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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday November 26th 2000


Dundalk Amateur Radio Society

Dundalk Amateur Radio Society will be holding an “open day” on Sunday the 17th of December at their club QTH; “Larkin House”, 113 Castletown Road, Dundalk, Co. Louth. The club will be open from early morning until late in the evening and all are welcome. HF and VHF rigs will be in operation throughout the day using the callsign EI7DAR (Dundalk Amateur Radio). This will be the last meeting and event of the year for the club and it is hoped that all members and friends will call in at some stage in the day. If you cannot attend, why not try and contact the club on HF or via the Dundalk repeater on 145.675 MHz (R3). Dundalk Amateur Radio Society looks forward to hearing you or indeed seeing you at the open day.


Worked EI Counties Award

Congratulations to Dennis Martin G0ORO who qualified for the WEIC Award and received Certificate No. 69. Dennis worked all 26 counties - 25 on 7 MHz and 1 on 3.5 MHz.


Marconi

The British Royal Mint has announced the issue on 1st January 2001 of a new £2 coin. This coin will commemmorate the centenary of Marconi's first radio transmission across the Atlantic. The design highlights the impact of Marconi and radio on 20th century communications.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The next general meeting of SEARG will take place on Wednesday the 29th of November at 8.00 pm in the Roanmore Social and Sports centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford. The theme of the meeting will be Fast Scan Television and a talk on the subject will be given by Jim Farrell EI8IG.

SEARG intends to start its course of theory classes on Monday the 4th of December. Anyone intending to participate in the night classes can contact the club on 087-6302026 or via e-mail to searg@angelfire.com. Venue and times will be announced next week.


VP5T DX Results

The VP5T Dxpedition to Turk & Caicos Islands during the CQ World Wide SSB test worked over ten thousand contacts from 10 to 160 meters. They were especially pleased with making 31 EI contacts with 23 different EI stations. QSL's are being issued for all these contacts and they are being mailed to EI8EM and he will get the cards into the IRTS QSL bureau. If any QSL have a missing band please contact N2VW for correction. Please do not send QSL's to VP5T as they only want to send out cards and not receive any. The operators were very pleased with all the EI contacts and they hope to work you all again next year.


Phase 3D is now AO-40

In orbit around Earth, the satellite known for the past decade as "Phase 3D" has received its OSCAR designation. AMSAT-NA Board Chairman Bill Tynan, W3XO, this week announced that Phase 3D now will be known as AMSAT-OSCAR 40 or AO-40.

It's been 40 years since the first OSCAR satellite was launched. AMSAT-OSCAR 40 was dedicated to the memory of one of its principal builders, Werner Haas, DJ5KQ, and operates under the call sign DP0WH. Haas died earlier this year. A plaque aboard AO-40 is dedicated to his memory.

Following a one-day postponement, Phase 3D was successfully launched November 16 at 0107 UTC and placed into a geostationary transfer orbit from which it will be nudged into its final high elliptical orbit. When the Ariane 5 launcher successfully deployed Phase 3D at 0153 UTC, cheers erupted from the AMSAT team monitoring the flight's progress in the Arianespace control room. The satellite is not expected to be ready for general use for about nine months.

At 630 kg (1380 lbs) and some 20 feet across when the solar panels are deployed, Phase 3D is the largest Amateur Radio satellite ever put into space. Three other satellites, the giant PanAmSat PAS-1R communications satellite and the smaller STRV-1C and 1D mini-satellites, joined AMSAT Phase 3D (now AO 40) for the ride.

For more information, visit the AMSAT-NA Web site, www.amsat.org


DX News

Hans WA1LWS is QRV as 3W2LWS using CW until November 26. QSL to home call.

Meanwhile, Rolf, SM5MX, has reactivated his callsign XV9SW from November 19 to December 2. QSL via SM3CXS.

The 6 metre Activity Contest will take place on November the 28th 2000.

Arnie Coro, CO2KK, broadcasts a program called 'CQ DX Unlimited' over Radio Havana Cuba. The program, which is in English, is aimed mainly at short wave listeners and beginners in amateur radio. CQ DX Unlimited is broadcast on Tuesdays at 2115 to 2130UTC following the news broadcast, on 13.750 MHz AM and 13.660 MHz SSB.


Items for inclusion in Echo Ireland should be forwarded to Dave Moore EI4BZ at 021-883555 in the evenings or at 021-823172 during office hours. Items can be submitted to Dave by e-mail at ei4bz@eircom.net and you can fax him at 021-823316.


Items for inclusion in the Radio News should be forwarded to Mark Wall EI7IS at QTHR or via e-mail to ei7is@qsl.net Items can also be sent to Mark over the phone at 087-6302026. News can also be submitted via e-mail to news@irts.ie for automatic forwarding to both news services. Please note that the deadline for submission of radio news items is 9.00 pm on Tuesday of each week.

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