Irish Radio Transmitters Society
Radio News Bulletin
Sunday 26th April 2009

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IRTS AGM

This is the IRTS AGM weekend, which is hosted by the
Shannon Basin Radio Club. The weekend started Friday
evening with the Annual Dinner and continues with the
Rally which is currently being held and the AGM which
will follow this afternoon.

The venue is the Shamrock Lodge Hotel Athlone, which
boasts ample car parking space and the best facilities
around. The call in frequency will be 145.350.
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'500 kHz Permissions

Arising from our meeting on 12 February, ComReg has
agreed to allow IRTS to seek expressions of interest
for a limited number of permissions to operate in the
region of 500 kHz under a licence to be issued to IRTS.

Expressions of interest are being sought equally from
both non IRTS and IRTS members. Stations to which
permissions are issued will have to send regular
reports to IRTS consisting of their experience of
propagation, type of propagation used, noise
experienced and methodology used on this band so that
these can be coordinated and periodic reports submitted
to ComReg.

Participants will be expected to keep a separate full
detailed log of all experiments conducted.

It should be noted that only a relatively small number
of permissions will be granted and expressions of
interest should only be made by those in a position to
carry out realistic propagation experiments in this
part of the spectrum.

An form on which to submit to IRTS an expression of
interest is available on the IRTS website at
www.irts.ie The final decision on the issue of permits
will of course rest with ComReg as the statutory
licensing authority.
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Theory Examination

The next Theory Examination for the Experimenters
licence will be held on Tuesday the 30th of June at
2p.m. in the ComReg Offices in Dublin and in
Carrigtwohill Co. Cork.

An exam could be held at another centre at the same
time and date should the numbers warrant it. Places for
the examination will be allocated on a first come first
served basis and will only be reserved on receipt of
the examination fee.

Intending candidates should forward the appropriate fee
to Sean Nolan EI7CD, 12 Little Meadow, Pottery
Road,Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin in order to reserve a
place for the exam. The fee is 50 Euro or 25 Euro for
full-time registered students, repeat candidates and
those who are retired, unemployed or have a disability.
Cheques and Money Orders should be made payable to the
IRTS. When forwarding the exam fee intending candidates
should enclose their postal address as well as phone
and e-mail contact details.

The closing date for applications to sit the
examination, which will be strictly enforced, is Monday
the 15th of June. Intending candidates should note that
anyone who fails to produce a photo identity on day of
the examination would not be allowed to sit the
examination.

The photo ID can be a driving licence, a passport, an
employment photo identity card or a student card
containing a photograph. A national Gardai photo ID
would also be acceptable. Sean EI7CD’s address can also
be found in the IRTS call book or in the call book
section of the IRTS website at www.irts.ie . Sean's
e-mail address for any further enquiries is"ei7cd at
gofree dot indigo dot ie" Also available on the 'Where
Do I Start' section of the IRTS website are Examination
Notes with a sample examination paper as well as a link
to the ComReg's Experimenter Pages which contain some
very useful data under Licensing Information.

Also in the Radio Theory Links section on the website
is some very useful information for those studying for
the examination.

The examination consists of a question paper of
60multiple-choice questions divided into three main
sections A, B and C and the time allowed is two hours.

The pass mark is 60% and a pass is required in each of
the three main sections of the paper. We wish all
intending candidates the best of luck in the
examination.
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SOTA Amateur Radio and Hillwalking

Those who want to combine amateur radio with
hillwalking can get involved in the Summits On The Air
("SOTA") programme. SOTA is a bit like IOTA, with hills
and mountains replacing islands. It is designed to
encourage portable operation in mountainous areas, and
there are awards for activators, who ascend to the
summits, and chasers, who either operate from home, a
local hilltop or are activators on other summits.

More than 20 countries are currently involved in the
SOTA programme, including Ireland - North and South.
There are 387 eligible summits in EI (of which more
than 50 have been activated) and 66 eligible summits in
GI (of which 36 have been activated). More details,
including a list of eligible summits and a lot more,
can be found at www.qsl.net/sotaei and at
www.sota.org.uk

With a view to encouraging more SOTA activity, an
International SOTA Weekend is to be held on Saturday
2nd and Sunday 3rd May 2009, which is next weekend. It
is hoped that this event will see many summit-to-summit
contacts between different SOTA associations, and give
chasers the chance to work activators from several
different DXCC entities.
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6-metre Guyana Dxpedition

The 6 Meter Beacon Project, Inc., is happy to
announce a HF-50 MHz DXpedition to Guyana between
June 16th and July 6th.

Antennas for 6 meters will be a 6M7JHV yagi at 45 ft.
on the Atlantic Ocean pointed towards EU and NA, and
using a 3CPX800A7 amp.

Activity will be split between two teams: 11 days will
be by Chris W3CMP and Dave N3DB, the other 11 days by
Terry K4RX and Ken AC4TO.

They hope to get some decent openings to, amongst other
places, Northern EU, 5B/4X and W6/W7. They expect to
have Internet access most of the time.

Operating frequencies and Web site will be announced at
a later date.
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South Dublin Radio Club

Upcoming talks at South Dublin Radio Club

28th April Television production techniques Jim
Holohan EI4HH

11th May “Logbook of the World” & EQSL.cc Dave
Court EI3IO

The clubs website is southdublinradioclub dot ie which
has directions and meeting locations.
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North Dublin Radio Club

North Dublin Radio Club EI0NDR, are running theory
classes for those wishing to sit the Radio
Exterminators Licensing Exam. For details email Tony
ei6eqb at tonyfay /at/ eircom.net
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Rallies

More information on Rallies can be found on the IRTS
website www.irts.ie/rallies
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History this week

1900 Marconi International Marine Communication Company
Ltd. formed.

1900 Marconi Patent 7777 for tuned coupled circuits.
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Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be
forwarded to Charlie EI8JB, preferably 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.