Irish Radio Transmitters Society Radio News Bulletin Sunday 10th May 2009 ______________________________________________ Silent Key It is with regret that we announce the recent death of Pat Tobin, EI7FT. Pat was an active member of the North Dublin Radio Club in the past although he was not active in recent times. Pat's xyl Margaret was also licensed. May he rest in peace. ______________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________ 500 kHz Permissions In the Radio News on 19th and 26th April we sought expressions of interest in a limited number of permissions to operate in the region of 500 kHz under a licence to be issued to IRTS. The expressions of interest which we have received together with and application by IRTS for the necessary licence have been submitted to ComReg. We would hope to have a decision on this matter in the near future. Some form of access to frequencies around 500 kHz has been granted to amateur stations in the UK, USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and the Czech Republic. With the exception of Belgium all of the other administrations have issued a limited number of licences. We have sought the frequency band 501 to 504 kHz with a power of 10 dBW ERP (10 Watts0 which is the same as is available in the UK. IARU Societies worldwide are seeking some access to 500 kHz in support of Agenda item 1.23 on the provisional agenda for WRC-11 which is to consider an allocation of bout 15 kHz in parts of the band 415-526.5 kHz to the Amateur service on a secondary basis, taking into account the need to protect existing services. ______________________________________________ Lifetime Licences We understand that letters in relation to the lifetime licence are being issued to licensees by ComReg. The lifetime licence will be an Amateur Radio Licence and will be valid for the lifetime of the licensee. Current licences which have a renewal date on or after 1 June of this year will receive a lifetime licence on payment of a once off fee of €30 on receipt of an invoice. Licences with a renewal date before 1 June must be renewed under the existing process by payment of the €10 fee on receipt of the usual invoice. These licensees will become eligible for a lifetime licence at the renewal date in 2010. All new licences will be subject to a once off fee of €100 with a reduction to €30 for those who are 65 years or over on the date of application and for those in receipt of a disability pension. Licensees need not take any action on foot of these letters until an invoice, which should be paid within the normal time limit, is received from ComReg. ______________________________________________ SOTA Amateur Radio and Hill walking The Summits on the Air (SOTA) "International Weekend" took place over the first weekend in May. This event resulted in 150 summits in 19 countries being activated over the 2-day period. The busiest bands for SOTA QSOs were 40 metres and 2 metres, but other HF and VHF bands were also in use, with one group operating on 3 centimetres (10 GHz). Most of the activity was on European mountains, although one of the summits activated was Slide Mountain, the highest peak in the Catskills mountain range in New York State. Joe EI7GY was on Tonlagee in County Wicklow, operating mainly on 40 metres CW. His contacts included summits in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Scotland. Fred GI4MWA was on Slievemartin in the Mourne Mountains. Summits on the Air is an award scheme for radio amateurs and shortwave listeners that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas. You can find out more about SOTA at www.qsl.net/sotaei or www.sota.org.uk ______________________________________________ IRTS AGM Photos Brendan Nutley EI1429 has uploaded a great selection of photos from our recent AGM. These photos can be viewed on Brendan’s site which is www.mayoprintlab.com ______________________________________________ South East Amateur Radio Group South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will participate in the Geoparks Communication Weekend over the 23rd and 24th of May 2009. The event is part of European Geoparks Week and SEARG will air the callsign EI2GEO from Tankardstown, Bonmahon, Co. Waterford which lies on the Copper Coast Geopark. The event is organised by GB6GEO which will be based in the English Riviera Global Geopark and a number of stations based at Geoparks around the world will participate in the event. The following are frequencies likely to be in use by Geopark stations; 3.680MHz, 7.080MHz, 14.180MHz, 21.180MHz, and 28.180MHz. For latest information, visit www.searg.com. ______________________________________________ Radio News From Mayo The IRTS news Bulletin is transmitted each Sunday evening from County Mayo, on four frequencies simultaneously. Listeners can tune it at 8.00pm local time to the Mayo 2mt repeater on 145.600. The broadcast is also available on the following simplex frequencies: 51.450 FM on the 6mt. band, 70.375 FM on the four mt. band and on 433.450 on the 70cms. band. Call-ins are handled on a band by band basis at the end of the news bulletin. The newsreaders are John, EI7IQ, Padraic EI9JA and Jimmy Ei2GCB. The technical manager for the project is Dominic, EI9JS. ______________________________________________ Limerick Radio Club The next meeting of the Club takes place on Thursday 14th May at the Limerick Institute of Technology at 19:30. Tom O’Sullivan EI3AL will give a lecture on Amateur Satellite Operating. All those interested are invited to attend ______________________________________________ South Dublin Radio Club The Scheduled talk at SDR for this week has been deferred until a later date. The clubs website is southdublinradioclub dot ie which has directions and meeting locations. ______________________________________________ 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.