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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 28th January 2018


IRTS Awards

The IRTS Awards Committee is seeking nominations for “Awards for Services to the Society or to Amateur Radio” and “Awards to IRTS members for Other Achievements”.

Details of these Awards are available at www.irts.ie under the Awards section.

Nominations should reach the Awards Manager Jim Holohan EI4HH, email “holohaj2 /at/ hotmail /dot/ com”, as soon as possible.


QSL Outwards Manager

Important reminder that Tony Baldwin EI8JK is stepping aside as QSL Outwards Manager after many years of sterling service. The Society is indebted to him for all his work and sends him sincerest thanks.

Dave O'Connor EI6AL has agreed to take up the position in addition to his many other commitments to IRTS. Full contact details are on the QSLs page which is to be found under Services on the IRTS web site.


Morse Tests

Reminder that Morse testing will be held at the Phoenix Radio Club Rally at the Coolmine Community School on Sunday February 11th starting at 1100.

Places can be booked by contacting Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574 or by email to “ei4bz /at/ eircom /dot/ net”.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The January meeting of SEARG will take place on Monday the 29th of January 2018 in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford at 8.00 p.m. sharp. At this meeting Keith EI5KJ will be doing a show and tell on working amateur radio satellites. Everyone welcome

The 2018 AGM of the group will take place on Monday the 26th of February 2018 in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford at 8.00 p.m. sharp. As this is the most important meeting of the year for the group all members are please asked to attend. New members or anyone interested in the hobby are very welcome to come along also.

For anyone that wishes to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and their activities you can come along to any of their meetings. You can check out their website www.searg.ie and you can also join them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.


EI100MCV

EI100MCV is the call sign that has been issued by ComReg to the Maritime Museum Radio Club in Dúnlaoghaire for the year 2018. The call sign which includes the letters of the original call sign ‘MCV’of the RMS Leinster is to commemorate the Centenary of the sinking of the RMS Leinster in the Irish Sea on 10 October 1918 just a month before the end of World War 1. This was, and still is, the single largest loss of life in the Irish Sea with a total of 567 people lost. The ship was torpedoed by a U Boat just 25 kilometres off the Irish coast. To add to the tragedy the U Boat involved was sunk two weeks later with the loss of all thirty six crew. All were very young with the oldest being just 27 years old.

The call sign can be used throughout the year 2018 by all members of the Maritime Museum Radio Club as well as by any other licensed EI amateur radio operator who would like to commemorate this historic centenary. The event will be coordinated by Dave O’Connor EI6AL who has acted in this capacity for many similar events, most recently the Wild Atlantic Way initiative.

Operators who wish to use the call sign should contact Dave at dave.ei6al /at/ gmail.com Anyone who operates the call must forward an ADIF log by email to Dave EI6AL. Dave will maintain a master log and will do the necessary upload to Clublog. We hope that many operators will avail of the opportunity to use this unique call sign and give extensive coverage to this important centenary.


St Patrick's Day

In Ireland we traditionally celebrate St Patrick's Day on the 17th March. But with radio we go world wide by getting on air following the time zones as people celebrate across the globe from 12 noon on 16th March till 12 noon on the 18th March. So why not take part in this fun e-award and help turn the bands green for St Patrick's Day.

For more information go to stpatrickaward.webs.com


New DXCC Entity

Following an amendment to the rules of ARRL's DXCC awards programme, the Republic of Kosovo (Z6) has been added to the DXCC list of current entities, increasing the total number of current DXCC entities to 340. The addition of Kosovo raises to 331 the required number of current entities confirmed to qualify for DXCC Honor Roll. Coinciding with this change, the Amateur Radio Association of Kosovo is hosting a tenth anniversary activation celebrating Kosovo's independence, using the call sign Z6ØA; several EI stations are already in the log.


MREN

Mayo Radio Experimenters next meeting is on Wednesday 7th February 2018 at 9.30pm in the Breaffy House Hotel, Breaffy.

