Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday August 19th 2001
Rally News
The Cork Radio Club Rally will take place on Sunday, September the 16th 2001 at the Blarney Park Hotel, Blarney, Co.Cork. Doors open at 11 a.m. and admission is £3.00. This is the 10th Blarney Rally and as usual will have a selection of radios, antennas and computers etc. The IRTS will attend the rally and there will also be a bring and buy.
For more information, contact Dick EI6HH at 021 454 5154.
VK6PM in EI
Con Murphy VK6PM/EI7ID, a life member of the IRTS will be in Ireland, mainly in Dublin during September and would like to meet some EI's, especially in the Rathfarnham group as he lived in the area for 14 years from 1955 using his callsign EI9S. During his visit, he will be staying at Shankill,Co. Dublin and would also like to meet the Bray group if possible. Con will be active on two metres during his stay.
South Dublin Radio Club
The regular Tuesday night meetings of South Dublin Radio Club will resume for the second half of August - that is on the 21st and 28th of the month.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group
The 70 centimetre voice repeater in Carrickpherish, Waterford remains off air, at least for the next few days in order that an essential upgrade can take place. The WRC2 2-metre packet node at Helvick Head, Co. Waterford has been off air for the past couple of weeks due to damage from lightning. It will be back on air as soon as the necessary parts for its repair arrive.
There will be no general meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group for the month of August. General meetings will resume on Wednesday the 26th of September at 8.00 p.m. in the Roanmore Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford.
Windmills on the Air
The Shannon Basin Club will be operating from the Elphin Windmill in County Roscommon on Sunday 26th August from about 0930 to 1800 local time. The Callsign EI2EWM (Elphin Wind Mill) will be used for the event.
Cork Radio Club intend to operate a station from Roches Point for the Lighthouse on the air weekend, on the Sunday only, the group are currently waiting for permission from the ODTR to use the call EI1RPL.
Space News
AMSAT reports the 2.4 GHz "S1" transmitter aboard AO-40 has gone silent. The transmitter abruptly ceased operation on the 13th of August during orbit 362. Telemetry readings up until the moment the transmitter went off air were completely normal. No commanding or experimentation was being done at this time, it was reported on the AMSAT bulletin board. Testing is continuing. For more information on AO-40, visit www.amsat.org
India
Indian radio amateurs have had an extension to their permission to use frequencies in the 80, 30 and 6 metre bands. They may now use these bands until the 31st of December 2002. Permission was originally due to expire at the end of July this year.
The frequencies concerned are 3.790 to 3.800 MHz, 10.100 to 10.150 MHz and the two spot frequencies of 50.35 and 50.55 MHz.
Expedition to IO55XC abandoned
The expedition to IO55XC has unfortunately been abandoned. G4XUM and G4BVY travelled to IO55XC on Saturday the 11th of August. The weather at the site was particularly bad, with gale force winds and heavy driving rain. After searching for an alternative site, the decision was made to return to the original site and assemble the 2 and 6 metre stations. Due to the weather, the decision was made to assemble both stations in the Land Rover and change from 50MHz to 70MHz on the Sunday.
Disaster struck when the 144 MHz station was about to go QRV and an unexplained event resulted in a loss of power from the generator. The decision was made to return to IO54. After a round trip of 220 miles and the erection and disassembly of the stations, taking in total 13 hours and a very dedicated effort no contacts were made from IO55. Apologies are passed on to the many stations hoping to work a very rare square.
Items for inclusion in Echo Ireland should be forwarded to Dave Moore EI4BZ at 021-4353853 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 021-4354113.
Items for inclusion in the Radio News should be forwarded to Mark Wall EI7IS at QTHR or via e-mail to ei7is@qsl.net or cyberis@e-merge.ie. Items can also be sent to Mark over the phone at 087-6302026.
Please note that the deadline for the radio news is 9 p.m. each Tuesday.
News can also be submitted via e-mail to news@irts.ie for automatic forwarding to both news services.
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