
venue will be the "The Morgue" pub in Templeogue Village, Dublin.
Members of other clubs and visitors are as usual very welcome to this
social event. Limited free food will be available for paid-up members
and visitors can choose from the bar menu until 9 p.m. The club will
then break for Christmas and return on January 9th, 2024.
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Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club

Limerick Claire Amateur Radio Club report that they have activated
their club station in the Shannon Aviation Museum, call sign EI4SAM
every Saturday for most of 2023. This has proved to be very popular
with lots of members and stations from around EI and beyond calling in.
Volunteers are always required to operate the station and licensed
amateurs as well as SWLs are more than welcome. Activation is usually
between 11.00 a.m. and 3.30 p.m., initially on 7.123 MHz plus or minus
QRM, followed by a check on other bands.

Over 400 Transition Year students from several schools have visited the
club station in recent weeks. EI2GT has provided talks which added
significantly to the students' knowledge of and interest in amateur
radio. The club was particularly active during Engineers Week with many
students from primary and secondary schools experiencing their first
introduction to amateur radio with presentations from EI2GT and EI7ALB,
along with some science demonstrations such as the various ways of
generating electricity.

Monthly meetings have resumed on the second Thursday of each month in
the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands, Midwest in
Moylish, Limerick and topics to date, have covered the use of the
Raspberry Pi and the challenges in erecting a horizontal loop antenna.

Finally, they have some important diary dates. Their club rally is
scheduled to take place on Sunday February 25th at a venue to be
decided and details will be announced shortly. The next club meeting
will be held on December 14th and their club AGM will be held on
February 14th.
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