Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 3rd April 2016
IRTS AGM 2016
Next weekend, Limerick Radio Club will host the 84th Annual General Meeting of the Irish Radio Transmitters Society, that’s 9th & 10th April 2016. The venue will be the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, Ennis Road, Limerick.
There are 4 Workshop Talks arranged for Saturday 9th April. The talks are free and start at 2pm sharp. Everyone is welcome.
You need to book your dinner tickets now as they are selling out fast. They are just €35 and are available from Tony EI2AW QTHR Golf Links Road, Castletroy, Limerick.
Limerick Radio Club has arranged with the IRTS that tickets can be booked and payment made online through the IRTS web site at www.irts.ie/agm On receipt of payment tickets can be mailed to you or collected at the hotel on the night.
Payment can be also be made by cheque, money order or via paypal. Contact Tony EI2AW on 061-334076 or Email condona /at/ eircom.net.
The Limerick Radio Club Rally will be held on Sunday 10th. Doors open at 11am. Entrance fee is €5. More information is available from Simon EI7ALB on 0872858884 or kenmare32 /at/ eircom.net
For further information see www.irts.ie and also www.limerickradioclub.ie/
Amateur Station Licence Examination
The next Amateur Station Licence Examination will be held on Thursday, 2nd June in the ComReg Offices in Dublin and at other centers if warranted by the numbers. Quite a few applications have been received so those intending to sit the examination should apply very soon. 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 Thursday, 19th May.
Three Exam Reports which were previously published in Echo Ireland are 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. Intending candidates are advised to pay particular attention to the syllabus for the examination especially Annexes 1 and 2.
Counties Contest
The Two Metres Counties Contest held on Easter Monday was well supported, with more than 60 EI and GI stations active, including a number of portable stations on the hills. Band conditions on the day were not particularly good, so there were few "DX" QSOs. Some operators were only able to work distant stations by switching to SSB, having failed to complete the QSO on FM. Logs should be sent to contestmanager /at/ irts.ie by 11th April.
DXCC Update
One of the most wanted DXCC entities, Kingman Reef, has been deleted from the DXCC List. This has happened because of a change in the administration of the Reef. Kingman and the nearby Palmyra Island are both now administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, so from a DXCC point of view, Kingman Reef is therefore considered part of the Palmyra/Jarvis DXCC entity.
This change reduces the number of current DXCC entities to 339, with ‘Honor Roll’ status now attainable after confirming 330 entities on the DXCC List. See www.irts.ie/dxcc for the EI stations in the DXCC programme.
South Dublin Radio Club
This years South Dublin Radio Club AGM will take place on Tuesday 5th April at 8.30pm. All members are asked to attend. Amateur Radio classes are ongoing every week on a drop in basis. Please call by.
DX News
The ARRL Awards Committee last week announced that they had voted to delete Kingman Reef (KH5) from the DXCC List, effective 29th March 2016. This means that the number of current entities on the List now becomes 339. The other effect of the change is that Honor Roll status is now attainable on confirming 330 current entities. The most recent DXpedition to Kingman Reef was K5K operated by the Palmyra DX Group in 2000. More than 80,000 QSOs were made over a period of 10 days.
Pekka OH1TV and Pekka OH2YY will be QRV from Layang Layang in the Spratly Islands from 5th to 9th April. Details of their callsign will be released on 4 April and is expected to have a 9M0 prefix. QSL Manager is OH2YY.
Alex W1CDC will be active as 8R1A from Guyana from 11th to 24th April. This will be a holiday-style activation 80m to 10m mainly on CW. QSL to the home call.
Jacek SP5APW will visit Koh Rong Sanloem Island in Cambodia from 12th to 18th April. His callsign will be XU7AKC and the IOTA reference is AS-133. QSL via ClubLog OQRS.
The surprise visit to North Korea by Dom 3Z9DX last December where he gave a demonstration of amateur radio to local officials has been given approval for DXCC credit. The callsign used was P5/3Z9DX. He made in the region of 785 QSOs and it is hoped that further visits may be possible in the future.
To the Moon and back…
To celebrate the 84th IRTS AGM the IRTS logo has been bounced off our nearest neighbour in space through the good offices of Andreas DJ5AR. The logo was transmitted by HB9Q as SSTV using 1000W into a 10m solid dish. The receiving station was PI9CAM with the 25m Radiotelescope. See www.irts.ie/agm for more details.
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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