Activities for 2018 will be discussed. Domnic EI9JS will demonstrate some digital modes with particular emphasis on FT8, the mode that is most popular at the moment!

Throughout the year the club holds monthly competition for the members to participate in, each month has a different activity, scores for each month are accumulated at the end of each year and the winner is announced.

The competition was revised for this year going forward and digi-modes are included for October and November. Domnic EI9JS was the winner for 2017.

New members or anyone interested in learning more about amateur radio or intending sitting the HAREC examination is as always very welcome to attend.

Some MREN members will attend the Phoenix Amateur Radio Club rally which takes place on 11th February in Coolmine Community School, Dublin, on their table there will be a selection of recycled junk ( useful equipment ) and other radio related equipment. More information please look at the for sale page of the club website www.ei7mre.org

For anyone that wishes to find out more about the Mayo Radio Experimenters and their activities you can come along to any of their meetings. You can check out their website www.ei7mre.org, also you can join them on Facebook.

If you require more information about the club please contact the club secretary Brendan EI6IZ at QTHR or by dropping an email to “mayoradioexperimentersnetwork /at/ gmail /dot/ com”]


Phoenix Amateur Radio Club Rally

A date for your diary. The Phoenix Amateur Radio Club rally will take place on 11th February 2018 in Coolmine Community School, Dublin 15, D15 FW97. Doors will open at 10:00 a.m. Dave Moore EI 4BZ will offer morse testing at Rally. The EI DX group will also be present, so you can learn more about the expedition to Malawi 7Q7EI in March. In addition to this there will be traders present. As with other years, the rally will be a great day out for all. To book a table contact Tony at 087-243 9997. Tea and refreshments will be available all day. Unlimited free car parking.


AREN

On the weekend of 3rd and 4th of February, AREN will hold a National training and development weekend in Domineer, County Tipperary. Accommodation is available, booking required. For more information, visit www.aren.ie or contact EI4JN. New members welcome.


EI QRP and Homebrew Group

The EI QRP and Homebrew Group on Facebook has been growing from strength to strength with over sixty members to date. Currently, many of the members are building the QCX transceiver kits from QSP Labs. The group is a great place for exchange of ideas and general information on QRP and homebrew activity in EI. So if you are on Facebook why not join our group.


DX News

The ARRL announcement of a slight change in the rules of the DXCC Award has resulted in the Republic of Kosovo being added to the list of accepted entities. The prefix for Kosovo is Z6 and large pile-ups have been heard calling Z60A. Z60A is a club station and is being operated by local amateurs and a number of international amateurs including Marrti OH2BH. Local operator Driton Z61DX has also been very active on SSB. QSOs dated on and after 21st January count for DXCC credit.

Rafael PY2NDX is QRV from Fernando de Noronha as PY0F/PY2NDX until 1st February. QSL to his home callsign.

Two Dutch operators Johannes PA5X and Gerben PG5M will be active as C8X and C81G respectively from Ibo Island off the coast of Mozambique from 28th January – 5th February. This one counts as AF-061 for the Islands on the Air Award. They will be on CW, SSB and FT8 on 80 – 10m. QSL via Club Log OQRS.

One of the major DXpeditions of 2018 is due to be QRV as 3Y0Z from Bouvet Island in the coming weeks. At the time of writing the team are waiting to leave Punta Arenas in Chile for the approximately 14 day trip to Bouvet. Once they receive clearance from the Chilean Navy they will be on their way. The Chilean Navy is the regulatory authority for maritime safety in the area. The ‘on air’ time once they land on the island is scheduled to be 14 days so that should give EI DXers time to get a QSO into their logs.

Peter DC0KK has been QRV from Sri Lanka as 4S7KKG since November. He will be there until 25th March. His main activity is on the digital modes and CW. QSLs go via Club Log OQRS. Don’t forget to look out for RI50ANO from the Russian Bellingshausen Base in the South Shetlands. This station will be active until the end of March. This special prefix is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Base. QSLs go via Club Log OQRS.


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 may be telephoned to the radio news editor, Mark EI6HPB on 086 355 2370.

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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