Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday December 31st 2000
South Dublin Radio Club
Attendance at the recent SDR Christmas Party included two visitors who travelled from Co. Antrim. They were Jim Hoey GI0BJH and Alan Stewart GI6IXD, who are members of GEARS (Glengormley Electronic and Amateur Radio Society), which is twinned with South Dublin Radio Club. GEARS and SDR have participated in a number of joint events over the past few years, and are planning more such events for 2001. As part of the twinning arrangement, all members of SDR are automatically enrolled as members of the Co. Antrim club, and all GEARS members automatically become members of SDR.
The usual Tuesday night meetings of South Dublin Radio Club resume on Tuesday 9th January at 8.00 pm. The SDR Morse class is now well advanced, and the seven pupils in the current class are all committed to taking the Morse test early in 2001.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group
The Annual General Meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take place at 8.00pm in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford on January the 31st 2001. All members are asked to attend and visitors are welcome.
Anyone wishing to take part in the theory classes may still do so by contacting SEARG on 087-6302026 or by e-mail to searg@angelfire.com. The classes will resume on Monday the 8th of January 2001.
Shetland Special Event Look for Pete, MM5PSL, from the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse on the Shetland Islands, IOTA EU-012, to January 2. Most activity will be near the usual lighthouse frequency of 14270 kHz. QSL via WA7OBH.
New American Radio Teletype (RTTY) Station WA9XHN is a unique broadcast facility located in Auburn, Washington and is authorised by the FCC with the purpose of determining whether or not there is any interest among the general public in receiving information via RTTY. Radioteletype or RTTY is an old method which served many radio services which had need to transmit large volumes of information over long distances. WA9XHN was established to serve shortwave listners and radio amateurs and to determine whether or not there was significant intgerest in keeping a radioteletype broadcast facility in operation. WA9XHN is non-commercial and privately funded. WA9XHN transmits on two shortwave frequencies, alternating between 6.994 MHz and 13.972 MHz at 60 words-per-minute using 170 Hz FSK. The transmission times vary but a weekly schedule for the station can be found at www.rtty.com
Space News
Interference to the AO-27, UO-14, SO-35 and possibly other Amateur Radio satellites has been traced to unlicensed Mexican taxi operators operating in the satellite uplink portion of the band. It was reported that a signal source in Mexico that was interfering with the AO-27 uplink was located with the intervention of FMRE, the Mexican IARU society.
The latest news on AO-40 (Phase 3D) is that The North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, has located the wayward amateur radio satellite. NORAD tracks everything orbiting the Earth and established that AO-40 is still in one piece and in its expected orbit based on new orbital calculations made after its engine burn on December the 11th.
News reports issued on the 26th of December suggest that on Christmas Day a RESET command was sent on the L-band. Shortly afterwards amateurs in Australia and New Zealand reported hearing the satellites beacon on Message from IRTS News Editor “The IRTS would like to wish all the radio news listners a prosperous new year and thank you for your support over the past year. Since I took on the position of IRTS Radio News Editor support for the radio news has been good - Keep it coming. The news service depends on input from clubs and individuals around the country so keep me posted with news about your clubs and radio activities. It’s not just licensed amateurs who listen to the news, there are many SWL’s out there who tune in every week and I would be interested in hearing some news from SWL’s and SWL clubs. I look forward to your continued support of the Radio News in the coming year.”
Mark EI7IS
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.
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