Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday September 4th 2005
Sympathy
It is with deep regret that we learned of the death of Frank Magliocca, father of Tony, EI6DL. Frank died in Italy on Monday the 22nd of August last and was buried in Cussan cemetry, Athlone on Friday the 26th. We extend our sympathy to Tony and his family. Ar deis Dé go raibh a anam.
Hurricane Katrina
As you can imagine, amateur radio is playing its part in the Hurricane Katrina emergency operations at the moment. DXers should be aware of frequencies to avoid during this time so as not to interfere with emergency traffic. While many of the frequencies in use are not applicable to IARU Region 1 there are still a number of frequencies in use that should be avoided. The following frequencies are in use; 3.1714, 14.265, 14.300, 14.303, 14.313, 14.316, 14.320, 14.325 and 14.340 MHz. This frequency list can also be found at ei7is.searg.com.
EI Counties Contest
Last Sunday's Autumn leg of the IRTS 2 Metre Counties Contest attracted good support around the country but unfortunately the level of participation from the bigger population centres was somewhat down on the spring event. Nevertheless, at least one station worked into 23 counties and had a QSO total in the mid forties.
The Shannon Basin, Tipperary and the South East Clubs were amongst those out on the hills and single operators heard operating portable included EI7GY, EI6FE, EI7IQ, EI3GV, EI2JO, EI4HX and EI2GEB with several others operating stroke mobile. All participants, even those with only a few QSOs are urged to submit their logs to help with the log checking. Logs should be sent to the Contest Manager - Noel Walsh at "ei2jc at hotmail.com".
Monthly Nets
The monthly 4-metre activity night will take place on Tuesday the 6th of September between 8.00 and 9.00 p.m. local time. Operators who are equipped for 70 MHz are invited to listen out for and join in any activity on 70.2626 MHz FM. The 4-metre activity night takes place on the first Tuesday of each month.
(SUNDAYS NEWS ONLY): A monthly six metre FM net meets on the first Monday of each month on 51.525 MHz FM using vertical polarisation at 9.00 p.m. local time. The purpose of this net is to increase activity on the 6-metre band. The next meeting of the net will take place on Monday the 5th of September. All are welcome and encouraged to participate.
Cork Repeaters
Both repeaters run by the Cork Repeater Group are back in action but the 2 metre repeater on Mullaghanish is running on reduced power for the time being. The problem is being attended to.
Club News
Mayo Radio Experimenters Network are holding Theory Classes from September and anyone interested in taking part should contact Brendan, EI6IZ.
The next general meeting of the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take place on Wednesday the 28th of September. Please note that there is no committee meeting on the first week of September.
Wrexham ARS are going back to the Isle of Man!
Not quite as big an event as last time, 4 members of Wrexham ARS (Steve, MW1STE, Colin MW3JNI, Mike, GW6NLP and Arthur GW0GXQ) will be operating from Scarlett Point Tower on the Isle of Man from 6th to the 9th of September. They hope to run for at least 12 hours a day, from Top Band to 2 metres on the frequencies posted in the 'Members Activities' section of the Wrexham club website. They plan to run the callsigns GD4WXM/P and the rare callsign GT4WXM/P on Morse and phone, as well as personal callsigns.
For more information, see the club site on Rally News The Cork Radio Rally will be held in the Blarney Park Hotel on the 25th of September. Doors open at 11 a.m. Free parking and plenty of things to do in Blarney this year as this year celebrates the Cork Capital of Culture. All enquiries about tables, trading etc. should be made to Con on 086 1071312 or 021 4270136 or email "conmac at engineer dot com".
The Waterford Rally will take place on Sunday the 16th of October 2005 in the McEniff, Ard Ri Hotel, Waterford. Traders confirmed to date are; Long Communications, South East Communications and Tetra Communications. The IRTS bookstand will be present and a strong feature will be the Bring and Buy aspect of the rally. Doors open at 11:00 a.m. and admission is 5 Euro. There is no admission charge for children (accompanied by an adult). Special room rates are available for those attending the rally. For information or to reserve exhibition space contact the rally organizer, Michael Hoban, EI5DCB on 051-873310. Information regarding room rates is available on www.searg.com
The Mayo Radio Experimenters Network Rally will be held on Sunday November the 20th at the usual venue, the Belmont Hotel, Knock. Doors open at 11:00 a.m. Bookings for accommodation should be made directly with the hotel. The rate is 50 Euro per person with a special all-in rate of 70 Euro for Bed & Breakfast and evening meal. Traders should contact Padraic Baynes EI9JA for exhibition space.
Nuacht as Gaeilge
The IRTS news in Irish has changed frequency due to poor bad conditions on 40 metres. From now on the news in Irish will be read on 3.680 MHz in the 80 metre band. Paddy EI7GK, who reads the news as Gaeilge hopes that all the regulars will be able to call in on 80 metres. New callers are always welcome, regardless of your level of Irish, beiodh fáilte rómhat.
ComReg Consultation Paper ComReg has recently produced a Consultation Paper entitled "Review of Fees/Rights of use for Radio Frequencies". One section of this paper deals with Experimenters' Radio Licences and associated fees. Submissions on the paper are sought from interested parties and the closing date for these submissions is the 9th of September 2005. It is strongly recommended that all IRTS members take the time to study this paper, as the proposals contained therein will, if implemented, have a significant impact on the Experimenter community in EI.
IRTS will of course be submitting a considered response to the ComReg proposals and this is currently in course of preparation. However, individual members with views on the Paper are urged to put forward their own submissions.
The Consultation Paper is available on the ComReg website (www.comreg.ie) under Publications, reference 05/58 and details are in the July / August edition of Echo Ireland.
Upcoming Contests
Next weekend we have another big SSB contest with lots of activity. It's the Worked all Europe Contest where you can only work station outside of Europe. It runs for forty-eighth hours.
The Scandanavian CW Activity Contest will take place the following weekend on the 10th and 11th of September and the SSB portion of this contest will take place on the 24th and 25th.
RTTY operators are catered for in three weeks time with the CQ Worldwide RTTY Contest, the biggest event of the year for keyboarders. This runs for 48 hours from midnight UTC on Friday.
The Scandinavian Activity contest is also held during September. The CW event is in two weeks time on the 17th and 18th and the SSB event will be held over the last weekend in the month on the 24th and 25th. Both of these are twenty-four events starting at 1200 UTC on the Saturday.
Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be forwarded to Mark EI7IS at QTHR or by phone to 051 853806 or 087 6302026. Items for the radio news can also be faxed to 087 5 6302026. News should be submitted via e-mail to "news at irts dot 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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