Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 11th March 2018
Contest Results
The results of the 80 Metres Evening Counties Contest held on 20th February have now been published and can be viewed on our Contest Results page at www.irts.ie/results
26 EI and GI stations in 14 counties were in the 22 logs submitted. Band conditions on the night were poor, local propagation was particularly badly affected, so much of the activity by EI and GI stations on the night was with the 30 plus overseas stations in 8 DXCC entities who took part.
Echo Ireland
The Committee Report for 2017, summarising IRTS activities for the past year as reported by the society's officers will be featured in the Spring edition of Echo Ireland. The society's accounts for 2017 are also included, along with formal notice of the 2018 Annual General Meeting, including the committee's nominations for president, vice-president and committee positions for the forthcoming year.
Updates as well as plans for 2018 from ten clubs are included in the section on "News from around the Clubs". Separately, the "Wild Atlantic Way Report" by Simon EI7ALB summarises the highlights of the WAW project and also provides some useful statistics on activity by the WAW stations. This project was one of the outstanding activities of 2017, it resulted in almost 160,000 QSOs by WAW stations and undoubtedly raised the profile internationally of the Wild Atlantic Way tourism initiative.
Given current weather conditions, climbing the hills is probably the last thing on everyone's mind this weekend, however looking ahead to better weather over the coming weeks and months, some of us may be planning Summits On The Air (SOTA) activity. To encourage such activity, Albert EI6KO describes his experiences on recent summit activations. Albert has also produced a leaflet about SOTA, available on the downloads page of the IRTS web site. Sending Signals via Satellites is the subject of an article by Keith EI5KJ. In the article, subtitled "How to work DX with 5 watts VHF", Keith explains the technical aspects of satellite operation as well as equipment requirements.
VHF activities from a different era are recalled in a report on two issues of "The Upper Spectrum" - a newsletter published in the early 1950s by the VHF Research Society of Ireland, and unearthed by Aengus EI4ABB. Reminiscences from the 1950s appear in an article about his "Almost Sixty-Five Years of Radio" by Tony EI5EM; Tony explains how a shared interest with his Dad in shortwave listening led eventually to his involvement in amateur radio.
The latest Echo Ireland also includes a report by the IRTS Licence Examination Board, highlighting some of the areas that candidates in recent exams had difficulties with. This examination report - and indeed previous examination reports - contain observations and advice that should be of assistance to anyone studying for the licence exam. The document "Studying for the Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificate" available at www.irts.ie/downloads includes Examination Reports published since 2007.
IRTS Annual General Meeting
A reminder that the 2018 AGM for the IRTS will be taking place on the 14th and 15th April in the Galway Bay Hotel. Lectures will be held on Saturday afternoon from 2pm. The Annual dinner will take place in the evening at 7:30pm. Tickets for the Dinner may be purchased from the IRTS website - see the IRTS AGM tab. On Sunday the Rally will take place in a spacious conference hall located underneath the Hotel. Doors will open at 10:00 am to facilitate a longer time for the Rally. Tables and any enquiries should be addressed to: Steve Wright, EI5DD, email “wrights1 /at/ eircom /dot/ net” or phoned to 087 2451218.
Meals will be available on Sunday in the Carvery for all the weary travellers prior to the AGM.
Those seeking a room at the hotel should mention the IRTS when booking to get the special rate for the weekend. There are numerous B&Bs in the area of Salthill which may be found on the B&B finders on the internet.
North Cork Radio Group
Reminder for your calenders. Monday 19th March 2018. Blackrock Castle Observatory will be activated by the North Cork Radio Group. They will be activating the castle under the World Castles Award. Open for the public from 10AM onwards. NCRG will be operating HF mainly, but will have showcase equipment, go boxes and other gadgets to show to the public. The NCRG hope to see many of you there on the day, or, of course, on the air.
South Dublin Radio Club
South Dublin Radio Club AGM will now take place at 8pm on Tuesday 20th of March 2018 at Ballyroan community centre on the Marian road in Rathfarnham. All members are asked to attend.
Cork Radio Club
The Annual General Meeting of Cork Radio Club will be held on Wednesday next March 14th in Carrigtwohill Community Centre. All members are requested to attend. New members are of course very welcome and candidates for the HAREC exam in June are particularly welcome.
EI100MCV – OPERATORS REQUIRED
ComReg has issued special event callsign EI100MCV to the National Maritime Museum Radio Club in Dunlaoghaire for the year 2018. This 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.
The call sign may be used throughout the year 2018 by all members of the National Maritime Museum Radio Club as well as by any licensed EI amateur radio operator who would like to commemorate this historic centenary. The Club encourages other operators to get involved on a similar basis to the Wild Atlantic Way initiative. The event will be coordinated by Dave O’Connor EI6AL who has acted in this capacity for many similar events.
Operators who wish to use the call sign should contact Dave at “dave /dot/ ei6al /at/ gmail.com”. Anyone who operates the call sign must forward an ADIF log by email to Dave EI6AL. Dave will maintain a master log and will do the necessary upload to Clublog.
The sinking of the Leinster by a torpedo was, and still is, the single largest loss of life in the Irish Sea with a total of 567 lives lost. The Maritime Museum Radio Club hopes that many operators will avail of the opportunity to use this unique call sign and so give extensive coverage to this important centenary year.
Limerick Radio Club
The LRC Rally is scheduled for Sunday the 25th March in the Radisson Blu Hotel Limerick. Anyone wishing to book tables please contact Michael Kingston EI2IX e-mail “michaelkingston /at/ eircom /dot/ net” or to Harry O'Loughlin e-mail “oloughlin /dot/ harry /at/ gmail /dot/ com”
As for previous years the LRC website will advertise for sale items, so please send your list to Michael's e -mail address.
Brendan EI0CZ, Harry EI2KL and Tom EI5CA continue with Morse Practice, on the Limerick 2 metre repeater after the IRTS News at 20:00 on Mondays, and at 20:00 on Tuesdays.
EI8GQB
Olivier ON4EI, is back again in Ireland from 18th to 28th March 2018 as EI8GQB. During the CQ WPX SSB contest he will operate the Tipperary Club station, call sign EI7T.
Olivier runs contests in Low Power/Single Op SSB category using mainly green energy with his temporary 'Field Day like' antenna park setup.
You can follow this one-man expedition on qrz.com or meet him on the air.
For these dates, please QSL EI7T only via LOTW or EI8GQB via LOTW or QSL MANAGER: PA3249 (direct or bureau).
DX News
The DXfriends expedition group, who this time last year had a successful trip to Niger using the callsign 5U5R, are off on another African journey. This year their destination is the Republic of the Congo and the callsign is TN5R. The plan is to be active from 9th – 19th March on all bands 10 – 160m. Direct QSLs go via EA5RM.
Will W0ZRJ and Bill KH6OO will be in Tahiti from 10th – 17th March. They will sign TX5X on CW and Digital. QSL via Club Log OQRS.
The Italian DXpedition Team will be QRV from Cameroon as TJ3TT from 15th – 29th March. Look for them on 160 – 10m CW, SSB and Digital. Full details can be found on www.i2ysb.com/idt/
The Latvian team signing 3C3W from Equatorial Guinea has been delayed in getting flights to Annobon Island where their callsign will be 3C0W. Listen carefully to get the correct call into your log!!!! The expedition is scheduled to last until 27th March.
A small group led by Zorro JH1AJT will be in Bhutan from 14th - 18th March and will reactivate their A5A callsign. They will be on SSB, CW and RTTY. QSL 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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