Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 27th May 2012
Licence Examination
There are just over two weeks left in which to apply to sit the next Amateur Station Licence Examination which will be held on Thursday 28th June at 2 p.m. in the ComReg Offices in Dublin. The closing date for entries is Thursday 14 June. Full details, including entry procedure, examination fee and how to pay the fee online are available by clicking on the Licence Exam button on the IRTS homepage at www.irts.ie Places for the examination are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis. Please note that it is necessary to download the application form from the web page and forward the completed form and the appropriate fee in order to secure a place for the examination. If you pay the fee on line you must still complete and forward the application form. Please note over half the available places for this examination have already been allocated.
Change in 40 Metre News Frequency
The present 40 metre radio news frequency has become increasingly busier on Sunday mornings. This has lead on occasions to some difficulty in the reception of both the bulletins and the reports on the transmissions. It has been decided, therefore, to move the transmission of the 40 metre news to a new frequency of 7123 kHz on and from Sunday the 1st of July. This frequency was selected after monitoring a range of frequencies over a period of time by amateurs who use this particular transmission of the radio news bulletin.
Field Day Contests
Next weekend - Saturday and Sunday, 2nd and 3rd June - the first of the year's field day contests takes place, with CW field day, which runs from 15:00 UTC on Saturday to 15:00 on Sunday. The IRTS CW Field Day contest coincides with similar contests in other European countries, so there should be no shortage of QSOs. While the emphasis in these contests is on portable operation, fixed station QSOs are welcome. See www.irts.ie/contests for more information on this and other contests. As previously announced, there are some rule changes this year - these are highlighted in the contest rules.
The Field Day series of contests continues in July with VHF/UHF Field Day, while HF SSB Field Day takes place in September.
Official Launch of the Craggy Island DXpedition Group
The Galway VHF Group will be officially launching of the Craggy Island DXpedition Group using the new callsign EI0TED. The launch will take place this weekend, on Sunday the 27th of May, at the Craggy Island Parochial House which is actually located in the Burren, County Clare. A H.F. Station will be in operation between 11:00 am and 3pm on 80, 40 and possibly 20 metres. Afternoon Tea and buns have been booked for the operators and guests courtesy of “Mrs. Doyle”. Please find time to QSY to 3680 KHz after the IRTS news where we will take calls before QSYing to 40 metres for the rest of the afternoon. A special QSL card will be produced to mark this occasion.
Later this year there will be a number of operations from Offshore Islands round the coast of Ireland. EI3IS is an experienced kayaker and hopes to activate some of the more inaccessible islands with no landing facilities and due to the mode of transport many of these operations will be QRP. This should not present a major problem if the band conditions are reasonable. Check out the News section of www.galwayvhfgroup.com where up to date announcements of our operations may be found current EI0TED / EJ0TED operations may also be found on QRZ.COM.
Louth Erne Amateur Radio Club
Ofcom, the UK regulator, have approved a transatlantic 2m beacon testing for contact from Fermanagh to North America. Full details can be viewed on www.learc.eu
DX News
A group of Italians recently operated very successfully from Somalia as 6O0CW. For those of you who missed them there is another chance to work Somalia until 30 May when Darko E70A will be QRV as 6O3A. He is QRV on all bands plus 6m. QSLs go via K2PF or E77E
Bill KX4WW and Noll W9RN will be visiting the Turks and Caicos Islands from 31 May until 7 June. They will sign VP5/home call and will be active on all bands 160 – 6m.
For those not travelling to the EURO 2012 games in Poland and Ukraine there is the opportunity to chase the various special event stations which are active from now until 5 July. A number of new prefixes can be worked and details can be found on sq2rh.idsl.pl/efc/
Still on a soccer theme look out for Sergey Rebrov UT5UDX who is in Jamaica at present signing 6Y3W in the CQ WPX CW Contest. Outside the contest he will sign 6Y/UT5UDX and will be there until 30 May. QSL via RA4LW.
North Cork Radio Group
With the success of Last weekends’ Cashota activity from Barryscourt Castle, North Cork Radio Group in conjunction with CASHOTA Ireland are pleased to inform of another award level event for Cashota chasers.
EI1NC/P will be active on Monday 4th of June from Charles Fort in Kinsale, Ref : EI018/C. Charles Fort was declared a National Monument in 1973. William Robinson, architect of the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, Dublin, and Superintendent of Fortifications, is credited with designing the fort. As one of the largest military installations in the country, Charles Fort has been associated with some of the most momentous events in Irish history. The most significant of these are the Williamite War 1689-91 and the Civil War 1922-23.
Further information on the CASHOTA Ireland award program can be obtained from cashota-ireland.org/ also nota that all Irish Castles are also valid towards Cashota Uk awards at www.cashota.co.uk
Items for inclusion in next week’s Radio News can be
submitted via e-mail to “newsteam /at/ irts / dot / ie” for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. Urgent news items for the radio news maybe telephoned to the radio news editor, Aidan, EI7JC on 085 7100511.
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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