Archived News Script
IRTS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN Sunday August 9th 1998
Dun Laoghaire Special Event Station EI1M
Comment has been made about the antennas used for the recent Marconi special event station EI1M in Dun Laoghaire. Two HF antennas were in use, the first was a three element tribander on top of a 50 foot pump up tower and the second was a standard windom antenna at almost 100 feet. The 100 feet was achieved by stringing a line from the belfry of the old Mariners Church, now the National Maritime Museum to a 140 foot crane on a building site next to Moran Park House. The problem was that the two support points were 700 feet apart and a number of serious natural and man made obstacles happened to be in between. A significant amount of planning, much ingenuity and some bad language helped to get the antenna in the air. It survived and worked like a dream for the period of the celebrations but unfortunately it had to be decommissioned when the building site returned to work on Monday morning.
Radio Amateur Prime Minister of Japan
On July the 30th, Keizo Obuchi JI1KIT was elected Prime Minister of Japan. Obuchi, who was the Japanese Foreign Minister was first licensed in 1975 and he has made a great contribution to amateur radio in Japan and is a great friend of the Japanese Amateur Radio League President Shozo Hara JA1AN.
South Dublin Radio Club
South Dublin Radio Club have taken their summer break and will not meet again until the first Tuesday in September. The club will meet at the Ballyroan Community Centre every Tuesday night and visitors and new members are always welcome.
SSB Field Day
While most clubs are presently enjoying their summer recess, quite a few groups are busy planning their operation for SSB Field Day on the first full weekend of September, that's four weeks away. This is an ideal opportunity to launch your new seasons club programme where all club members can be actively involved in one way or another. The Field Day only lasts for twenty four hours and you can get as involved as your personnel and gear allows. In its simplest form, all you need is one support, a single wire aerial, a tuner and rig and something to operate from. At the other end of the scale you could erect beams for the HF bands and dipoles for the lower bands. There are two sections, the restricted is limited to one aerial at a maximum height of 35 feet while there are no restrictions in the open section. Whatever you do, it can be great fun and it does involve many different aspects of the hobby. All we can hope for is better conditions than last year when propagation on the HF bands was at an all time low. There were ten EI stations operating portable last year and we look forward to hearing them all again this year.
Wicklow Wireless Society
EI5BYB Benjamin Rodriguez, a founder member of the Wicklow Wireless Society will shortly be leaving the garden county. Ben has decided to retire to County Waterford and will shortly be taking up residence there. As well as being a founding member, Ben has been one of the main stays of the Society over the past ten years and his presence at the meetings and other events will be sadly missed. The club wishes him well in his new QTH and hopes it wont be too long before he is on the air again.
Fingal Rally Trip
Members of Fingal Radio Club are off on their travels again and will be making a weekend of the trip to the Telford rally in Shropshire in two weeks time. There may still be a seat available and anyone interested should contact Chris Yeates EI7AAB at QTHR or on the telephone on 01-8215145 in the evenings or on 087-2394961 during the day.
Worked All Ireland Award News
Activity has been hectic on the WAI frequency of 3.680MHz during the past week. Declan EI9HQ has been out and about again and has activated squares in Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Leitrim and Cavan. Declan is also operating 20 metres from the car with great success and is actively promoting the WAI scheme on that band. Noel EI6HW was also active from the car and covered squares from Athlone right out the Western Connemara and down to Loop Head in County Clare. Several other mobile runs are planned and anyone interested should keep an ear on 3.680MHz or on 145.350Mhz in the two metre band.
DX News
A report in the OPDX bulletin dated August the 3rd states that the 3D2DX Rotuma DXpedition is on schedule and will begin as planned on August the 29th. This operation will last for three weeks and will then move to Fiji for four more days. The operation will be on SSB and RTTY only, on the usual DX frequencies and QSLs should go to EA4CP.
Island chasers should note that a brand new one is due soon. Michael BY5QN will be activating Pingtan Island which is located to the southeast of Chinas mainland. No date to hand yet. Alvaro EA3BUF will be operating from EU-95, EU-70 and EU-58, all in the Mediterranean area during the month of August. Uwe DJ9HX will be active from 9M0, Spratly Islands from August the 11th to the 19th. From the 20th to the 25th he will be on OC-133, Sipadan and from the 26th to the 29th from Sabah, OC-088.QSL to home call.
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
[A]
