Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 23rd September 2018
Silent Key - Seán Nolan EI7CD
Many listeners to this news bulletin will have heard the sad news that our great friend Seán Nolan EI7CD became a Silent Key on Thursday last, 20th September. Seán died in hospital after a short illness.
Seán was an active radio amateur for almost 50 years and during that period contributed significantly to the work of IRTS. He was involved for many years in the production of the monthly newsletter, he was President of the society from 1977 to 1979 and more recently he took a leading role in liaising with ComReg on many key issues. Seán will be remembered fondly by those preparing for the Amateur Station Licence exam for the friendly support and encouragement he gave to all candidates. Listeners to the HF News Bulletins on Sunday mornings will be well acquainted with Seán, as he was the newsreader until a few months ago when illness prevented him from going on air.
Seán was pre-deceased by his wife Betty. We extend our sympathy to Seán’s family, including his children Philip, Paul, Bláthnaid and Sinéad.
May he rest in peace.
Contest Results
Results of SSB Field Day, which took place over the weekend of 1st and 2nd September, have been published. 5 EI stations submitted logs. Band conditions were well down on previous years, with no propagation on the higher bands, so most activity was on 40 metres and 80 metres. The Contest Results page www.irts.ie/results has the details.
IOTA Contest Results
Provisional results for the 2018 RSGB IOTA Contest have been announced. There were 2,200 entries for this contest, which took place at the end of July. East Cork Amateur Radio Group was the highest scoring station, with more than 3,700 QSOs. 23 EI and GI stations submitted logs, and their results can be seen at www.irts.ie/results which also includes a link to the complete results for all stations.
Cork Radio Club
Cork Radio Club held their postponed annual general meeting on Wednesday April 19th and the following officers were elected:
Chairman: Jerry Cahill, EI6BT Vice Chairman: Denis Long EI5GSB Secretary: Dave Moore EI4BZ Treasurer: Jim Barry EI8GS QSL/Awards Manager: Tim McKnight EI2KA IRTS Representative: Dave Moore EI4BZ Committee Members: Don Kelly EI8DJ, Dave Deane EI9FBB and Sean Cowman EI3GS.
The club meets on the 3rd Wednesday each month at 8pm at Carrigtwohill Community Centre where both visitors and new members are always welcomed.
For information about the club please email “info /at/ corkradioclub /dot/ ie” or ring 087-6290574.
IECRO Radio Club
Reminder that IECRO radio club in Mullingar is currently running some rapid revision sessions for anyone who wants to top up their knowledge in preparation for the next license examination. All are welcome to attend. For more information visit www.iecro.com/training/
DMR Net Monday, 24th of September
Steve, EI5DD is planning to hold a National DMR net on Monday the 24th of September at 8:30 pm sharp on the Ireland Calling Channel TG 2722. The purpose of this initiative is to determine how many operators are now active on air and to evaluate the approximate numbers for each county including those in Northern Ireland. Each county will be called in alphabetical order. To keep the activity swift and snappy, please give Callsign, Name, County, and conclude with No Traffic. The Call-in should only take 15 minutes maximum and there will be plenty of time to hold a free for all QSO at the end of the call ins.
Currently there are two DMR repeaters in the Waterford and a third just active in Galway with the proposal for a second repeater to cover a wider area due to come on line next year. There are two DMR Gateways; one in Galway situated in a high location and on 144.850 MHz and the other Located just outside of Balla, Co. Mayo on 144.825. Naturally as the number of Repeaters or Gateways increase around the country there will be more of an incentive to become involved in this interesting facet of the Hobby.
The Brandmeister DMR Server is located in Waterford and has been operational for well over a year and under the meticulous care of Sysop, John Ronan, EI7IG. The Server has run trouble free with no appreciable down-time save for the purpose of hardware or software upgrades. Please make every effort to join in as this will give an true account of activity from each county. If sufficient interest is shown, we may hold this net on a weekly basis.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group
A reminder that the September meeting of the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take place Monday the 24th of September 2018 in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford at 8.00 p.m. sharp. Details of the group’s Christmas party which is due to be held on the 15th December in the Springhill Court Hotel Kilkenny will be discussed on the night. Sean EI2HZB will also be taking deposits on the night for anyone intending to attend the Christmas party. New members or anyone interested in learning more about amateur radio or the group are as always very welcome to attend.
For anyone that wishes to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and their activities you can drop them an email to “info /at/ searg /dot/ ie” or please feel free to come along to any of the groups meetings. You can check out their website www.searg.ie and you can also join them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
“ENIGMA RELOADED" 2018
From the 28th September to the 6th October the Enigma Reloaded event will be taking place this year. The main goal of the enigma event is to promote as much radio amateur activity as possible all over the world, celebrating the history of the Enigma cipher machine and its crucial role in the outcome of World War II, and spreading the knowledge of those key people who contributed to its decryption.
The "Enigma Reloaded" event will take place in two steps :
- From 28th September to 5th October, Italian and foreign Amateur radio stations registered as "Activator stations” will ensure the activation of their radio stations in order to allow the participants to get their scores for the "Enigma Award" Contest.
- On 6th October, the final event’s day, the Activator Stations will exchange predefined CW messages previously enciphered by a real or emulated Enigma machine.
All details and rules are available on the official website www.enigma-reloaded.it/index_eng.html
M5 prefix makes an appearance again
Ofcom seems to have begun issuing M5 prefix callsigns again. RSGB Youth Committee Chair Mike Jones has been issued the Full licence callsign M5PMJ. Mike first became licensed as Foundation level back in 2011. Later he was upgraded to intermediate level callsign 2E0MLJ. Recently he completed his studies to become a full license holder. Ofcom originally issued M5 prefix callsigns for Class A/B licences from 1999 to 2001. Only a few hundred M5 calls were ever issued before 2001. This is thought to be the first M5 call to have been issued in the past 17 years.
LCFE Course HL050
Despite members of LRC manning a stand at the information evening and providing equipment, insufficient numbers showed interest in attending the Limerick College of Further Education ‘taster’ course HL050 on Introduction to Amateur Radio Technology/Transmitters. Sadly this course has now been cancelled. LRC members will continue to support individuals or groups who wish to attain a licence through the HAREC course, details of which are on the IRTS web site. Should sufficient numbers be interested, a more formal course can be arranged by LRC, with a start date of mid-January 2019. Please contact LRC Secretary Michael EI3KO at “michaelkirwan /at/ eircom /dot/ net” or on 0851541095
DX News
Steve G4EDG will be QRV from the southern Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha until 22nd October. His callsign is ZD9CW and he will be on 40 – 15m mainly on CW and RTTY with some SSB. The IOTA reference is AF-029 and QSL Manager is LZ1JZ.
Two German stations are on Svalbard until 25th September. Look for JW/DL4APJ and JW/DJ2AX. QSL to the home call.
A group of 7 Czech operators will be active as TO6OK from the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte until 6th October. They will be on all bands 10 – 160m on SSB, CW, RTTY and FT8. QSL via Club Log OQRS.
Pasi OH3WS is back on Market Reef as OJ0W until 29th September. He is active on 60 – 10m mainly on CW. QSL to the home call.
Prefix hunters may be interested in working three special event stations from Saudi Arabia. They are HZ88ND, 7Z88ND and 8Z88ND and will be on the air until 30th September. This is to mark the 88th National Day of the Unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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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