Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday September 12th 2004
SSB Field Day
The annual SSB Field Day held last weekend attracted seven entries, four restricted stations in Ballinasloe and open section stations in Cork, Wexford and Kilkenny.
Following the success of last year, when seven stations attended the centrally held event in Garbally College, it was decided to try it once again but unfortunately only two clubs were able to attend. The locally based Shannon Basin Club had their new mobile shack on show while members of the Galway Radio Experimenters Club operated in comfort from a large van.
The usual two single operator entries, Joe Ryan EI7GY from Dublin and Dave EI4BZ from Cork travelled furthest to take part.
A feature of the weekend at Garbally was the barbeque hosted by the local club on the Saturday night. This was very professionally done by Tony EI3HA and Pat EI9HX and a radio silence was declared for the duration.
In County Cork, members of Cork Radio Club travelled to East Cork and operated the callsign EI1C/P together with members of the East Cork Group. Four nationalities were represented on the operating team.
Down in Wexford, EI9E/P was operated from White Mountain by EI9HQ, EI7FJ, EI2FG and EI7FXB, a coalition from Cork, Waterford, Wexford and Dublin. This station was co-sited with a serious VHF station taking part in the IARU 2 Metres Contest.
Tipperary Amateur Radio Group members travelled to the Kilkenny QTH of Paul EI5ENB and set up a station in the open section. EI7T/P was operated by EI2IT, EI2JB, EI3ENB and EI3FFB. TARG would like to extend their appreciation to Paul EI3ENB and his family for the hospitality shown to the group during this portable activation. A thoroughly enjoyable weekend was had by all - not least helped by the good WX conditions.
Contests
We are now coming in to the serious contest season and while many operators regard contests as a nuisance, those chasing DX find them very useful for increasing their country and prefix totals.
Next weekend we have the Scandinavian Activity contest on CW and the SSB section of the same contest will be held a week later on the 25/26th. Also held over that weekend will be the CQ Worldwide RTTY DX contest, the biggest of the year for RTTY enthusiasts.
In October we will have the EU Autumn sprints on CW and SSB, the Oceania DX Contests also on both CW and SSB and the big one at the end of the month, the CQ Worldwide DX Contest on SSB on the 30th and 31st.
For further information on any of these events, just send an e-mail to news@irts.ie.
First Jamboree on the Air for Scouting Ireland
The worlds newest Scout Association, Scouting Ireland will participate in JOTA (Jamboree on the Air) for the first time which will takes on Saturday and Sunday, the 16th and 17th of October next.
Scouting Ireland, which was formed at the beginning of the year following the coming together of the Catholic Scouts of Ireland and the Scout Association of Ireland, has in excess of 40,000 members on the island of Ireland. Boys and girls aged from six to nineteen are supported by over six thousand volunteer adult leaders who deliver a varied programme of activities in the out of doors and in the community.
Each year over 500,000 Scouts and Guides from all over the world participate in this event where Scouting experiences are shared as thousands of scouts world-wide speak with each other across the airwaves. The event lasts from midnight local time Friday night (15th of October) to midnight Sunday night (17th of October). Stations participating can choose their own operating hours within this time frame.
Information regarding participating Stations will follow in due course.
Further information regarding JOTA is available from Sean O'Suilleabhain, EI3IP, National JOTA Organiser (NJO) of Scouting Ireland at jota@scouts.ie or at 087 232 6994 or at QTHR or from the Radio Scouting web page of Scouting Ireland at www.scouts.ie/jota Downloads of Radio Scouting handbooks for Scouts as well as Leaders and Station managers and templates for applications for special event callsigns for both jurisdictions on the island of Ireland are available on the web page or by email on request.
Mayo Radio Experimenter Network
The annual general meeting of the Mayo Radio Experimenters Network will be held in the meeting room, in Stensons of Ballyvary on Wednesday October the 6th at 9 p.m. Visitors and new members are welcome.
The results of the August Mayo REN Competition were announced at the September meeting.
First place went to John Corless, EI7IQ, second John Browne, EI7FAB, third Brendan Minish, EI6IZ, fourth John McAndrew, EI3JM, fifth Terry Ebdon, EI9IW and sixth Jimmy Kelly, EI2GCB.
The club runs eleven competitions for members annually, with an overall prize at the end of the year in addition to monthly prizes. Members can only submit scores for ten months, and all the competitions are based on activity on the bands.
The third Mayo Rally will take place on Sunday November the 21st in the usual venue - The Belmont Hotel, Knock. Already the rally has attracted much attention from traders, with a number of bookings from UK based firms joining the large number of exhibitors from Ireland. The rally will follow the proven successful format of previous Mayo shows, with a large Bring and Buy section, a number of demonstrations and presentations as well as the large number of traders, making the Rally one of the best in Ireland. Doors open at 11.30 a.m.
The club will host a dinner on the night before the rally, and a prominent guest speaker has been lined up by the Mayo REN for the occasion. A special rate for accommodation, has been negotiated with the Hotel, for the Saturday night.
All booking enquiries should be made with the Rally Director, Padraic Baynes, EI9JA on 087 6957154.
EI5IF / EL2PM in Liberia
Pat Molloy EI5IF who is currently serving with the Irish Army contingent in Liberia has finally succeeded in obtaining a Liberian licence. Listen out for him over the next three months using his new call - EL2PM.
Shannon Basin Radio Club Challenge
The Shannon Basin Radio club is again running its annual one day Open, Fixed, challenge for EI residents. This challenge is open to all licensed operators and short wave listeners and will be held on the 7th of November 2004 from 0800 to 2000 hours.
The purpose of the challenge is to encourage radio operators and short wave listeners to be active on HF. The Lough Allen Shield will be awarded to the highest score in SSB. The Lough Ree Shield will be awarded to the highest score in CW (A1A) and the Lough Derg Shield will be awarded to the highest score for SWL.
More information is available in the July/August 2004 edition of Echo Ireland.
Cork Radio Club
Cork Radio Club will hold it's Annual rally at the Blarney Park Hotel next Sunday the 19th. Doors open at 11 a.m. The Cork Rally, which has been running for the last 13 years without a break is one of the longest running rallies in EI.
Being one of the most popular events of the EI calendar year the rally attracts many amateurs from both north and south of the country along with new Traders every year.
Wireless LAN will be on display this year along with Cellcom`s first appearance. An Amateur Television demonstration from will be given by the pioneer himself Aedan O'Meara. There is a limited no of spaces available so if you would like to trade please contact Con on 086-1071312 or E-mail conmac@engineer.com as soon as possible.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group are pleased to announce that a rally will take place in the McEniff Ard Rí Hotel, Waterford on Sunday the 17th of October 2004. Doors open at 11.00 a.m. and admission is 3 euro. Entry is free for children accompanied by an adult. Bar and food facilities will be available and there is ample car parking.
South East Communications, Long Communications, Sean Martin and Planet PC have confirmed that they will be attending.
The hotel is offering a discount for those wishing to stay overnight. For enquiries about the rally, contact Mick EI5DCB on 051-873310.
Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News for next week should be forwarded to Mark EI7IS. News should be submitted via e-mail to news@irts.ie for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no later than midday on Fridays.
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