Irish Radio Transmitters Society Radio News Bulletin Sunday 24th January 2010 ______________________________________________ IRTS Annual Dinner AV Presentations One of the audio visual presentations being prepared for the Annual Dinner in Dundalk in April will feature the Islands on the Air Contest. Individuals or Groups who have still photos or video of last years contest and who would like them to be considered for inclusion should forward them to Seamus EI8BP. In particular, Seamus is anxious to feature all the Island expeditions. ______________________________________________ Engineers Week Last year the Society hosted a presentation entitled “Decoding the Code – from Samuel Morse to SMS” at seven centres throughout the country. The presentation introduced over four hundred school children to radio and electronics and allowed them to have hands-on experience of building a simple transistor circuit. This year the Society is taking part with an expanded list of venues. We are currently looking for volunteers to help in the Cavan / Monaghan area. A knowledge of Morse is not necessary and a pre-prepared package is available to those who volunteer. If you are interested please contact Séamus McCague EI8BP on 087 259 0691. His Email address is on the IRTS website, www.irts.ie Engineer’s week runs from 8 – 13 February this year. ______________________________________________ IRTS 80m Counties Contest The closing date for the submission of logs is the 31st of January Please send in your logs even if only a few QSO's to contestmanager /at/ irts.ie ______________________________________________ Dundalk Amateur Radio Society This year during the SOS Radio Week 23-27 January Members of the Dundalk Society will be operating a special event station from the QTH of the Clubs Chairman, Thos EI2JD in Clogherhead SOS Radio week is awareness and support of the RNLI, There is a list available of participating stations and also more information can be found at http://www.sosradioweek.org.uk/participants.html ______________________________________________ Nomination of Awards for IRTS Trophies. The time is here again for nominations for the several awards for IRTS trophies that are required from within the membership, this includes the awards for 1)Service to the Society, or to amateur radio. Awards in this section may be to members or non-members. 2)Awards for other achievements, awards in this section include, the 70 cms trophy, the 4 and 6 Metre shields, the SWL award, and the awards for quality construction projects. These are confined to members only. When considering your nominations please refer to previous successful nominees as included in www.irts.ie/cgi/awards.cgi Nominations may be from Clubs or individuals, must be in writing, and can be forwarded to the awards committee by regular post addressed to Peter Grant EI4HX, QTHR or by email to ei4hxperimental /at/ eircom.net Chair of awards committee or any other member of the awards committee. Pat EI2HX or Pat EI9HX. Closing date for nominations is April 2nd 2010 ______________________________________________ Request for Return of Trophies presented in 2009 It is time once again to recall all trophies presented at the 2009 AGM in Athlone. Trophies and cups can be returned to the IRTS stand at the Phoenix Radio Rally, or to any IRTS Committee Member to arrive to me on or before the IRTS committee meeting in early March 2010. This will allow time for engraving to be done, and also any small repairs. ______________________________________________ AREN Meeting There will be an AREN Meeting in the Park Hotel in Clonmel on 6th February; all AREN members are requested to attend. Anyone interested in AREN activities or ware thinking of joining AREN should contact John Ronan on 086-8167310 then can arrive on the day. ______________________________________________ Calling All Radio Theory Experts A new website is under construction to offer radio theory classes in an online environment. The project has been set up by Martin EI-8-FFB. The website will consist of an online learning environment where the various radio theory sections will be broken down into modules. The motive for the website is to allow people who may be constrained by time and distance to participate in a radio theory course at their own pace and in their own time. Once the website is completed later in the year, It will be available online free of charge to all prospective radio amateurs. The project currently requires volunteers that are interested in compiling theory notes and documents for use on the website. If anyone has any course notes of their own that they wish to submit, it is welcome also. All interested parties can contact Martin by email at "martinevans at gmail dot com" ______________________________________________ The Shannon Basin