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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday April 9th 2000


World Radio Team Championships

The Olympic Games of Amateur radio, the World Radio Team Championships, are held every four years and will be held in Slovenia in early July. 53 teams of two, representing the top contesting talent in the world, will operate with identical stations and special callsigns in the series S500A to S599Z. The contest will be held in conjunction with the IARU HF Championship on July the 8th and 9th.

As an incentive for stations to work the WRTC contestants, the organising committee is offering special WRTC T-shirts to all stations who make 160 points for European stations and 80 points for DX stations. You get one point for each QSO with a WRTC station per band and mode.

Special certificates and prizes will be awarded to all stations who work all the WRTC stations either mixed mode, all CW, all SSB or single band.


On the Air

East Timor, a brand new DXCC entity, has been quite active of late with up to six 4W6 stations on the air. There appears to be some confusion regarding QSL routes so the best policy might be to wait a while if you were lucky enough to work one of them.

Bhutan is the second most wanted DXCC country behind North Korea and it looks like the long wait is about to end for many DXers. Amateur Radio was not allowed in Bhutan up to now but it has finally been permitted. The Ministry of Communications there has invited an international team for the initial introduction of amateur radio and they will operate from May the 1st to the 12th. Three CW, three SSB and one RTTY station will operate around the clock.

Another possible new one, the Chesterfield Islands, was activated recently by a group using the callsign TX0DX. They had to cease operations suddenly on March 29th due to the worsening weather situation, which could have meant the operators being trapped on the reef. They made 72,654 QSOs, mainly on 21 MHz SSB and CW.

Contests on next weekend include the ES HF Championship, the YU DX contest, the EU SSB Spring Sprint and the Holyland DX Contest.


Back home for a quick visit

Richard Murnane VK2SKY, formerly EI6BTB, will be back for a visit during the month of May and will be active on two metres and 70cm using the visitor callsign EI5VHG.

Richard has been quite active in Amateur Radio in VK-land, where he migrated to, back in 1987. He is now the Federal news co-ordinator for the Wireless Institute of Australia, the counterpart of the IRTS "Down Under".


CW News Bulletin

Please note that the CW news bulletin at 1030 on Sunday mornings is now broadcast on 40 metres on 7.032 MHz. Callers are very welcome.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The South Eastern Radio Group held a very successful VHF open day over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Members of the group travelled to Portlaw and set up a station. Some very good contacts were made including QSOs with stations in Mayo, Galway, Leitrim, Longford, and some G.I. stations.

An enjoyable day was had by all and the crew included Mark EI7IS, John EI9DBB, Mick EI3IQ, and Shortwave Listeners Gareth, Eoin, John, Martin, and Andrew.

The night classes for the class B licence are continuing with a good attendance every Monday night. The classes are being held in the De La Salle social and sports club starting at 8 o’clock.

Enquiries about the group to searg@angelfire.com.


GM Activity Weekend

The GM Activity Weekend will be held on April the 15th and 16th.

A large number of Scottish amateurs will be on the air over the weekend, many of them from Scottish Islands.

This is an ideal opportunity to get involved in the Islands of Scotland Award scheme.


Dates for your Diary

The IRTS 2 Metres Counties Contest will be held on Easter Monday April the 24th.

International Marconi Day will be held this year on April the 29th and the Enniskillen Rally will be held on Sunday April the 30th at the Killyhevlin Hotel.

The Windmills special event will be held on May the 12th and 13th.

The Worked All Ireland Island Activity weekend will be held over the third weekend in June, that’s the 17th and 18th.

The International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend will be held on August 19th and 20th. 40 stations have confirmed their participation to date. If you want to get involved, please inform Mike GM4SUC at gm4usc@compuserve.com The Marino Institute of Education will host Celticon 2000 – a QRP Radio Convention on September 1st to 3rd next. This event is being arranged and organised by the G-QRP Club with assistance from the Dublin QRP Radio Amateur Club.

The Cork Rally will be held in the Blarney Park Hotel on Sunday September the 20th.


Items for inclusion in the Radio News should be phoned to Dave Moore at 021-883555 in the evenings or to 021-823172 during office hours. You may also e-mail to ei4bz@eircom.net or to ei8ir@eircom.net Input for the Newsletter should be sent to Kevin EI7IM at QTHR or by e-mail to ei7im@qsl.net.

Input to either the Radio News or Newsletter can be sent by e-mail to news@irts.ie for automatic forwarding to both news services.

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