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EI2GYB > NEWS 29.03.26 17:04l 68 Lines 9098 Bytes #60 (0) @ WW
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Subj: IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday March 29th, 2026
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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday March 29th, 2026
IRTS Updates
Echo Ireland is the IRTS journal available for free to members and is published quarterly. In a change approved in the recent IRTS committee meeting on March 25th, the email address echoireland /at/ irts.ie is now available for contributors for the submission of articles intended for Echo Ireland. This is to streamline the news team process. Items intended for the weekly radio news will continue to go to newsteam /at/ irts.ie as usual. We greatly appreciate the increasing number of articles and news items for both services and thank everyone who contribute to help keep our amateur radio community updated.
ComReg has let us know that they sent out 1,933 individual emails inviting radio amateurs to respond to their survey. You may remember that this survey is to gauge the health of the hobby. As of Monday March 23rd, 2026, only 192 responses have been received. While starting strongly, the number of responses has tailed off. That is almost a 10% response rate. The deadline for responses is 5 p.m. tomorrow, Monday the 30th of March. A link to the survey can be found on the Radio Amateurs page on ComReg.ie ComReg staff have noted a level of positive engagement, comments and encouragement on various social media channels and look forward to getting many more responses.
We are excited to note that the weekly IRTS radio news network continues to grow. Galway Radio Experimenters Club have started news bulletin transmissions on Monday nights at 8 p.m. These are via the EI2KMR repeater in Loughrea which is also linked with Shannon Basin Radio Club's EI2SBR, Donegal Amateur Radio Club's EI2TKR, and Inisbofin's EJ7IBD repeaters. If you can, please consider supporting them by providing reception reports after the news.
We wish to thank long-time IRTS news reader and HF manager Stefan EI4KU who is taking a break from IRTS duties due to personal reasons. We wish him the best and look forward to his return. This means we are down to just one 80m newsreader and seek additional volunteers for the panel. The 80m news bulletin will be on a less frequent service for the time being. If interested in helping with the 80m or any other news service and availing of the excellent www.IRTS.news tool that simplifies the task, please contact newsteam /at/ irts.ie to learn more.
We are delighted to welcome Sandip Nambiar EI7IJB who is taking over the QSL manager role for callsigns with the numbers 4 and 5 in them. We wish Sandip the very best and greatly appreciate his offer of help. Our new outwards QSL manager Padraig EI8JAB, will be accepting outward QSL cards at the Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club rally on Sunday April 19th.
We are now entering the busier part of the year regarding radio-related activities outdoors and in public spaces. The IRTS provides public liability insurance cover for all paid up IRTS members and affiliated clubs for Ireland, the UK, and European Union. This valuable benefit is included as part of your IRTS membership fee. The IRTS insurance officer is Pat O'Connor EI9HX. He would be delighted to help members requiring further information. Pat can be contacted via email to insurance /at/ irts.ie
IRTS AGM Weekend Update from Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club
As part of the IRTS 93rd AGM weekend, Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club is hosting a premier technical workshop. Participants will spend the morning of Saturday April 18th assembling a high-performance, modern internet radio device. The workshop is limited to twenty participants, and the cost is twenty euro. Visit Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club's website to register.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group Meeting
The March meeting of the EI2WRC group will take place tomorrow, Monday, March 30th at 8 p.m. sharp at the Southeast Technological University. NetLabs Research and Innovation Building, SETU West Campus, Carriganore, Waterford. The Eircode is X91 WR86. New members or anyone that has an interest in amateur radio or communications in general are very welcome to come along. SWLs are very welcome to attend also. Please see www.searg.ie for more information about EI2WRC, their activities, and for contact details.
South Dublin Radio Club's AGM
South Dublin Radio Club s AGM will take place at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the 14th of April 2026 at Ballyroan Community Centre on the Marian Road in Rathfarnham. All members are asked to attend.
Shannon Basin Radio Club Update
Mills on the Air is a special event held on the 2nd weekend of May. The club will be active as EI2EWM from the historic Elphin Windmill in Co. Roscommon. Among the team will be Daniel McDowell EI8ICB who is also running as a nominee for the IRTS committee having provided extensive input and guidance to the community in recent months. Shannon Basin Radio Club wishes him the very best in his endeavours. Visit nharg.org.uk to learn about the Mills on the Air program and sbrc.ie for further information about the club and how to contact them.
VHF/Microwave News
For CW enthusiasts and especially those new to the mode or curious to learn, activity events on VHF and above are opportunities for you to try. The UKQRP group hold a 2m CW activity on Tuesday evenings. The FISTS club also organise activity evenings during the week with 2m CW on Tuesdays and 70cm CW on Friday evenings. They are not contests but are friendly events to help encourage interest and increased use of CW. We encourage operators from Ireland to also take part and try their hand at CW contacts on VHF and above as well as hopefully conduct some QSOs across the Irish Sea.
Truskmore VHF Repeater Update
Donegal Amateur Radio Club are happy to report that the Truskmore VHF Repeater, EI2TKR, is back in service as of 3 p.m. on the 27th of March, after an unexpected outage for a few days. Thankfully a simple reboot of the repeater itself brought it back. As they continue to monitor its performance post-restoration, any signal reports would be greatly appreciated. They thank you for your patience while time was arranged to access the site and resolve the issue.
Retirement of Long Communications
Following 36 years in business, Long Communications announced their retirement as of March 27th this year. Raymond Long and team have been a constant and highly regarded trader in almost all radio rallies in Ireland over the past four decades from their base in Dunkineely, Co. Donegal. We wish Raymond the very best in retirement and thank him for all the years of dedicated service to the amateur radio community.
Contest Calendar
Well done to everyone who took part in the recent IRTS 80m Counties contest. Please note that the closing date for log entries is this coming Wednesday April the 1st. Visit irts.ie/contests for submission details. The IRTS 2m and 70cm Counties Contest takes place on Easter Monday, April 6th. It starts at 2 p.m. with the 70cm contest running for 30 minutes. It is immediately followed by the 2m contest taking place for 90 minutes until 4 p.m.
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 the radio news editor Keith EI5IN via email to newsteam /at/ irts.ie with the details. The deadline each week is midnight on Thursdays. Items intended for inclusion in Echo Ireland, which is the IRTS quarterly journal, should be sent to echoireland /at/ irts.ie
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