Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 28th December 2008
Silent Key – Fr Padraic O’Kelly
We regret to announce the death of Fr Padraic O’Kelly EI5DA who died Saturday 27th December at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick. Padraic was a long-time member of both the Dundalk Amateur Radio Society and the Limerick Radio Club. He was a brother of the late Eoin O’Kelly EI6BX – former president of the IRTS 1972-1975.
Padraic will be buried in his home parish of Tullyallen. Funeral arrangements to be announced later.
Ar dheis De go raibh a Anam Dilis
Webmaster Wanted
The role of the IRTS web site includes keeping members informed about local and international amateur radio activities, encouraging members to continue their membership and motivating potential members to join, promoting the activities of radio experimenters and the hobby of amateur radio.
Being a single source of information on matters of interest to Irish radio experimenters which would include, for example, club activities, contest results, repeater frequencies, band plans and forthcoming rallies.
The job of the Webmaster is to maintain and develop the web site so that it fulfils this role in an interesting and accessible way. IRTS is looking for applications for the position of Webmaster. Like all of the society’s officer positions, this is a voluntary position.
Members interested in being appointed Webmaster should indicate their interest to the society’s president Finbarr Buckley EI1CS (buckleyf1 /at/ eircom.net) and demonstrate their web skills by supplying links to web sites or web pages which they have developed.
EI DXCC Listing
The ARRL DXCC is awarded to amateurs who submit confirmations for contacts with 100 or more entities on the ARRL DXCC List. More than 40 EI radio experimenters participate in the DXCC programme, and many of them have received the award for a number of modes and bands.
The most sought-after section of the DXCC awards programme is the "Honor Roll", which requires confirmation for contacts with at least 329 current DXCC entities. There are five EI call signs in the Honor Roll at present.
An updated list of EI call signs in ARRL's DXCC listings is now available on the IRTS web site at www.irts.ie/dxcc
80 metres Counties Contest
A reminder that the IRTS 80 metres counties contest takes place on Thursday next, 1st January, from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC.
Full rules for this contest are available at www.irts.ie/rules Note in particular the frequencies for this contest: CW 3.510-3.560 MHz; SSB 3.600-3.650 and 3.700-3.775 MHz
Emergency broadcast
On the 16th December at 4.45am the Department of Communications carried out a structured exercise in relation to the broadcast of emergency services. This exercise was part of the Government's commitment to emergency planning. Early that morning, all television and radio channels carried a 30-second engineering test simultaneously across Ireland.
The four terrestrial broadcasters, regional broadcasters, all national radio channels and the 25 local radio stations carried an announcement indicating that an engineering test was being conducted and that normal programming would resume at the end of the test. The exercise was designed to simulate an urgent requirement of the Government and/or the emergency services to have access to radio and TV broadcast platforms in a short time scale in order to broadcast to the public.
The Government Task Force on Emergency Planning considers that in the event of an emergency, broadcast media will be the most efficient vehicle for the transmission of emergency messages to the public. This is the first time such an exercise has ever been carried out in Ireland. It was also the first time that Government Buildings has been used to distribute a message to virtually every broadcast entity in the State.
AREN Mobile Command Post
AREN have received a donation of a two-axle trailer. Currently, this trailer requires refurbishment to be commissioned as a Mobile Command Post. Once refurbished and equipped it is planned that the trailer will be useable for any event requiring AREN Communications. Of course there is also potential for the Mobile Command Post to be used for, public relations and education.
At present there are many tasks that need to be completed prior to commissioning, with lots of jobs, small and not-so-small, needing to be done. It is hoped that this will be completed and commissioned in early 2009.
The project manager is Conor EI4JN, please contact Conor directly if you have some voluntary time available to work on the project, or if you are in a position to donate any other resources that could be used. Conor has a list of outstanding jobs that need to be completed and can be contacted by email at ei4jn /at/ aren.ie or +353877993085.
Amateur Tube
The amateur radio site www.cqtube.com is back active again after some technical problems, there are some interesting audio and video files available.
DX News
Escape2Adventure 9-14 January 2009
The 14th Australian Venture, 'Escape', will take place in January and Amateur Radio will be a part of it.
It is a major National youth event of the Venturer section (14-18 years old) of Scouts Australia. Venturers and Guides from all over Australia and around the world will be taking part.
The Amateur Radio Shack will be on-air from Friday 9th January until Wednesday 14th January 2009 using the callsign VK6SAA
Operation will be on HF will be on or near the Scout Calling Frequencies:
3.650 and 3.790 DX, 7.090, 14.190 or 14.290, 21.190, 28.590, 52.160
Sked can be arranged via email: vk6scouts at westnet.com.au
Rallies
15th February 2009 Coolmine Radio Rally,
The Coolmine Radio Rally, run by the Phoenix Radio Club will be held in the Coolmine Community School, Clonsilla Dublin 15 on Sunday 15th February 2009. Doors open 9.30 am for table bookings and information please contact Tony 087-2439997 or Tom 01-8211043 See map on www.coolminecs.ie/locationmap.php
This week in History
1900 Fessenden is claimed to be first to transmit sound of the human voice without wires.
1906 Fessenden transmits voice and music on Alexanderson alternator.
1947 Transistor invented at Bell Telephone Labs. USA
Season’s Greetings
Thank you to all our contributors and participants in the IRTS Radio news, especially to those of you who may receive the news via SWL or the Internet. Season’s greetings from all at the IRTS Radio news and best wishes for 2009.
Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be forwarded to Charlie EI8JB, via e-mail to “charlie dot Carolan at gmail dot com” Or by phone to 087-6265418
News can also be submitted via e-mail to “newsteam 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 Thursday in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following Sunday’s bulletin.
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