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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday January 4th, 2026
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Updates from the IRTS

The deadline for the 2026 Spring edition of Echo Ireland is February
10th, 2026. Further information and guidance can be found at
irts.ie/echoireland if you wish to submit articles. Items should be
sent via email to newsteam /at/ irts.ie to reach the IRTS Echo Ireland
team.
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News from Mayo Radio Experimenters Network

The Mayo Radio Experimenters Network has announced that its next
monthly meeting will take place on Wednesday, the 14th of January, at
20:00 in the For<ige Building, The Mall, Castlebar. All radio
experimenters and shortwave listeners are warmly invited to attend.

The club has unveiled a new operating event for the first quarter of
2026 called the Worked All Mayo Challenge. Modelled on the well-known
Worked All Ireland (WAI) system but adapted with a local Mayo emphasis,
the challenge will run from the 1st of January to March 31st.
Participants are encouraged to make simplex RF contacts across County
Mayo and further afield. Each contact will involve the exchange of
standard signal reports and WAI grid squares. Shortwave listeners are
also welcome to participate and may submit logs that include both
stations' reports. Although the challenge focuses on Mayo, operators
from all regions are invited to take part. The initiative aims to boost
on air activity during the winter months while offering a fresh, local
variation on a long established national award system. A WAI grid map
is available on Tom EI8IC's website at www.mapability.com

The club's weekly news service is transmitted every Sunday at 9 p.m. on
the EI2TGR repeater system, followed by an open call-in. All stations
within range are welcome to join the call or submit an SWL report. For
further information and contact details, please visit www.ei7mre.org
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Shannon Basin Radio Club AGM

Shannon Basin Radio Club held its AGM for 2025 on December 5th in
Hannons Hotel, Roscommon. It was preceded by the club's very enjoyable
Christmas dinner. Following the chairman's address, the election of the
committee for 2026 was held. Pat EI9HX was returned as chairman for the
coming year. Among those joining Pat are Secretary Owen EI4GGB,
Treasurer Anthony EI6GGB, and Public Relations Officer Keith EI5IN. The
club welcomed John EI5INB onboard as the new club rep as well. Shannon
Basin Radio Club looks forward to an action-packed year of amateur
radio activities. Further information about the club may be found at
sbrc.ie
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UKEICC 80m SSB Contest on Wednesday, January 7th

After the usual pause in December, the UKEICC fun begins again on 80m
with the SSB contest on Wednesday, January 7 at 20:00 UTC. More EI/GI
stations are participating in the 80m contests, with an average so far
this season of 14 in SSB contests and 8 in CW contests. The numbers
aren't big but the impact those stations are having certainly is. The
2025/26 league table shows three EI stations in the top ten, including
Mark EI6JK in first place with 1369 points. There is also a fierce
battle being waged in the teams' competition. The EI DReiAM Team,
which consists of David EI5KG, Roger EI8KN, Aidan EI8CE, and Mark
EI6JK, is only 587 points behind first-place DDX Dream Team, which
includes Tim EI2KA. That may seem a big gap, but with team scores
ranging from 300 to 800 points in each contest, it is very close.

Statistics show that a year ago, in the January 2025 SSB contest, there
were no fewer than 15 EI/GI stations that participated, including two
that didn't submit a log. Five of them, namely Aidan EI8CE, John
GI4SJQ, Jason MI3UIW, Declan EI9FVB, and Patriot Radio Comms EI7PRC,
finished in the top ten in that contest. In all 80m contests held
during 2025, EI/GI stations finished in every top ten position at least
twice, with two first-place finishes and three each in second and third
place.

Well done EI/GI stations, but more are needed in 2026. Please come
join the fun on Wednesday, January 7th at 20:00 UTC.
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VHF/Microwave News

SSTV enthusiasts have been enjoying receiving images from at least two
active satellites over the Christmas period. Both are still active on
the 70cm band at the time of writing. Articsat-1 is in polar-orbit
monitoring the Arctic environment. It also carries a SSTV transmitter
operating on 435.890MHz plus or minus Doppler. Umka-1 RS40S is a second
satellite transmitting SSTV in the 70cm band on 437.625MHz plus or
minus Doppler. It is also in a polar orbit. Both satellites are
transmitting very distinctive images and are well worth the challenge
of tracking and attempting to receive these images for yourself. In
addition to a free phone app called Robot36, RX-SSTV and MMSSTV are the
names of two free Windows applications you can use to decode the
images.
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Contests and Activities

If you took part in the first IRTS 80m Counties Contest of 2026 which
was held on New Year's Day, please note that the deadline for logs is
January 15th, 2026. These should be sent to contestmanager /at/ irts.ie

"Marconi Supporters" is an international amateur radio award organised
by A.R.I. Fidenza Radio Club, affiliated to the Italian Radio Amateurs
Association (with the patronage and historical supervision of the
Marconi Foundation. The purpose of this award is to provide historical
and biographical insights into some of the key figures who, although
perhaps not well known today to the public, contributed to the life and
works of Marconi. The award dedicates each month of the year 2026 to
the name of a specific "supporter" of Marconi, and the special name of
the commemorative station associated with each month incorporates an
acronym of that person's name. Further information may be found at
www.arifidenza.it
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Coolmine Rally on the 15th of February

The 2026 Phoenix Amateur Radio Club Rally known as the "Coolmine Rally"
will take place on Sunday, the 15th of February 2026. Doors open at 10
a.m. at the usual venue, which is Coolmine Community School, Dublin,
D15 FW97.
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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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