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IRTS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN Sunday August 2nd 1998


Tipperary News

Congratulations to Tipperary club member Tommy EI9EZB on receiving his new HF Callsign EI2IT. Tommy has always been a force to be reckoned with in VHF Contests. Perhaps he will now turn his attention to HF contesting also? Tommy is the second club member to receive a HF callsign this year and the third in recent times. Both Tommy and Liam EI7FE spent Sunday July the 19th on the Galtee mountains with Tipperary Hillwalkers for their open day. The weather was very inclement on the day causing many seasoned walkers to stay at home. However, with wind driven rain all day, it was a very good test of the equipment of the two AREN operators to withstand the adverse conditions and function without any problems developing. Tipperary AREN has been developing equipment for backpacking and portable operation for a number of years and the faultless performance on the day is a testament to their success.


Islands On The Air Contest

Last weekends Islands On The Air Contest attracted a fine turnout of stations worldwide which included quite a few EI stations. Many EIs opted for one of the twelve hour sections and competition is sure to be tight for the trophies on offer. There was a reduced participation in the islands section from EI stations with the only island being heard by the news team being the East Cork Group on Bere Island. Eleven operators made the trip to West Cork where they ran with two triband beams with dipoles and verticals for 40 and 80.

The East Cork group would like to say a special thanks to both Brendan EI0CZ and Paul EI6FE who made the trip to the Arra mountains at very short notice to get the packet nodes, linking Cork into the national cluster network, back on the air in time for the contest.

The Dalkey Island Contest Group report a most enjoyable contest experience from St.Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands using the call WP2Z. Over 2,300 QSOs were made during the contest with many more both before and after. Conditions were excellent into Europe on 15 and 20 metres but unfortunately, 10 did not open. 32 EI stations were worked during the contest, mainly on 20 metres SSB, many of whom were putting excellent 59+ signals into the Caribbean. A full list of EI/GI station worked can be found at the groups web site at Jump.to/ej1d or you can link directly to it via the IRTS Web site.

South Dublin Radio Club operated from the QTH of Joe EI7GY, trying their hand at the IOTA contest for the first time. Club members were assisted by Sean EI4GK who is an experienced Islands On The Air contester. They found radio conditions generally poor and using just wire aerials in the restricted space of Joes back garden, it was difficult to generate pile-ups or punch through the pile-ups on the more popular stations. Best DX on CW was VK while on SSB the best DX was North America.


South Dublin Munros

Members of South Dublin Radio Club have been activating Irelands Munros, that's three thousand feet plus mountains, every year for the past three years. Last year it was Carrauntoohill but this year it will be closer to home, as the club members destination is Lugnaquilla in County Wicklow. The climb will take place on Sunday next August the 9th, weather permitting. It is planned to operate from the summit on 80 metres, and other HF bands and also on 2 metres and 70cms.


Dundalk EI1OOM

Dundalk Amateur radio Society operated a special event station at Clogherhead in County Louth over the weekend of July the 3rd to the 5th using the callsign EI1OOM. The station was set up to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Marconis Rathlin Island experiments. The station ran for three days from 0001 on Friday morning until 2359 on Sunday night and over 700 QSOs were made on all bands. A very impressive aerial set up included a three element triband beam, a four element 10 metre mono band beam, a multiband HF vertical, 2 G5RVs, 1 extra long wire, a 10 element 2 metre beam, a 16 element 70cms beam and a VHF/UHF triband vertical. A wide selection of rigs were used and the station attracted many visitors over the three days. The Dundalk Society would like to thank all who helped run the weekend with a special thanks to Thomas EI 1333 who made his QTH available to the group. The QSL cards and refreshments for the weekend were sponsored by Coca Cola Atlantic.


Planning Court Case

The court case, mentioned in recent bulletins, was listed for Tuesday last July the 28th. Fingal County Council were attempting to declare illegal an amateurs aerial installation on his chimney. A compromise was reached with the council accepting that the 2 metre vertical and the HF mini beam is exempt from planning and the GR5V will be repositioned to the councils satisfaction.


Cork Repeater

Listeners to the Cork repeater will have noticed much improved coverage recently. This is due to a complete refit of the aerial system. A Cellwave Antenna, model PD200, imported from the US, has been fitted on a new 30 foot tilt over mast and it is fed with half inch heliax. The aerial is 22 feet long with a gain of 6.5dB and is tuned exactly to the frequency. Congratulations to all involved with the operation.


Items for inclusion in the Radio News can be faxed to 021-632730 or passed on the telephone to Dave EI4BZ at 021- 632444 during the day and at 021-883555 in the evening.

Input for the Newsletter should be sent to Kevin EI7IM at QTHR or on 01-4509514 or on E-mail to EI7IM@tinet.ie All input to either the Radio News or the Newsletter can also be sent by e-mail to news@irts.ie

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