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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 3rd June 2012


Echo Ireland

The latest edition of Echo Ireland, contains a report on the society's recent Annual General Meeting as well as the Committee Report and annual accounts presented to the AGM.

Recent activities dealt with in Echo Ireland include the very successful EJ0PL expedition to Little Saltee Island, the Skerries Radio Club's Mills On The Air weekend at Skerries Mill, the Titanic Special Event Operation (EI1MGY) by the Mayo Radio Experimenters Network and the Lough Erne Rally.

EI2KC's "HF Happenings" column has reports from a number of EI DXers, as well as details of recent and forthcoming DXpeditions. Anthony EI2KC also reports on his recent visit to the shack of Tony EI7JN. In another "Excerpt from the HX Files", Pat EI2HX describes how he went about extending one of his existing ATV antennas, while in the "Contest Corner", contest manager Thos EI2JD has some advice for contesters on sticking to band plans.

The June Echo Ireland should be with members within the next few days.


Change in 40 Metre News Frequency

The present 40 metre radio news frequency has become increasingly busier on Sunday mornings. This has lead on occasions to some difficulty in the reception of both the bulletins and the reports on the transmissions. It has been decided, therefore, to move the transmission of the 40 metre news to a new frequency of 7123 kHz on and from Sunday the 1st of July. This frequency was selected after monitoring a range of frequencies over a period of time by amateurs who use this particular transmission of the radio news bulletin.


Licence Examination

There are just over two weeks left in which to apply to sit the next Amateur Station Licence Examination which will be held on Thursday 28th June at 2 p.m. in the ComReg Offices in Dublin. The closing date for entries is Thursday 14 June. Full details, including entry procedure, examination fee and how to pay the fee online are available by clicking on the Licence Exam button on the IRTS homepage at www.irts.ie Places for the examination are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis. Please note that it is necessary to download the application form from the web page and forward the completed form and the appropriate fee in order to secure a place for the examination. If you pay the fee on line you must still complete and forward the application form. Please note over half the available places for this examination have already been allocated.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

SEARG, for the 5th successive year again has taken part in the Geoparks Communications weekend which runs in conjunction with European Geoparks Week. The event took place over the weekend of the 26th and 27th of May and the club operated using the callsign EI2GEO from the old copper mine at Tankardstown, near Bunmahon in Co. Waterford on the Copper Coast Geopark. Apart from the good HF band conditions that were prevalent during the clubs stay at the Geopark, it was also the hottest weekend of the year. The annual communications weekend is co-ordinated by the Riviera Amateur Radio Club in Torbay and awards are available for operating Geopark stations. Further information is available on the SEARG web site at www.searg.com

As the Geopark event is not a contest, operation tends to be relaxed with ample time and an ideal location to experiment with antennas. There is also a strong social aspect to the event with barbecue and drinks on the Saturday night.

The Copper Coast European Geopark is located on the South East coast of Ireland. It extends from Fenor in the east to Stradbally in the west and as far north as Dunhill. The Copper Coast gets its name from the 19th Century copper mines that were once predominant in the area.

South Eastern Amateur Radio Group would like to thank Paula McCarthy from the Copper Coast Geopark management for providing us with this excellent location over the last five years. The club are looking forward to operating it again next year.


DX News

Pat F4EBT will be travelling in the French Polynesia area of the Pacific from now until 24 June. He is using the callsign FO/F4EBT from at least two different islands in the IOTA OC-046 group and at least four different islands in the IOTA OC-067 group. QSLs go via his home call or via the French bureau. Another station to look out for in the Pacific is TX5VT operated by Christian F5IDM. He will operate from the separate DXCC entity of the Marquesas Islands from 3 – 11 June. QSL via F5IDM John KB4CRT will be on the Caribbean island of Montserrat from 6 -12 June. His callsign will be VP2MRT and he will be active on all bands 80 – 2m. The IOTA reference is NA-103 and logs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World.

Another activation from Montserrat will be VP2MDD. This time the operator is Graham M0AEP and he will be on the island from 7 June until 6 August. He will concentrate on 12, 10 and 6m. MJ/EI9FBB, Dave, will be on from the old German signal station on Jersey, June 2-6. Dave says he'll have high power to various Yagisa nd verticals, emphasizing the higher HF bands, mostly CW, "with a little SSB thrown in." QSL bureau or direct to EI9FBB, or LoTW.


23cm band covered by GNSS

An article in the Microwave Journal shows that all of 1240-1300 MHz except for one narrow gap will be used by global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). The gap of about 1 MHz occurs at 1259 MHz.


International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend

The 15th International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend in August has inspired many to register early with 32 countries and nearly 250 registered already. To register, complete a short online form, read the event rules and have lots of fun. We have complete statistics on past events, reports from previous years and we're on Facebook too. Visit the website at illw.net for the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend held on August the 18th and 19th.


Items for inclusion in next week’s Radio News can be submitted via e-mail to “newsteam /at/ irts / dot / ie” for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. Urgent news items for the radio news maybe telephoned to the radio news editor, Aidan, EI7JC on 085 7100511.

Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no later than midday on Thursday in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following Sunday’s bulletin.

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