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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday April 22nd 2007


Aidan Folan EI5W, Silent Key

Aidan Folan, formerly EI5W, from Terenure passed away recently.

Aidan lectured in Kevin Street College of Technology and was then involved with RTE Radio in the mid 50’s as first Sound and Balance Control officer, prior to moving to RTE Television Operations and he finished his career as Training Manager in RTE. He was also very involved with EBU committees. Aidan was the youngest brother of Martin Enda Folan, formerly EI6W, and was president of the IRTS arount the early 60s.

May he rest in peace.


International Marconi Day

The 28th of April is International Marconi Day and the Cornish Amateur Radio Club sponsors a radio event and presents awards for working the special event stations. All IMD special event stations have historic connections with Marconi. The Howth Martello Radio Group will be activating EI0MAR as a special event award station on the 28th.

In 1905 Marconi carried our wireless telegraphy reception experiments at the Martello Tower. The HMS Monarch steamed to various locations in the Irish Sea and sent test transmissions back to Howth. Various antennas and earthing methods were tried at the Martello Tower and comparisons made. The Howth Group is justifiably proud of its association with the tower, which now houses a vintage radio museum. The museum opens from 11 till 4 on weekends until the end of April and from May until October every day. The museum website is ei5em.110mb.com/museum.html. Visitors will be most welcome to visit and operate the station on International Marconi Day. EI0MAR is QRV most Sundays until 3 p.m. For more details you can email “ei0mar at eircom.net”. Access to the tower is up a steep pathway opposite the Abbey Tavern.


Galway Radio Experimenters Group

The Galway Radio Experimenters Group will be active from Clifden this year for the international Marconi Day event on the 28th of April using the call EI4IMD. It is hoped to have a portable station set up on the edge of Derrygimlagh bog 600 metres from the original Marconi transmitter site.

On Saturday the 14th of April last, members of The Galway Radio Experimenters Group supported the NUI Galway Mountaineering Club with communications for the Maam Turk Walk. The 106 walkers had a beautiful day with perfect weather and good ground conditions on the 15 mile hike between Maam and Leenane. Thankfully this year there were no injuries. Club members participating were Enda (EI2II), Ronan (EI8HJ), Kieran (EI4FFB), Joe (EI3HM), Nigel (EI9JT), Des (EI5GT), Larry (EI9CN), John (EI8EU) and Tom (EI3ER).


2 Metre Counties Contest

Please note that the deadline for receipt of logs for the 2 metre counties contest on the Easter Bank Holiday weekend is the 9th of May.


Second EmCom Party on the Air

IARU Region 1 invites the HQ-stations of its member societies and stations of special emergency communication groups to participate in the "Second EmCom party on the Air" on Saturday, May the 5th, 2007 at 11.00 - 15.00 UTC. The operation will take place on and near the emergency Center-of-Activity (CoA) frequencies on 40, 20 and 15 meters (+/-QRM). The CoA frequencies on 80 and 17 meters will not be used during this event.

The objective of the party is to increase the common interest among member societies in emergency communication, test how usable the CoA frequencies are across Region 1, and create practices for international emergency communication between Region 1 member societies and special emergency communication groups.

Please keep in mind: This is not a contest - it is an emergency communications exercise!

The protocol is as follows: All traffic during the party will take place in SSB only. IARU Region 1 HQ station will be OF3F in Finland. It will be QRV simultaneously on the three CoA frequencies: 7060, 14300 and 21360 kHz +/- QRM.

During first three hours each participating station will try to contact OF3F and also as many other national HQ and special group stations as possible. During the last hour, (14.00 - 15.00 UTC) these stations will contact only OF3F for reporting. The report should be sent only once, on the band on which communication with OH3F is best. All traffic in the party will happen on SSB.

For creating a more realistic situation, please limit your transmitting power during the exercise to 100 watts. A special value is given to stations operating mobile/portable and/or on emergency power.

Greg Mossop G0DUB has kindly agreed to collect all information and to prepare a final report. Please send your comments and logs to Greg at: “gregm at greg-mossop.co.uk”. The final report will be published in August 2007.

A third EmCom Party is planned for the 17th of November 2007, with new rules and procedures.

More information including the exchange format is on the news page of www.aren.ie


West Tyrone Amateur Radio Club

The West Tyrone Amateur Radio Club will Be Holding a Meeting on the 26th of April at 8.00 p.m. in the Omagh Leisure Centre.

All amateur radio operators and Short Wave Listeners welcome to attend. It is intended to reform the club that had existed in the West Tyrone area for many years. Ultimately it is the intention to raise the profile of the hobby and provide a learning environment for existing Amateurs and those wishing to find out more about the hobby.

For more information, E-mail; “westtyrone_arc at yahoo.co.uk”. Leave your details with Eddie GI7FHZ, Billy GI3NVW or Charlie GI6DCC


Theory Examination

The next Theory Examination for the Experimenters Licence will be held on Thursday the 28th of June next. Places for the examination are limited and will be allocated on a “first come first served” basis. In order to reserve a place for the exam, intending candidates should forward the appropriate fee to Seán Nolan EI7CD, 12 Little Meadow, Pottery Road Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin. The fee is 50 Euro or 25 Euro for full time registered students, those who are retired, are unemployed or have a disability. In addition to the exam centre at the ComReg offices in Dublin, it has now been decided with the agreement of ComReg that an examination should be held on the same date and with the same paper at the Community Centre, Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork. This is to facilitate those at present attending classes for the experimenter licence examination in Cork and Waterford."

The closing date for the examination is the 16th of June and it will be strictly adhered to. Sean EI7CD's address again is 12 Little Meadow, Pottery Road, Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin and it can be found in the call book section of the IRTS website at www.irts.ie Sean's e-mail address for further enquiries is "ei7cd at gofree dot indigo dot ie".


Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be forwarded to Mark Wall, 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 Friday in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following Sunday’s bulletin.

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