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This Week's News

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday July 5th, 2026
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IRTS at Friedrichshafen

An IRTS delegation, including society President Jeffrey Roe and
committee member Mark Kilmartin, recently travelled to Germany to
attend the world-renowned Friedrichshafen international ham radio
exhibition. As the largest event of its kind in Europe, the rally
featured hundreds of exhibitors representing over 30 countries and drew
an impressive crowd of more than 11,000 visitors.

During the trip, the team also stopped to visit the local
Friedrichshafen amateur radio club, operating under the callsign DK0FN.
The IRTS extends its sincere thanks to Falko, DM5XT, for the
exceptionally warm welcome and hospitality extended to the Irish
representatives. Listeners can find EI0IRTS on various social media
platforms to view photographs from the event.
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IRTS President Visit to Kildare Amateur Radio Club

IRTS president Jeffrey Roe continues his tour around the nation to meet
up with fellow ham operators. On July 1st, he visited the Kildare
amateur radio club EI0K. The IRTS would like to thank the club for the
warm welcome and hospitality.
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IRTS VHF/UHF Field Day Contest

The annual IRTS VHF/UHF Field Day contest is currently underway across
the country and will wrap up at 14:00 UTC today. With the final hours
of the event approaching, there is still plenty of time for operators
to turn on their radios and take part. Amateurs are encouraged to scan
the 6-metre, 2-metre, 70-centimetre, and 23-centimetre bands to hunt
for contest participants, get on the air, and make the most of the
remaining competition time.
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Kildare Amateur Radio Club Update

Kildare Amateur Radio Club will be taking part in the Parks on the Air
(POTA) Support Your Parks weekend on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th
July. Club members will activate Curragh Plains Conservation Area (POTA
reference IE-0212) on both days, operating across a wide range of bands
and modes. The club would be delighted to make contact with amateurs
both around Ireland and around the world and also welcomes reports from
short wave listeners. A specially designed electronic QSL card will be
sent to all stations contacted, as well as to any SWL submitting a
report. Further information on the club is available at kildarearc.com
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TOG Hackerspace Radio Activities Update

TOG Hackerspace reports a busy and successful series of radio
activities. The group collaborated with the South Dublin Radio Club for
a Parks on the Air activation on Ireland's Eye, utilizing an EJ
callsign to introduce new participants to the hobby in a memorable
setting. This was followed the next evening by a special event hosted
at the TOG space for Queer Shed Dublin Central, where the special event
callsign EI0LGBT was used for demonstrations, Morse code practice, and
live on-air operations. TOG extends its thanks to the wider amateur
radio community for providing the helpers and instructors who
contributed to the success of these sessions and offered a warm welcome
to all visitors. TOG Hackerspace will be joining the 145 Alive event on
Sunday, July 12th, alongside the three other stations currently
registered in Ireland. Jeffrey, EI7IRB, and Tomasz, EI2KSB, will be
putting the club call EI0TOG on the air from TOG in Dublin. Listen out
for them on the allocated 2-metre FM frequency and give them a call.
Better still, everyone is welcome to come along to TOG Hackerspace at
Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, Dublin 12, D12 CF6V. Licensed
amateurs can get on the air, while SWLs and anyone curious about
amateur radio can see the station in use and have a supervised go
themselves.
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Galway Radio Experimenters Club July Meeting

The Galway Radio Experimenters Club will host its monthly meeting this
coming Tuesday, July 7th. The gathering is scheduled for 8 p.m. at the
Menlo Park Hotel in Galway. All radio amateurs and shortwave listeners
are welcome to attend. Those interested in going are asked to notify
the club in advance by dropping a quick note via the "contact us" page
on their official website at www.galwayradio.com, or through their
Facebook page, "Galway Radio Club".
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World Radiosport Team Championship 2026 Kicks Off Next Week

The 10th World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC 2026), widely
considered the Olympics of amateur radio contesting, begins in the
United Kingdom on Wednesday, July 8th. The event brings together 50
two-person teams representing various global qualification areas, each
accompanied by an assigned referee. Operating from dedicated
high-frequency portable sites across Southeast England, competitors
will battle in a 24-hour SSB and CW event embedded within the
concurrent IARU HF Championship over the weekend of July 11th and 12th.
This international competition offers a unique opportunity for amateur
stations worldwide to hunt the special WRTC callsigns.

With 50 stations active across the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10-metre bands,
operators can aim for up to 250 contacts on a single mode, or up to 500
total contacts for those proficient in both SSB and CW. The required
contest exchange is a signal report and the operator's ITU zone.
Downloadable certificates will be available post-event to reward
operators across various award tiers, with full criteria detailed at
wrtc2026.org/wrtc-2026-competition-awards.

The highly anticipated special callsigns remain a closely guarded
secret and will be officially unveiled on Thursday, July 9th via
wrtc2026.org and social media channels under the handle WRTC2026. To
follow the action in real time, visit WorldRadioLeague.com, which will
host the live, real-time event scoreboard and contact tracking
platform. Additionally, daily television broadcasts covering the event
will stream at 16:30 UTC starting July 8th, accessible via the WRTC2026
YouTube channel.
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VHF/Microwave News

Round 7 of the European FT8Activity takes place on the 70cm band on
Wednesday, July 8th. Starting at 6pm, it's an open and friendly event
to encourage the use of weak-signal digital modes on the VHF and UHF
bands. 145 Alive is an amateur radio event focused on the 2-metre band
designed to promote increased activity on the band. The next 145Alive
UK event takes place next Sunday July 12th starting at 11:00 UTC. Visit
145alive.com for further information and how to take part.
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IRTS CW Field Day Results and EI0HQ Operators Needed

IRTS Contest Manager Mark, EI6JK, has announced that the results for
the recent IRTS CW Field Day have now been published and are available
to view on the IRTS website. Additionally, a final appeal is being
issued for operators to run the Irish headquarters station, EI0HQ,
during the upcoming IARU HF World Championship. This prestigious
24-hour contest takes place over the weekend of July 11th and 12th,
coinciding with the World Radiosport Team Championship in the UK. Any
members interested in taking a slot and representing the society are
urgently asked to contact Mark, EI6JK, via email to contestmanager /at/
irts.ie to secure their place.
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IRTS News Team Summer Break

The IRTS news team will be taking its annual summer holidays from
Sunday July 19th until Sunday August 2nd. This means that the last IRTS
HF bulletin before the break will be the 80m bulletin at 12 p.m. next
Sunday, July 12th. The next bulletin after that date will be the 40m
bulletin on Sunday, August 2nd at 11 a.m. For events that may be taking
place during the holiday period, you are advised to send the details to
newsteam /at/ irts.ie as soon as possible so they can be included in
the next IRTS news bulletin before the summer break. The team is also
urgently seeking new news readers to join the panel and help the
society with the 40m and 80m news services. Please contact newsteam
/at/ irts.ie if interested. The IRTS wishes to thank all volunteer HF
and regional weekly news readers for your continued great service to
the society. We hope you all enjoy your summer break!
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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 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

[C]
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