Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 12th April 2015
Amateur Station Licence Examination
The next Amateur Station Licence Examination will be held on Thursday, 4th June in the ComReg Offices in Dublin. Full details, including entry procedure, examination fee and how to pay the fee on line are available at www.irts.ie/exam . Please note that it is necessary to download the application form from the web page and forward the completed form and the appropriate fee so as to secure a place for the examination. If you pay the fee on line you must still complete and forward the application form. The closing date for receipt of completed applications is Wednesday 20th May. Three Exam Reports which were previously published in Echo Ireland are now available on the Downloads section of the website at www.irts.ie/downloads under Studying for the Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificate. These reports contain very useful information for anyone studying for the Licence Examination.
Two Metres Contest
The two metres counties contest on Easter Monday was well supported, band conditions were better than average, as was the weather. Indeed, with sunshine over most of the country we were not surprised to hear many "stroke-portable" call signs during the contest. The portable stations included a number of clubs, such as Dundalk Amateur Radio Society, South Eastern Amateur Radio Group, Kerry Amateur Radio Group, Avondhu Radio Club and Mayo Radio Experimenters Network, plus many other individual operators.
The contest manager has asked everyone who participated to submit their log - even if it's only for a few QSOs. Logs can be emailed to contestmanager /at/ irts.ie or sent by post to Joe EI7GY at his home address (see the call book). The deadline for logs is Monday 20th April.
83rd IRTS AGM Dinner and Rally – 25th/26thApril-
Kilkenny 2015
The last of the dinner tickets for the IRTS annual dinner on 25th April have now being sold or reserved. Anyone wishing to attend the dinner and who has not bought or booked their tickets are asked to contact the organising committee members as soon as possible via email at irtsagm /at/ searg.com Admission to the dinner is strictly by ticket only.
The rally will take place as usual on Sunday 26th April.
Cork Radio Club
Cork Radio Club will continue their annual general meeting on Wednesday next April 15th at 8.30pm in Carrigtwohill Community Centre. All members are asked to attend this very important meeting where plans for upcoming events will be finalised. New members will be very welcome and further information on the club can be had from Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574 or by emailing EI4BZ/at/eircom/dot/net.
Lough Erne Radio Rally
The Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club 34th Annual Rally will be held on Sunday 10th May at the Share Centre, Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh. Doors open at 11.30am.www.learc.eu
2m Nets
SEARG will continue their 2m net on Tuesday nights after the IRTS weekly news. This is to promote the use of the band, which has seen a decline in use. The intended frequency used is 145.400MHz and net has had many stations calling in since its introduction. Everyone welcome to join in.
Fingal Radio Club and Dermot EI2HD continue their 2m call-in on Wednesday and every Wednesday at 7p.m. Please try and give your support by getting on the air. Keep 2metres alive. The frequency is 145.7625MHz, CTCSS 88.5KHz on the Dublin repeater
DX News
Brian GW4DVB returns for his third visit to Palm Island in the Caribbean territory of St Vincent from 13th to 22nd April. His callsign is J88PI and counts as NA-025 for IOTA. He will operate on 40 – 6m SSB and QSLs go via the home call.
In spite of the damage caused by the recent cyclone that hit the Pacific nation of Vanuatu the proposed DXpedition planned by JA1XGI is going ahead. Haru will be active as YJ0XG on 40 – 10m from Port Vila from 13th to 19th April.
Gert ZS6AYU is making another trip to Lesotho from 14th to 17th April. He will reactivate his 7P8GF callsign and be QRV from the Katse Dam on 40 – 6m CW. QSL to his ZS call.
A DXpedition to Pagasa Island in the Spratly Archipelago will take place from 14th to 20th April. The callsign will be DX0P and QSLs go via WA6LOS. This counts as a separate entity for DXCC and the IOTA reference is AS-051.
EI90IARU
IRTS has been issued with the call sign EI90IARU to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) in Paris in 1925. The call sign is available for use by any EI station in the 26 counties holding a current amateur station licence.
Anyone wishing to use the call sign can do so subject to notifying Dave O'Conner EI6AL of the times/ bands/modes prior to going on the air so as to avoid any potential duplication. Anyone applying to use the call sign is considered to be undertaking to use it in accordance with the ComReg Regulations, Technical Conditions, Frequency allocations and Guidelines relating to amateur stations.
It is also essential that logs (preferably in ADI format) are kept when using the call sign and copies emailed to Dave EI6AL so that a central log can be held for QSL or other purposes. Dave can be contacted at dave.ei6al /at/ gmail.com or by phone on 086 1000000
South Africa on 40MHz
Amateur Radio Operators have been given 'propagation studies' permission to transmit between 40.675MHz and 40.685MHz as 'primary users' and use up to 26dBW (400Watts) of power.
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 may be 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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