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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday March 28th 2004


Les Moxon G6XN - Silent Key

You will all be sorry to hear that Les Moxon G6XN died on the 3rd of March. He was 95 and was one of the oldest amateurs in the UK having been licensed in 1928. He is well known for his expertise and particularly his writings on antennas. Many of you will have on your shelves his well-known and very valuable book "HF Antennas for All Locations" which was published in 1982 and is in its third printing. Amateurs will also be familiar with antennas featuring the Moxon rectangle. He was a great experimenter and he is survived by his wife Nancy and son David.

IRTS Operating Trophies, Field Days and Counties Contest Trophies for the IRTS Field Days and the 2 Metres counties contest were presented at the recent IRTS Annual General Meeting in Limerick.

The CW Field Day was held at a central location on the farm of Paddy Maher EI3AV in Cloughjordan in County Tipperary. The Pete Daly Cup was presented to the winners of the open section, Cork Radio Club. Their team included Jeremy EI5GM, Anatoly EI4JM, Stephen EI6JA and Chuck EI4HS. The restricted section was won by the East Cork Group EI7M represented by Jerry EI6BT, Steve EI9HC and Dave EI4BZ. They were presented with the Paddy Smyth Cup.

The SSB Field Day was held centrally in Galbally College in Ballinasloe, courtesy of EI4HF. The Restricted section was won by the Dalkey Island Group EI1DD and their operators were Paul EI2CA, Paul EI5DI, Sean EI7CD, Peter EI7CC, Aidan EI8CE, Tony EI6EW and Danny EI5HD.

A joint venture station between Cork Radio Club and the East Cork Radio Group using the callsign EI1X/p operating from Glanmire in County Cork won the open section and also were the leading station in Europe. They were presented with the Paddy Daly Microphone. The operators here were Neil EI3JE, John EI8IR, Jim EI8GS, Jerry EI6BT, Jeremy EI5GM, Ingo DH5ST, Anatoly EI4JM and Finbar EI1CS.

Following on the great success with the centrally organised HF field days last year, it is hoped that an even bigger entry will be received for the upcoming field days. The CW event will be held on the first weekend in June and the SSB one on the first weekend in September.


VHF/UHF Field Day

The Thomond Shield for the open section of the VHF/UHF Field Day was won this year by EI9E/p, a joint venture station between the East Cork Group, the Wexford VHF Group and the Southern Region RTE ARC. The operators were John EI2FG, Billy EI7FJ, Mick EI6GF, Neil EI3JE, John EI8IR, Jerry EI6BT, Declan EI9HQ, John EI8JA and Eoin EI7FXB.

The Restricted Section winners were the Dundalk Amateur Radio Group EI7DAR/p operated by Thos EI2JD, Pat EI2HX, Dermot EI2AK, Michael EI5GG, Mark EI9FX and James MI5AHG.


Rodriguez Island

The Rodriguez Island DXpedition 3B9C has been on the air since last weekend and is attracting great interest. They will be active for another three weeks. Paul EI5DI is one of the operators with the group.


EuRadio

Arrangements are now in train for the eleven special event stations to mark the enlargement of the European Community on May 1st and 2nd.

A special event station is being planned for each of those cities and towns. The special event stations will provide a unique opportunity to promote amateur radio locally and nationally, both here and in the twinned states. The following are the list of twinned towns and states; Bray is twinned with Cyprus, Cork with Slovakia, Drogheda with Latvia, Galway with Estonia and Kilkenny with Lithuania. Killarney is twinned with the Czech Republic, Letterkenny with Poland, Limerick with Slovenia, Sligo with Hungary and Waterford with Malta. The IRTS HQ station will operate from Dublin.

An awards programme will be promoted amongst the international amateur radio community with certificates for stations that establish radio contact with the special event stations. Organisers will be fully briefed in the coming days on the arrangements being made centrally and on the contact details in the local authorities. Details of the awards associated with the special event stations have been circulated to the amateur radio press.


EI Counties Contest

The Spring Leg of the EI Counties Contest will take place on Easter Monday from 2 to 4 p.m. Rules are available in the IRTS yearbook. It is hoped that as many stations as possible take to the air for this event.


IRTS Committee Meeting

The first meeting of the new IRTS Committee will be held on Saturday next at 11 a.m. at the Montague Hotel in Portlaoise. Affiliated clubs are encouraged to send representatives to this meeting.


Cork Radio Club AGM

The Cork Radio Club Annual General Meeting was held last Monday night at the clubrooms in Wilton Park House. A very successful year was reviewed and the trophies won were displayed. Wins were earned in the CW Field Day open section and the SSB Field Day open section, a first for the club. The rally was once again very successful and the club now has a modern HF and VHF station available for members' use.

Congratulations were extended to Aedan EI3EG for winning the Arup Cup for his services to the hobby and to Jeremy EI5GM for winning the Hal Hodgens Key in the IOTA Contest. Both these trophies were awarded at the recent IRTS AGM. The following committee was elected for the coning year: Chairman is Jeremy Sheehan EI5GM, Secretary is Stephen O'Leary EI6JA, Treasurer is Dick Bermingham EI6HH and IRTS Representative is Fr, Finbarr Buckley EI1CS. Committee Members are: Aedan O'Meara EI3EG, Vincent Neff EI7HN, Fr. Finbar Buckley EI1CS and Anatoly EI4JM.


Radio Experimenters Exam

If anyone would like to take the radio experimenters exam, they are asked to contact Derek O'Reilly at ComReg to register their interest. Once enough people are available, an exam will be scheduled.


Shannon Basin Radio Club

The monthly meeting of Shannon Basin Radio Club will take place on Wednesday next at 8.30 p.m. in the Royal Hotel, Roscommon Town.


Enniskillen Rally

Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club hosts the 23rd Enniskillen Amateur Radio Show in the Killyhevlin Hotel, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh on Sunday the 25th of April 2004. Doors open at 12.00 noon.

Car parking facilities and food will be available. Admission is £3.00, which includes free ticket for Raffle with valuable prizes. Bring & Buy with no fee. Amateur Radio, Electronics, Computers, traders big and small, equipment, accessories, components, new surplus and second-hand. Traditional large attendance expected from all over Ireland, north and south. Further details from Herbie GI6JPO on 028-6638 7761.


European Sprint Contest

On Saturday next, a unique contest takes place from 1600-1900 hrs. This is the European Spring SSB Contest and it is confined to three bands, 20, 40 and 80 metres. The exchange in this contest is signal report, serial number and name and the callsigns of both stations must be sent by both stations. The unique feature in this contest is that once you make a QSO after calling CQ, you must QSY at least 2 kHz. This gives everybody a chance and greatly reduces the advantage normally gained by a large station sitting on a frequency continuously calling CQ. It does take a little getting used to but its worth giving it a try.


Upcoming Events

The SP DX contest will take place from 15:00 UTC on the 3rd of April for 24 hours. The new rules are available at www.contest.spdxc.org.pl

International Marconi Day will be held on Saturday April 24th.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The next general meeting of the group will take place this coming Wednesday at 8.00 p.m. in the Roanmore Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford. Please note that membership fees are now due for renewal and this meeting is an ideal opportunity to renew your membership if you have not already done so.

Detailed, high resolution repeater coverage maps of the repeaters in the Southern Ireland Repeater Network are now available on www.searg.com

Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be

forwarded Mark Wall EI7IS. He can be contacted by phone or text on 087-6302026 or news can also be submitted via e-mail to news@irts.ie for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services.

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