Radio Club The Shannon Basin Radio Club recently held its AGM in Roscommon. The following Committee was selected. Chairman Pat EI9HX, Secretary Brian EI8IU, Treasurers Fergus EI6IB and Brian EI8IU, QSL manager Mickey EI5EAB. Thanks are extended to the outgoing committee. Anybody interested in joining the club can contact any of the above members, all info on qrz.com. ______________________________________________ Space shuttles for sale The New York Times reports that NASA has slashed the price of its shuttles to just 20.3m Euro. There are only five remaining shuttle missions during 2010 and NASA is looking to dispose of the spacecraft. Discovery is going to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum while Atlantis and the Endeavour are up for sale. The delivery date is given as the second half of 2011 and shuttle main engines are said to be available for the cost of transportation and handling. ______________________________________________ Galway VHF Group. The Galway VHF Group's APRS Digipeater, EI2GCP, has now been fully functional since before Christmas. Initial problems occurred when the power supply failed and put the equipment off air. The power supply was replaced and there have been no problems in the last 6 weeks despite the adverse weather conditions. EI2GCP even "twitters" at intervals to indicate that all is well voltage and temperature wise. Steve, EI5DD, is running classes for the Radio Theory examination and anyone interested should contact Steve at the following E-mail address ei5dd.steve /at/ gmail.com. The course will run until the next scheduled exam in June or July. There will be lectures with overhead projections, handouts and also a CD Rom for home study and revision. ______________________________________________ SOUNDS OF SPACE WEBSITE Matthias DD1US has an extensive collection of sounds from manned and unmanned space exploration including amateur radio operations on his website. This includes historic recordings like Sputnik 1 and Apollo 11. There is even a page devoted to clips of Amateur Radio satellites from Oscar 1 to Oscar 68. The sounds of space website is located at www.dd1us.de ______________________________________________ 1mw WSPR Roger G3XBM has been trying to break the 1000 km barrier with his 1 milliwatt 500 kHz station and on Wednesday January 20 he succeeded. Lubos OK2BVG in JN88ks managed to hear the 1mW ERP signal at a distance of 1229kms. ______________________________________________ Rallies The Mid Ulster Amatuer Radio Club’s January Radio Sale will be held on Saturday the 30th January 2010 from 11am at Brownlow Resource Centre, Brownlow Road, Craigavon. Entrance fee is a £1 with a free tea/coffee to warm up with. This is a Radio Sale the actual Club Rally is being Held in May. Phoenix A.R.C Rally 14th February The Rally will be held as usual at Coolmine Community School near Blanchardstown on Sunday 14th February 2010.Doors open from 9am to 2.30pm. Usual traders will be present and to encourage a real Amateur Radio orientated Rally bring and buy tables will be free of charge. For tables contact Tony at 087-2349997 or Tom at 01-8211043 this is the first rally of the New Year and usually a very enjoyable occasion. Refreshments and plenty of car parking are available Limerick Radio Club Radio, Electronics & Hobbies Fair The Radio, Electronics & Hobbies Fair takes place on Sunday 7th March 2010 at the Radisson SAS Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick. Doors Open at 11:00 AM. Admission is 5 Euro. No charge for children when accompanied by an adult. There will be the usual traders attending the Fair. A Bring & Buy Sale will also take place. Dundalk Rally 25th April The Rally will commence at 11.00am, followed by the IRTS AGM at 2.00pm. Further details for booking, traders tables or any other info please e-mail the following, Thos EI2JD chairman /at/ ei7dar.com or Peter EI4HX secretary /at/ ei7dar.com Lagan Valley ARS Rally 20th March The Lagan Valley ARS Rally will be held at 11.30am in The Village Centre, Hillsborough Contact: Jim Henry, GI0DVU on 048 9266 2270 Mid Ulster Radio Club Rally 29th May This year the Rally will be held at Drumgor Youth Centre, Drumgor heights, Craigavon. More details will be available closer to the time. If interested in booking a table for the event or for more information, please go to www.muarc.com or contact 0044(0)2838348451. For more information on Rallies please check the IRTS Website. ______________________________________________ This week in History 1904 The first military experiments with radio at the Eiffel Tower took place by French Army. 1911 First Monte Carlo Motor Rally begins. 1912 First Act to Regulate Radio Communication in the USA. ______________________________________________ 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.