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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday August 10th, 2025
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IRTS Hamfest 2025

It is just over three weeks until IRTS Hamfest 2025. This takes place
at the Mullingar Showgrounds outside Mullingar, Co. Westmeath over the
weekend of September 6th and 7th. The event includes overnight
operation from Saturday night to Sunday morning as part of the SSB
field day weekend. Novice and experienced people will come together in
one place along with a very wide array of amateur radio equipment and
stations, technologies, and expertise across 30 acres.

Entry is free for IRTS members and ten euro per day for non-members.
Free camping facilities are provided. If you are not yet a member of
the IRTS, now is a good time to consider joining to avail of the free
entry to Hamfest in addition to the many other member benefits. These
include public liability insurance in Ireland, the UK, and EU. Visit
irts.ie/join to find out more. The dedicated website for the IRTS
Hamfest 2025 and all the latest information can be found at
www.irts.ie/hamfest .
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Seeking HF newsreaders

HF newsreaders are required to join our current panel of newsreaders
for the weekly Sunday morning 40m and 80m IRTS news bulletins. There is
very little involved in reading a bulletin and no experience is
necessary. 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, please get in touch with the IRTS
news team via email to newsteam /at/ irts.ie .
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South Eastern Amateur Radio Group Activating Hook Lighthouse

The South Eastern Amateur Radio Group, EI2WRC, will once again this
year activate Hook Lighthouse ILLW reference IE0003 on Saturday and
Sunday the 16th and 17th of August as part of the 28th International
Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. For more info on the International
Lighthouse and Lightship weekend, please see www.illw.net . Hook
Lighthouse is located on the southeast coast of Ireland in Co. Wexford.
The present structure is about 800 years old and is the oldest intact
operational lighthouse in the world. For more info, please see
www.hookheritage.ie .

EI2WRC would like to thank all the event staff at the Hook Lighthouse
visitors centre and Phil Lawlor from Irish Lights for all their help in
planning this event. To find out more about EI2WRC and their activities
you can email them at southeasternarg /at/ gmail.com or please feel
free to go along to any of their events or meetings. Their website is
www.searg.ie and you can also find them on Facebook or /at/ seargnews
on X.
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North Dublin Radio Club and the International Lighthouse and Lightship
Weekend

North Dublin Radio Club EI0NDR will be activating Howth's Baily
Lighthouse IE0025 next weekend on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th August.
Visitors are welcome. The club will be operating from morning to
evening both days. Access is from Thormanby Road, and please contact
Tony EI6K on 086 298 5776 for the gate code on the day if it isn't
already open. The North Dublin Radio Cub wishes to thank Irish Lights
for their support.
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VHF/Microwave News

The Hepburn tropospheric propagation forecast for the coming week
indicates some good opportunities for VHF operators. Those in the
southeast of the country may have luck with potential contacts into
Europe especially around mid-week.

The 432MHz UK activity contest takes place on Tuesday August 12th from
19:00 to 21:30 UTC. Modes used are SSB, CW, FM, AM, JT6M, and FSK441.
It is followed by the 432MHz FT8 activity contest the next day on
August 13th. This runs from 19:00 to 21:00 UTC and is aligned with
similar activities in Europe during the same time.

PC Magazine report that there has been significant pushback against the
Texas-based telecommunications company seeking to use the 70cm band for
telemetry, tracking, and command. In addition to the submission from
the IRTS, the FCC has received more than 2,500 comments in protest of
the company's proposed use of the band.

For those interested in amateur satellite operation, the crossband
repeater on the International Space Station continues to be active. At
least three of NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 s astronauts onboard hold amateur
radio licences. If any crewmember has spare time, all they have to do
is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the
repeater. Being on the western fringes of Europe, operators in Ireland
can have an advantage on some passes to make contact with an astronaut
before the ISS comes into range of the rest of Europe. The best times
to try are passes that coincide with breakfast time and then
approximately 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Information about the frequencies can be
found at www.ariss.org .

For meteor scatter fans and those curious about this topic, the peak of
the Perseids meteor shower occurs between August 12th and 13th. The
source of the shower is the Comet Swift-Tuttle. Earth moves through the
comet's tail each year during late July and early August. Fragments of
comet debris burn up in the Earth's atmosphere and the shower is most
intense when Earth is in the dustiest part of the tail. This is
typically the most anticipated meteor shower of the year and
potentially the easiest one for operators new to this fascinating
propagation mode to try out. VHF contacts up to 2000km away can be
possible using ionised trails caused by the fiery streaks to refract
signals. The mode typically used is MSK144 with most activity found on
the 6m and 2m bands.
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Straight Key CW Activity

The FISTS CW Club will host a 24 hour straight key sprint next
Saturday, the 16th of August. It will run from midnight to 23:59 UTC.
You can find more information at fists.co.uk .
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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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