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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 15th April 2018


IRTS Annual General Meeting

The news team would like to wish all those attending the IRTS AGM and rally today an absolutely wonderful time. It is sure to be a great day in Galway.


Amateur Station Licence Examination

An important reminder that the next Amateur Station Licence Examination will be held on Thursday 31st May in the ComReg Offices in Dublin. Some applications have already been received. As places are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis those intending to sit the examination should apply soon. Full details, including entry procedure, examination fee and how to pay the fee online 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. It is important to note that even if you pay the fee online you must still complete and forward the application form. The closing date for receipt of completed applications is Thursday 17th May.


International Space Station

The international space station will be easily received as it passes over Ireland on Thursday April 18th 2018.

Astronaut Ricky Arnold KE5DAU will be speaking to children at King’s High School, Warwick, UK, direct via GB4KHS

Contact is 12:05:19 UTC which is 1:05 pm Irish time. One side of the conversation will be easily heard on 145.800FM over all of Ireland even on a handheld. Date and time may change.


International Marconi Day

International Marconi Day is held annually on the Saturday nearest the birthday (25th April) of Guglielmo Marconi to celebrate the major part he played in the development of Radio.

This year, that is Saturday next April 21st. The event runs for the full 24 hours.

The purpose of the day is for amateur radio enthusiasts around the world to make contact with Historic Marconi Sites using communication techniques similar to those used by Marconi himself.

Special Awards are available for any station making contact with at least 15 of the registered IMD stations and Shortwave Listeners need to hear/log 15 stations. Full details available on www.gx4crc.com

Six EI stations are registered to take as follows;

EI1IMD Avondhu Radio Club in Cliften, Co. Galway

EI5IMD Cork Radio Club at Marconi House in Crookstown

EI6YXQ Kerry Radio Club in Ballybunion, Co. Kerry

EI0CAR Carndonagh ARC at Malin Head in Donegal

EI0IMD North Cork Radio Group in Mizen Head, West Cork

EI0MAR Howth Martello Tower Radio Group from Howth Martello Tower, Dublin


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC will for the 11th consecutive year take part in the Geoparks Communications weekend which takes place over the weekend of the 9th & 10th of June to coincide with European Geoparks week. The location will be their usual spot at the Old Copper Mine, Tankardstown, Bunmahon. Access to the site will be available on the morning of the 9th with ample room for parking and camping overnight. The clubs renowned BBQ will take place on the Saturday evening.

If you fancy a go at Foxhunting SEARG will have a fox in hiding on both Saturday and Sunday. So, everyone get your Foxhunting gear out of the attic! Tea/Coffee will be available all weekend.

More details of the weekend will be announced once fully confirmed. SEARG would like to thank John Galloway, Manager of the Copper Coast Geopark Centre, Bunmahon for making this excellent site available for them to use for the Geopark Weekend 2018. For more info about the Copper Coast Geopark see the website www.coppercoastgeopark.com

The April meeting of the group will take place on Monday the 30th of April 2018 in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford at 8.00 p.m. sharp. At this meeting John EI7IG will be doing a show and tell on DMR entitled "DMR and Brandmeister in Ireland” New members or anyone interested in learning more about amateur radio or the group are as always very welcome to attend.

For anyone who wishes to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and their activities you can come along to any of their meetings. Check out the group website www.searg.ie You can also join them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.


Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club

Following on from their recent exam successes, the Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club continues with the promotion, education and enjoyment of amateur radio.

On the weekend of 20th, 21st and 22nd of April the Club will be operating from the historical site of Navan Fort, near Armagh City.

Famed as the site of the throne of the ancient Kings of Ireland Navan Fort will be alive to the sounds of Amateurs from across the world as the Club activates for International Marconi Day. With a full station line up their call-sign MN0VFW will be aired across the normal HF bands as well as their usual presence on 2m simplex, DMR, CW amongst other modes.

An advance party will erect the station on Friday 20th with the main operations taking place from Saturday morning right through to Sunday afternoon. This event traditionally marks the start of the summer season. Visitors, both on air and in person are, as always, very welcome.

In the coming weeks and months, the club will be running a special portable station for a local scout troop, have a small station at the Tandragee 100, be active for SOS radio week and Museums on the Air.

All this and the continuing provision of Foundation training and exams to satisfy the steady stream of new recruits to the hobby means a busy summer for all concerned.

Past, present and future information is always available from their club website www.muarc.com


Howth Martello Radio Group

In 1905 the Howth Martello tower was a receiving station set up to demonstrate the Marconi system to engineering staff from the British Post Office in support of an application for a contract for wireless telegraphy. The Royal Mail Ship Monarch with wireless telegraphy transmitting equipment on board sailed to various locations in the Irish Sea and its signals were monitored and logged in Howth.

EI0MAR plans to be QRV from about 0800 to 1800 UTC as an Award Station for International Marconi Day and invites visitors to the event. Especially welcome will be operators willing to give some time to go on air either on phone or CW. You can contact the station manager Tony EI5EM by telephone on 087-2147531 or by email “ei0mar /at/ eircom /dot/ net” if interested to operate on the day.


DX News

A group of operators from the Czech Republic will be active as Z66D from Kosovo from 15th–21st April. They will be QRV on all bands CW, SSB and RTTY. For those who missed Z60A in January this is an opportunity to get a new DXCC into the log without the massive pile-ups that were all too obvious earlier in the year. QSLs for Z66D go via Club Log OQRS.

Ken KH6QJ will operate as T32AZ on Christmas Island in East Kiribati from 17th – 24th April. The IOTA reference is OC-024 and QSL to the home callsign. Kay WA0WOF/EI7HQ and three other YL’s will be operating from A5 Bhutan from April 29th to May 5th. Kay has been issued with the call A52YLE.The Dxpedition will be using the call A52YL. Kay will be listening out for EI calls, all the details of the DXpedition are available on WA0WOF’s web page on QRZ.COM

Grant VK5GR will visit Vanuatu from 16th–30th April. Look for him as YJ0AG from IOTA reference OC-035. QSL via M0OXO OQRS.

Prefix hunters may be interested in Special Event stations that will be on the air to celebrate 70 years of the State of Israel. The calls to look out for are 4X70A, 4X70E, 4X70I, 4X70L. 4X70R, 4X70S, 4X70J and 4Z70IARC. The calls will be on the air from 19th April–27th June.


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, Mark EI6HPB on 086 355 2370.

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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