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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday February 1st, 2026
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Updates from the IRTS

We wish to thank Andreas Kull EI9IOB for his dedicated volunteer
service running the outgoing QSL office for almost four years.
Unfortunately, due to increasing work commitments, he is stepping down
from this role. If interested in taking over this role or to learn more
about what's involved, please contact the IRTS secretary via email to
irts_secretary /at/ irts.ie

We are delighted to announce that two key IRTS officer roles have now
been filled. We welcome Stefan Zalewski EI4KU as our new HF manager.
The second role is the IRTS Automatic Station Coordinator. Following an
open call for applicants over the past couple of months, we are
delighted to welcome Richard Hendy MI3CQR who has been appointed as
Automatic Station Coordinator by the IRTS committee. Both bring a
wealth of experience, enthusiasm, and fresh ideas to their respective
positions. We wish both of them the very best in their new roles and
are excited to see the positive impact they will have on our society,
hobby, and wider community.

The 27th IARU Region 1 General Conference will take place in Vienna,
Austria, from Saturday, the 19th, to Wednesday, the 23rd of September
2026. This is a major gathering for amateur radio in Region 1, bringing
together member societies from across Europe, Africa, the Middle East,
and Northern Asia. The conference runs over five days, and it is where
the IARU's specialist committees meet to agree regional policy and
priorities, including matters like spectrum, band planning, and
operating standards. The IARU, the International Amateur Radio Union,
represents the interests of the amateur radio service worldwide,
including at the International Telecommunication Union, and works to
protect and enhance our spectrum privileges. Region 1 holds its general
conference every three years, so this is an important opportunity to
shape the work programme for the next term. The IRTS is sending four
members to Vienna to participate, to represent Irish amateurs, and to
bring home the latest updates for our community. For more information
on the work of IARU Region 1, visit iaru-r1.org or contact the IRTS
IARU representative, Jeffrey Roe, EI7IRB, by email at iaru /at/ irts.ie

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
editor.
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IRTS AGM Weekend Update from Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club

Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club who are the host club for the 2026
IRTS AGM weekend, write in to inform us of an important addition to
their programme of talks, on the Saturday afternoon of the IRTS AGM
Weekend, on April 18th. At their request, an important presentation
will be made by ComReg between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on "A review of the
Amateur Station Licensing Regime in Ireland". Dr. Samuel Ritchie
EI9FZB, Spectrum Advisor to ComReg and Brendan O'Brien, Projects
& Licensing Manager, ComReg will deliver this presentation which will
be followed by a question-and-answer session. In common with those
talks announced already, this presentation will be held in Treacys
Oakwood Hotel, Shannon.
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News from Mayo Radio Experimenters Network

The next meeting of the Mayo Radio Experimenters will take place on
Wednesday night February 4th at 8 p.m. in the Maker Space, For<ige
Building, The Mall, Castlebar, Eircode F23 PP78. Members are making
excellent use of the additional room for equipment demonstrations,
construction projects, and hands-on technical work. Visitors and new
members are very welcome to attend. The club encourages anyone curious
about the hobby to come along.

The EI2TGR repeater continues to perform exceptionally well thanks to
the ongoing work of Brendan EI6BZ and John EI5GHB. Their efforts have
ensured excellent reliability and wide coverage, with recent reports
received from Mullingar, Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Meath, South Galway,
and further afield. The club extends sincere thanks to both Brendan and
John for their continued dedication.

The Worked All Mayo challenge is proving to be a very successful
initiative within the club. Many members have been active across the
county, activating and chasing Mayo grid squares. The challenge is
based on the popular Worked All Ireland Award but with a local Mayo
focus. Members will continue to be active across the bands until the
31st of March. The club continues to relay the IRTS weekly news every
Sunday evening at 9 p.m. on the EI2TGR repeater. The club would also
like to acknowledge the work of Padraic EI9JA, who reads the news
almost every week with great reliability and commitment. Shortwave
listeners and licensed operators are invited to submit signal reports
and join the call-in afterwards.
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Shannon Basin Radio Club SSB Nets

The next Shannon Basin Radio Club SSB DX net takes place on Thursday
night again from 9 p.m. Band and frequency details will be announced
via the club's social media channels closer to that time. Further
information about the club can be found at sbrc.ie
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17th Birthday for TOG Hackerspace

TOG Hackerspace would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came
along to celebrate TOG's 17th birthday. They had over 45 people drop in
over the night to help them mark the occasion, and there was no
shortage of homemade pizza and a truly heroic amount of cake. They also
took the opportunity to call into their friends at the South Dublin
Radio Club's nightly 2 metre net, which was a great chance for some of
their visitors to get on the air for the first time. In total, they had
six people jump in for a chat, and it was brilliant to see them catch
the radio bug. Do check out tog.ie for more about the hackerspace and
the radio club, and they hope to hear and see more of their radio
friends soon, either in person or on the bands. Listen out for EI0TOG.
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Mills on the Air 2026

This year marks thirty years of the Mills on the Air event. An
invitation is extended to amateur radio operators from around the world
to take part. It helps to highlight some of the amazing heritage and
historical mill sites across the world. Originally started in 1996,
this special event is not a contest but is a fun and relaxed event for
amateurs of all abilities, all modes, and bands. Each year, it
features several EI stations and clubs and hopefully this year will see
even more take to the airwaves. The 2026 event is scheduled for the
weekend of the 9th and 10th of May. For further information and to get
involved, visit nharg.org.uk/mota
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Winter Olympics

The Dolomites Radio Club will be on the air from Milano Cortina for the
duration of the Winter Olympics. Using the special callsign II3OLYM
until the 15th of March, they will be active on all HF, VHF, and UHF
bands. Confirmation of contacts will be sent via eQSL. The Winter
Paralympic Games will also be present on the HF bands from the 1st of
March until the 1st of April, using the callsign DD2026WPG operated by
a DARC team. Details can be found on ses.darc.de
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RSGB using the DARC QSL Bureau

The RSGB signed an official contract with the DARC for the processing
of QSL cards at the DARC headquarters in Germany. A number of European
national radio societies are already using services of the DARC,
relying on their high-capacity digital processing of QSL cards. This
signals a significant shift toward the centralisation and modernization
of amateur radio logistics in Europe.
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Artemis-II Doppler Experiment

NASA's SCAN Program, short for Space Communications and Navigation
Program, has published a list of selected ground stations, including
amateur radio clubs and individual operators. The teams are preparing
to measure the Doppler effect during the orbit of the Orion spaceship
as it is being pulled by both Earth and Moon gravity wells at the same
time. The space-comms pages on the nasa.gov website have the details.
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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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