Archived News Script

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday August 20th 2000


Activity from Cavan

EI’s oldest UHF repeater is back on the air with a new callsign, EI7KRR, Kells Radio Repeater. It is on RB3 with new aerials designed by P.J. EI8IP and is giving very wide coverage.

The repeater can accessed by 8.5 CTCSS or 1750 Hz tone burst. The timeout is two and a half minutes.

It also has a VHF input to the ATV talkback frequency which can be switched on or off by the mobile station.

It is located on Ronnie EI9ED’s site in County Cavan.

This site is also home to the packet links EI7KRC-2, EI7KRC-4 and EI7KRC-7. It also hosts EI2ATR, the 23cms ATV repeater and EI3ATR, the 10GHz ATV repeater.

The EI2ATR TV repeater is on 1276 MHz and is operational with wide coverage giving P5 pictures in Dublin at 55 miles and both Dundalk and Cavan at 30 miles.

The EI3ATR repeater is on 10.040GHz and can be worked at P5 from Cavan to Dundalk and Dublin.

The Irish Amateur Television Club is actively looking for new members and club support nationwide.

There is a link to their web site on the IRTS web site.

All the above listed gear is on a site owned by Ronnie EI9ED and we would like, on behalf of all users, to say thanks to him for his outstanding service to the hobby in Echo India.


Shannon River Run

Many two metre DX operators will have worked Walter, OE6IWG. He is one of the loudest signals into EI with his EME station. Walter will be in EI for the next two weeks cruising Lough Derg and the lower Shannon. He will be QRV on two metres FM signing EI/OE6IWG. Listen out for him, especially in the evenings.

Still on the River Shannon, Paul, EI2CA is finalising the cruisers for the Shannon River Run and clubs are asked to confirm their participation by next Sunday at the latest. Call him at 087-2523908 or email to shannonriverrun@eircom.net This event will be held over the weekend of September 23rd and 24th and is a great group activity.

Worked All Ireland Island activity has been high over recent weeks on the Worked All Ireland net on 7.068MHz and several new award applications are expected as a result.

Last weekend, Paddy EI7GK and John EI7IQ travelled to Inishturk Island off the Mayo coast and after an overnight stay on the island they were very popular on Sunday with a big signal, particularly on 40 metres.

Paddy EI7GK made the Irish language news broadcast from the island and a little bit of history was made as he received his first call-in from a station in England.


Counties Contest

The Autumn 2 Metres Counties Contest will be held on Sunday next August the 27th from 1400 to 1600 local time. Please note the time change from previous years.

Intending participants are reminded that there are some changes to the last published rules, the important ones being that a club entry must be in a portable category and a club entry cannot take part in the FM only section.

FM only stations must be single operator but may be fixed or portable.

Logs must be submitted within 30 days to the Contest Manager, preferably by e-mail and should include a summary sheet showing station location, section entered, final claimed score, the equipment used and the names and callsigns of the operators.

We apologise for the delay in publishing the results of the Spring Counties Contest. They should be available for next weeks bulletin.


Southeast Amateur Radio Group

Rob Mannion, Editor of Practical Wireless Magazine, was the guest at the last general meeting of SEARG which was held on Wednesday 9th August last. Rob spoke about the history of Practical Wireless and his experiences with amateur radio. He also spoke about his experiences in the Navy. The meeting was a great success and was well attended.

A very enjoyable night was had by all, including Rob himself and the club hope to have him visit again at some time in the future.

The group expresses it’s thanks to Rob, G3XFD for taking the time to visit them.

Great credit for organising event must go to Mark EI7IS.

The repeaters operated by the Southeast Group are back on the air again, after being down for a few days for maintenance.

The output on the 2 metre repeater has been increased and the problem with the 70cms one has been solved.

John EI9DIB also serviced the packet system in Helvick.


Intruders on 2 Metres

Mass broadcasts on the CB bands are now quite common throughout the country but reports have recently been received of similar broadcasts on the 2 metre amateur band in the west of the country.

It is important that this intrusion on an amateur band be stopped immediately and all broadcasts heard should be reported to the IRTS monitoring co-ordinator, Danny EI6GS.


Dates for your diary

The HF SSB Field Day will take place over the weekend of September the 2nd and 3rd and on that weekend also, Celticon 2000, a QRP Convention will be held at the Marino Institute in Dublin.

The Cork Rally will be held on September 17th and the Shannon River Run will take place on the following weekend September the 22nd and 23rd.


Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News and the next issue of Echo Ireland should be forwarded to Dave EI4BZ at 021-883555 in the evenings or by e-mail at ei4bz@eircom.net.

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