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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday October 8th, 2023
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Silent Key - Jim Moore EI3V

We regret to inform that Jim Moore EI3V passed away on October 3rd,
2023. Jim was one of our last few single-letter callsigns holders in EI
and enjoyed decades of radio experimentation. Jim's funeral service was
on Saturday October 7th in the Church of The Holy Cross, Dundrum,
Dublin and he was laid to rest in Kilmashogue Cemetery. We extend our
deepest sympathies to his family and friends.
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Seeking HF News Readers

HF newsreaders are required for the weekly Sunday morning 40m and 80m
IRTS news bulletin readers panel. The more people that volunteer to
become readers, the less often that each individual person will have to
read a bulletin. There is very little involved in reading the weekly
news bulletin and no experience is necessary.

If any licenced IRTS member living in EI feels like they would be
interested in becoming part of the IRTS News Readers panel, or for more
information, please get in touch with the IRTS News Coordinator Seany
EI2HZB by phone on 083 4713001 or by email to irts_pro /at/ irts.ie.
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Monthly EI News

As well as at the quarterly Echo Ireland and the weekly radio news
bulletins, IRTS also publish a monthly on-line bulletin called EI News.
All members with an email address listed with the membership records
officer should have received the November issue last weekend.

If you did not receive it, please check that you have your correct
email address listed or send your e-mail address to the membership
records officer by email to memrecords /at/ irts.ie. Input for EI News
should be sent to newsteam /at/ irts.ie at least four days before the
end of each month.
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Congrats to the EI1ISS Team

Many congratulations to the EI1ISS team who successfully completed
their exciting schools contact with the International Space Station on
Friday October 6th. Following an introduction to amateur radio by IRTS
President Enda EI2II and an overview of satellite operation by Séamus
EI8BP, twelve school children had the opportunity to put their
questions to Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and learn about life and work in
space.

The technical team that made this contact possible included Robbie
Phelan EI2IP, who kindly organised all the equipment and station set
up, Séamus McCague EI8BP, their ARISS radio mentor, Ana Canizares
EI5IXB, coordinator of the activity in TU Dublin and with the 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.

The main radio system for the contact was an Icom 9700 using a
seven-element cross-polarised Yagi antenna with a pre-amp mounted on a
rotator. The team included an Icom 705 transceiver connected to a
separate vertical antenna also fitted with a pre-amp as a backup
station.

The contact lasted eleven minutes and the satellite at an altitude of
419 km had a maximum elevation of 46 degrees during the pass. This
enabled operators across Ireland and most of western Europe to listen
directly to the downlink on 145.800MHz. Well done again to all involved
that created exciting life-long memories for the school children and
adults alike.
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Update from the Cork Radio Club

Cork Radio Club and guests continue to meet fortnightly on the Zoom
platform on Mondays at 8.30 p.m. after the IRTS news transmission on
the Cork repeater. Their next meeting is on Monday next October 9th.
Everybody is welcome to join in and for those not on the mailing list,
the Zoom link can be found on the Cork Radio Club Facebook page.
Further information can be found by emailing info at corkradioclub.ie.
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Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club

The next Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club meeting will be held in Room
8A108 of the Technological University of the Shannon, Midlands, and
Midwest in Moylish on Thursday October 12th at 7.30 p.m. local time.
They are very happy to announce that Diarmuid, EI4LF will deliver a
presentation at the meeting titled: "The Radio Shack - Raspberry Pi 4
as a Workstation". This promises to be an informative presentation and
the club expects that it will stimulate a lively discussion. Have your
questions ready!

Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club's station with the callsign EI4SAM
will continue to be activated from the Shannon Aviation Museum every
Saturday between now and the end of November. Although the station will
be QRV on all bands, they will monitor and transmit on 7.123 MHz and
welcome as many contacts as possible.

In addition to their normal Saturday activation, the club arranged a
well-attended special get-together for members to monitor the link-up
with the International Space Station on Friday October 6th and this was
followed by an informal coffee afternoon.
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Propagation Update

On the HF bands for most of the coming week, conditions are expected to
remain relatively good. Quiet geomagnetic activity coupled with maximum
usable frequencies stretching above the 12m and 10m bands on most days
have been noted. However, some new possible solar storm producers are
expected to rotate into view of Earth later in the week. These may
result in more volatile solar conditions.

Although the VHF band Sporadic E season has now passed, short-lived
European openings on 4m and 6m may still be possible and mainly
favouring digital modes on those bands. The current tropospheric
forecast indicates strong tropospheric ducting potential during the
week. If this comes to pass, two metre band enthusiasts may have ideal
opportunities for DX contacts on the band and the ability to access
repeaters far outside your normal range.
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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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