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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday May 22nd 2005


EI8FJB Silent Key

We are sad to announce the sudden death of Larry O'Sullivan EI8FJB on Thursday May 18th at his home in Douglas in Cork City.

Larry was well known in radio circles having being involved in the hobby for most of his life. He will also be well known for his involvement with the Radio Museum at the Cork City Gaol Heritage Centre in Sundays Well where he set up and operated the station EI0CRM. He was a well-known voice on the Cork repeaters and of late had been very active on both 40 and 80 metres. He will be missed. Our deepest sympathy to his wife Mary and daughters Catherine and Mary and his extended family.


Theory Examination

The Irish Radio Transmitter Society has been selected by ComReg to run the Radio Experimenters Theory Examination for the next three years. A formal Agreement to this effect has been drawn up and should be signed in the next week.

As already advised in earlier News Bulletins a Theory Examination has been arranged to take place on Thursday June 16th at a central Dublin location. Those prospective candidates whose names are already on the ComReg list will be notified directly of the arrangements for the exam. Those who have not put their names forward to ComReg should now do so immediately. Names should be forwarded to Derek O'Reilly, ComReg, Abbey Court, Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey St., Dublin 1. You can contact Derek O'Reilly by phone on (01) 8049769 or email Derek dot oreilly at comreg.ie.

This will be the last time a theory Exam is held under the traditional essay type format. Future exams will use the multiple-choice method and the first of these will probably be held in January 2006. Details of the exam system and a sample paper will be published in Echo Ireland in coming months.

South Dublin Radio Club are providing theory revision classes from 8.00 p.m. every Tuesday night in the Ballyroan Community Centre, Marian Road, Rathfarnham.


IRTS Committee Meeting

The next IRTS committee meeting will be held on Saturday next May 28th at the Montague Hotel in Portlaoise starting at 11.00 am. Clubs with at least fifteen society members in their ranks may send a representative to committee meetings subject to prior notification to the secretary. This representative will have full voting rights. Clubs not able to fulfil that requirement may send an observer to the meetings. To date only three clubs have nominated representatives to the committee.


Worked All Ireland

Given the currently poor conditions on 40 metres. The WAI net is moving from its usual frequency of 7.068 to 3.680 MHz in the 80-metre band.

The Cork Repeater Group is at present in the process of upgrading both the 2 metre and 70 centimetre repeaters, and wishes to apologise for the interruption of service, it is hoped to have both back in full service in the next few weeks.


70cm Repeater in Limerick

The 70-centimetre repeater is back on air from the Patrickswell, Co.Limerick test QTH. Receive frequency is RB5, 433.125 MHz and transmit is +1.6 MHz offset. CTCSS / PL tone is 103.5 Hz.

Signal reports and queries to EI9FEB at Eircom dot net.


Mid Ulster ARC Rally

The Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club are hosting the annual Rally and Computer Fair next Sunday the 29th of May in "The Embankment", Derrymacash, near Lurgan, Co. Armagh. Doors open at noon and the event will feature all the usual traders, bring and buy, pub grub and lunches etc. Talk in is on S22.

For more info contact Ivan GI0SZH on 02838 242501 or john GI0KUH at j.p.mccabe at btinternet dot com.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The next general meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take place this coming Wednesday May the 25th and will feature a talk and presentation regarding AREN. The talk will be given by John Ketch, EI2GN and John Costello EI9ESB will give a demonstration on the Anderson Power Pole system.

The meeting starts at 8.00 p.m. in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford and all are welcome.


CW Field Day

The CW Field Day will be held in two weeks time on Saturday and Sunday June 4th and 5th. To date, the following have confirmed their participation: The Shannon Basin Group, The East Cork Group and Joe Ryan EI7GY.

The Shannon Basin Group will operate from their usual location in Ballinasloe and Joe EI7GY plans to operate from County Wicklow. EI7M/P will be located at Pluxtown near the town of Athboy in County Meath with Steve EI9HC and Dave EI4BZ operating.

An invitation is extended to anyone interested in joining the lads for all or part of the weekend. If you do not want to operate, please call in anyway to say hello. Contact Steve EI9HC on 087-6960154 or Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574 for exact directions to the site, which is located near the karting track. They will be on site from 10.00 a.m. on the Saturday morning.


Indian Amateur Radio Satellite Launched Successfully

A new amateur radio satellite was launched successfully on the 5th of May last. 'Hamsat' is the first amateur satellite built by Indian radio amateurs. It carries transponders with 70 centimetre uplinks and 2 metre downlinks and further details are available on the AMSAT India website at www.amsatindia.com

Hamsat has been monitored by various amateurs / experimenters across the globe and Amsat India has already received several reports. AMSAT India welcomes heard and worked reports by email to reports at amsat dot in.


Amateur Radio on Columbus

ARISS Europe extended a request to ESA for amateur radio facilities on Columbus, the European ISS laboratory presently under construction. In 2003 ESA's Columbus division agreed on the principle. The project is to install amateur radio antennas underneath the module, facing Earth. The antennas will be installed prior to launch. Columbus will be transported in the bay of an American Shuttle. Therefore, since little room is left between the module and the Shuttle bay, the ARISS antennas will be patch antennas, flat planes a few millimetres thick. On the conical end of the module, where it attaches to the ISS main structure, feedthroughs have been installed for the ARISS antennas and coax cables are run from the feedthroughs to the nadir.

The development of the antennas is presently taken care of by the Institute of Telecommunications and Acoustics of the Wroclaw University of Technology. The proposed Columbus antennas will work on UHF, L-band and S-band. For VHF, the surface available on the Meteorite Debris Panels is not sufficient.

The ARISS antennas should be installed in the Autumn this year. A most important aspect of the project has yet to be solved, funding.

The installation cost of the ARISS antennas on Columbus exceeds 100,000 Euro. ESA initially offered to support 50,000 Euro of this amount. Presently ESA has decided to cover the installation cost. Presently ARISS has collected about 9,000 Euro and 20,000 Euro has been pledged.

An account has been opened by AMSAT Belgium. More information is available at www.ariss-eu.org/columbus.htm Donations are listed from societies as well as from individuals. Taking into account the regulations on privacy protection, donations are listed as anonymous, unless the donator states his identity as reference for the transfer.

Without any additional cost for international money transfer, even the smallest donation is useful and will be most appreciated. Please don't forget to reference the transfer as " Donation Columbus ".

Donations can also be made using Pay Pal accounts or by Credit Card. For more information, visit the ARISS web site at www.ariss-eu.org/columbus.htm


Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be forwarded to Mark EI7IS at QTHR or by phone to 087-6302026. News should be submitted via e-mail to news@irts.ie for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no later than midday on Fridays.

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