Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday December 3rd 2000
Joe Carr K4IPV - Silent Key
It is with regret that we learn of the death of Joe Carr K4IPV. Joe passed away in his sleep on November the 25th. He was an internationally famous Amateur Radio Author and many EI operators are familiar with his work. Joe wrote for Practical Wireless and Short Wave Magazine.
Ar dheis De go raibh ahAnnam dhilis.
IRTS Meeting
The next IRTS Committee Meeting will be held at 11.00am on Saturday December 16th in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel, Athlone.
South Dublin Radio Club Activities
At a recent meeting of South Dublin Radio Club, Mike Staunton EI3DY gave a talk on the various digital modes used by radio experimenters. The talk covered long established modes such as RTTY and AMTOR, as well as more recently developed modes such as PSK31. The presentation included a live demonstration of PSK31 by Jim Holohan EI4HH. Mike Staunton also gave details of the PC software available for digital modes and the methods of linking transceivers to PC’s.
Although field days are normally associated with the Summer months, seven members of South Dublin Radio Club recently travelled to the Ridge of Cappard in Laois and activated HF, 2 metres and 6 metres. The weather was mixed, as can be expected for November, but the SDR members set up 2 HF and 3 VHF stations. Almost 100 contacts were made, to North and South America, Europe and Asia, using phone and CW.
Tipperary Amateur Radio Group
The next meeting of Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will be held at 8.00pm on Wednsday the 6th of December in Raheen House Hotel, Clonmel. All are welcome to attend. Tipperary Amateur Radio Group are again publishing their annual Newsletter to members this year. The newsletter is hoped to be used as an introduction to amateur radio in Tipperary and is specifically aimed at newcomers to the hobby or indeed those with an interest in amateur radio as a hobby. It highlights the numerous activitties and sucesses of the group over the past year. It will be distributed to members during the annual night out on the 9th December and will be available during forthcoming group meetings.
A reminder to listeners that the annual night out for TRG is being held in the Galtee Inn, Cahir, Co. Tipperary on the 9th of December. For further details contact Hugh O’Donnell EI2HI. This is always a very enjoyable occasion and some tickets are still available from any member of the group.
EI4HF in Angola Mike EI4HF is currently on his travels with the Releif Agency ‘Concern’. He is currently in Angola and has met up with another radio amateur, Fernando EA4BB, who is also doing relief work in Angola. Mike spoke to Fernando when he was in Somalia and was thrilled to have met him in person. Mike has also met 2 UN radio amateurs in Angola and was heard on the air during the past week looking for all his friends in EI using the D2 prefix.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group
The theory classes leading up to the examination for the Class B license will commence on Monday the 4th of December in the De La Salle Centre, Stephen Street, Waterford. Anyone intending to participate in the night classes can contact the club on 087-6302026 or via e-mail to searg@angelfire.com.
Space News
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program (ARISS) has announced that Commander William Shepherd KD5GSL, made the first casual Amateur Radio QSO’s from Space Station Alpha last week. Shepherd was able to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule on Friday, November 17th to engage in contacts with a few lucky radio amateurs. Phase 3D Project Leader Dr. Karl Meinzer DJ4ZC reports that the 70 centimetre transmitter on board AMSAT-OSCAR 40 (Phase 3D) does not appear to be working after initial tests and an upload of new software. The AMSAT News Service says the first planned orbit change will take place soon and should put the satellite in a 50,000 kilometer apogee orbit allowing a more detailed study of the 70 cm transmitter problem using P3D's hi-gain antennas which will then be available. All other systems appear to be working fine and plans are in place to make the satellite available for limited amateur use, possibly within a week or two. More information about ARISS is available at ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov/ For more information on AO-40 visit the AMSAT website at www.amsat.org Contests Last weekend’s CQ WW CW Contests was once again very popular with both contesters and DXers and many EI stations were heard over the weekend. The two CQ Worldwide contests are the biggest contests of the year and the upcoming December issue of Echo Ireland will carry a list of EI record holders in all categories, both SSB and CW.
The ARRL 10 metres contest will be held next weekend over 48 hours and it should be very enjoyable if conditions are similar to last weekend. It should be possible for modest stations to work one hundred countries without having to spend day and night at the rig. Both modes are allowed, so you have a choice of either CW, SSB or mixed.
The following weekend, December 16th and 17th is also a busy one for contesters. The Croatian DX Contest runs for 24 hours from 1400 on the Saturday and other events are the Stew Perry Top Band Challenge, The International Naval Contest and the Canadian RAC Winter Contest.
Items for inclusion in Echo Ireland should be forwarded to Dave Moore EI4BZ at 021-4883555 in the evenings or at 021-4823172 during office hours. Items can be submitted to Dave by e-mail at ei4bz@eircom.net and you can fax him at 021-4823316.
Items for inclusion in the Radio News should be forwarded to Mark Wall EI7IS at QTHR or via e-mail to ei7is@qsl.net Items can also be sent to Mark over the phone at 087-6302026. News can also be submitted via e-mail to news@irts.ie for automatic forwarding to both news services. Please note that the deadline for submission of radio news items is 9.00 pm on Tuesday of each week.
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