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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 31st March 2013


IRTS AGM, Dinner and Radio Rally

This year the 81st IRTS AGM is hosted by Shannon Basin Radio Club. The event takes place in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel in Athlone, Saturday April 27th and Sunday April 28th 2013. Tickets for the Dinner on Saturday night (8.00 for 8.30pm) will be available at 30 Euro each from Brian EI8IU QTHR and through IRTS Committee Members. Dress code, as usual, is smart/casual. Menu details is available from the IRTS website. Please visit www.irts.ie for more details.


Return of IRTS Awards & Trophies

If you have not returned your trophy which were presented at last years IRTS, AGM, time is running out. Important engraving needs to be done on the trophies. All trophies and cups must be returned to any IRTS committee member and or contact Peter EI4HX, email ei4hxperimental/at eircom/dot/net.


Youngsters On The Air

During the summer of 2013, a youth radio camp "Youngsters On The Air" will be held near Tartu, Estonia from 5-12 August. There will be 10 teams participating from different European member associations of IARU R1. The camp is organised by the Estonian Radio Amateurs Union. During this week teams of young radio amateurs from 10 different European countries will be participating in different activities: presentations, Contests, visiting radio stations, observatory, etc. Young operators or SWL's aged between 14-25, are being sought to represent Ireland, and should contact Ger McNamara, IRTS Youth Co-ordinator on 087 2532512 or by email to ei4gxb /at/ gmail.com

As two previous events in Romania and Belgium/Netherlands have shown, it will be a great experience for the young hams which they will never forget.


Dundalk Amateur Radio Society, EI7DAR

Dundalk ARS held it’s bi-monthly meeting on Wednesday 20th March and played host to Graeme – MI0WGM from Mid-Ulster ARC and Philip Hosey – MI0MSO, Region 8 Manager for the RSGB. Graeme gave a presentation covering all aspects of SOTA – Summits on the Air. All members enjoyed the presentation and there were many questions and discussion. The evening rounded off with a short talk from Philip who outlined his role and affirmed his commitment to continue to foster strong links between clubs in GI and EI and between the RSGB and IRTS.


CQ WW SSB DX Contest 2012 Results

Congratulations to the East Cork Group EI7M on their magnificent performance in winning Europe in the 2012 CQWW SSB Contest held last October and they also finished fifth in the world. This is a just reward for the group who have gradually built their station and operator expertise over a twenty year period to finally emerge at the top of a very competitive battle in last years contest. They had two million points to spare over their great rivals of recent years, the top Austrian station E7DX, with OM8A close behind in third place. The winning team was John EI8IR, Neil EI3JE, Dan EI3JZ, Mark EI4KD, Enda EI2II and Pete G4CLA. This is the first time an EI station has won Europe and we wish them well in defending their title next October.

There were thirty other EI stations listed in the results, another record entry. The Shannon Basin Club had two members with outstanding performances. In the 80 metres high power section, Pat EI9HX finished in second place, only narrowly missing out on a big win. Niall EI4CF also had a good second place finish in the 40 metres low power assisted section. In the single operator low power all bands section, Olivier EI1A put in a great performance to finish in 5th place.

The following new EI records were broken: Low Power All Bands by Olivier EI1A. 10 metres QRP by Bernard EI4II. 10 metres assisted high power by Adam EI5JQ. 15 metres assisted high power by Doug EI2CN. 40 metres low power assisted by Niall EI4CF. Congratulations to all involved.


Cork Radio Club

Cork Radio Club’s March meeting had a very entertaining presentation from Dave Deane EI9FBB on his recent trip to Uganda with the French DXpedition Group who operated 5X8C from the edge of Lake Victoria. His powerpoint presention gave a detailed report on the radio set up a very interesting look at life

Congratulations also to Dave who recently became the first EI to qualify for the CW 5 Band Worked All Zones. Tim EI2KA is team leader for the clubs planned outing to Brow Head in West Cork for the International Marconi Day on April 20th. Anyone interested in attending should contact Tim.


Bangor & District ARS Rally

The BDARS Annual Rally is on 6th July this year in the usual venue of Donaghadee Community Centre, Donaghadee, County Down, BT21 0HB – Doors open at 11:30.


First of Its Kind in Ireland

This June there will be a new conference taking place on the Waterford/Tipperary border. It is a technology conference unlike traditional radio events up until now. It is modelled on similar events run in the UK and across Europe. Along with including Amateur Radio, it also includes talks and workshops on all sorts of technology such as computers & electronics. There will be an amateur radio station operating during the weekend and there will be attendees from all over Ireland with some even coming from Belfast.

There is an open call at the moment for anyone who would like to give a talk, demonstration, workshop or other interesting event on any aspect of technology. More information and tickets are available on the website: www.hackerspaces.ie/


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The next monthly meeting of the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take place in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford on Monday the 29th April at 8.30 p.m. The meeting will be preceded by a committee meeting at 8.00 pm sharp and as always new members are very welcome. At this meeting Michael EI7GH will give a talk and demonstration on how to construct homebrew traps and tune to desired frequency using an analyser. This demonstration is open to attend for members and non-members also. For up-to-date news about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and it’s actives you can check our website www.searg.com and you can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter


Lough Erne Rally Thanks

Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club wishes to thank everyone who played a part in the success of its thirty second rally on Sunday past, 24 March.


DX News

A German group will be active from Samoa from 4 – 18 April. They will use the callsign 5W0M and be on all bands 80 – 6m. QSLs go via DL4SVA.

Rob N7QT will be QRV from St Lucia in the Caribbean from 5 – 16 April. He will sign J6/N7QT and be joined by Frans J69DS. They aim to use battery power and lightweight antennas.

Chris GM3WOJ and Keith GM4YXI are operating as VK9CZ on Cocos Keeling until 13 April. They are active on all bands 160 – 10m using SSB, CW and some RTTY. QSL manager is N3SL and logs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World.

Haru JA1XGI will be on Pohnpei Island in Micronesia signing V63XG from 3 – 11 April. Operation will be mainly CW on all bands 160 – 6m with the focus on 30, 12 and 17m.


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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