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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday November 9th, 2025
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Seeking IRTS HF News Readers

The IRTS is seeking additional HF newsreaders to join our current panel
of news readers for the weekly Sunday morning 40m and 80m IRTS news
bulletins. If any licensed IRTS member living in EI feels like that
they would be interested in becoming part of the IRTS newsreaders panel
or if you require more information, you are very welcome to get in
touch with the IRTS news team via email to newsteam /at/ irts.ie
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Shannon Basin Radio Club News

Shannon Basin Radio Club announce that their annual general meeting for
2025 will take place on Friday, the 5th of December 2025. It will be
held in Hannon's Hotel in Roscommon town starting at 8 p.m. sharp. The
Eircode is F42 PH33. All members are invited to attend. The meeting
will be preceded by the club's Christmas dinner at 6 p.m. A good social
evening is planned for after the meeting. Accommodation is available in
the hotel if required.

The next Shannon Basin Radio Club SSB DX net takes place on the 80m
band on Thursday night, November 13th. The net frequency will be in the
region of 3.775MHz starting from 9 p.m. local time. Everyone is welcome
to call in and SWL reports are also most welcome via email to admin
/at/ sbrc.ie
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Propagation News

Strong geomagnetic storms over the 6th and 7th of November decimated
the bands. Notably, activity on the lower bands - especially 80m -
during the evening of Thursday 6th was mainly limited to groundwave
propagation for a period. The K-index is a measure of the disturbance
of the geomagnetic field. The Magnetic Network of Ireland and the
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies measured a peak K-index of 7
indicating a major storm during this time. It is anticipated that
geomagnetic conditions will remain unstable until late this week at
least.

If interested in monitoring the data for yourself and learning more
about the technological effects of space weather, live data and aurora
forecasts are available at magie.ie

This is an Irish network of Irish geomagnetic observatories run by
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Geological Survey Ireland, and
Met Eireann.
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VHF/Microwave News

Some good but short-duration meteor scatter conditions are highly
likely as the Leonids meteor shower reaches its peak on the night of
Monday and Tuesday, the 17th and 18th of November. The Leonids meteor
shower is associated with the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. For stargazers,
look towards the constellation Leo especially after midnight. This mode
favours patient operators as QSOs using digital modes can sometimes
require multiple meteor trails to complete.

Information regarding regular nets on the VHF bands and above may be
found on the VHF/Microwave page on the IRTS website. If new to the
bands or seeking activity, this is a good source of information.
Patriot Radio Communications run a 2-metre net on Thursday nights from
20:00 hours local time. The frequency used is 145.300MHz. South Dublin
Radio Club also operate a 2-metre SSB net on 144.330 MHz USB. It runs
on weeknights from 20:00 to 21:00 hours local time on Monday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If you have 6-metre
station capabilities, you can also join their net on Wednesday nights
from 21:00 to 21:30 local time. The 6-metre SSB net is on 50.165 MHz
using USB. South Dublin Radio Club reports that the net has been
reasonably well supported, but if more stations join in, the net could
be extended to 22:00 hrs.

The IRTS VHF/Microwave team is seeking interest in operators wishing to
try out or learn more about slow scan TV or SSTV. An activity evening
is being planned for the 2-metre band that would suit anyone new to
this mode as well as SWLs who would be able to receive the images
transmitted. For more information and suggestions, contact the IRTS
VHF/Microwave team via email to vhf_manager /at/ irts.ie

Staying with SSTV, the International Space Station is celebrating its
25th anniversary with a special SSTV event, transmitting images from
space. This is set to commence on November 12th, 2025, and running
until November 20th. The event, organized by Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station, will feature 12 images using the PD120
encoding on a frequency of 145.800MHz. For this new series, there will
be six images of ISS at 25, and six images concerning scouting. This
marks the 25th anniversary of both the ISS and ARISS's role as the
station's first educational payload.
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Contest and Events

The results of the IRTS 80 Metres Counties Contest held on the 22nd of
October have been published on the IRTS website. Well done to the
winners and everyone who took part. The results can be found at
irts.ie/results

The RSGB Autumn Series SSB contest takes place on Wednesday evening,
the 12th of November. This runs from 20:00 UTC for 90 minutes on the
80m band. Self-spotting is permitted.

On topband, you can try the 1.8MHz CW contest taking place on Saturday
the 15th of November. This starts at 20:00 UTC and ends at 23:00 UTC.
Hopefully by then, the bands will be in better shape. This is a great
opportunity to test your topband station for its ability to work both
European and DX stations.

The next contest in the UK and Ireland Contest Club series of 80m
contests is on Wednesday the 26th of November 2025. This starts at
20:00 UTC running for one hour using CW.
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Items for Inclusion in Next Week's Radio News

That is the news for this week. Thanks to everyone for sending items
into the weekly IRTS radio news. They are very much appreciated and are
a great way to update the rest of the community about activities. If
you have any club events, activities, meetings, or other items of
interest, you are very welcome to email newsteam /at/ irts.ie with the
details. These will be automatically forwarded to the IRTS radio and
printed news services. The deadline each week is midnight on Thursdays.

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