Archived News Script

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday March 18th 2001


IRTS Annual General Meeting

Following Minister Joe Walsh’s announcement on Friday last of the lifting of some of the restrictions on the holding of events, all doubts about going ahead with the IRTS AGM, Dinner Dance and Rally have now been dispelled.

The events will take place as planned in the Limerick Inn Hotel on the weekend of April the 7th and 8th.

Paul EI6FE would appreciate hearing from any of you intending attending the dinner dance on the Saturday night.. Contact Paul on the phone at 061-360122 outside working hours.

While the hotel is fully booked, there is plenty of room available in nearby bed and breakfast establishments. See the last Echo Ireland for a full list.


2 metre SSB

If you have access to 2m SSB equipment why not call in every week after the Sunday 11 O’clock IRTS news, on 144.300 MHz. A number of operators monitor and call in on this frequency but never hear anyone. It does not matter whether your antenna is horizontal or vertical, just give a call and lets try and get some activity going on this mode. If anyone wants to try and get a sked going for any of the other modes A1A, A3E etc. on 2 metres or 70 cm's, e-mail joe_fadden@yahoo.com. The squares table is up and running again this year, anyone working DX on any of the VHF/UHF bands please forward their totals for inclusion on this table. The table will be published in each edition of the newsletter, anyone looking for the up to date scores will find them on EI7GL's web page. Thanks to John for including the table on his homepage.


Foot and Mouth Disease in the UK

While the foot-and-mouth Disease Controlled Area Order is in operation, the Radio Society of Great Britain advises all UK radio amateurs to avoid any activity that will bring them into contact with farm land or animals susceptible to the disease. This will mainly apply to portable contest operation, rallies and maintenance visits to repeaters, etc. RSGB VHF Contest Committee have announced that the Portable sections of all its contests are suspended forthwith. This temporary rule will remain in force until the outbreak is under control.


EI Activity Weekend

The EI activity weekend will take place again this year on March the 17th and 18th. Everybody can get involved in this event using any band and any mode, as the purpose of the event is to promote amateur radio in EI. This particular activity is easy to get involved in as operators can participate from their own homes. This event went very well last year so lets hope that this year sees the same amount of activity on the air. IRTS Awards Nominations are requested by the Awards Manager Peter EI4HX for the following IRTS Awards:- ARUP cup, Collins Cup, Pat Conway Cup, Folan Shield, Sheila Piper Cup, and the Kevin Freeny Trophy. Applications are also invited for the EI7IQ 6 Metre Activity Awards. [See page 19 of the new 2001 Year Book]. Please note that those holding awards must return them before the AGM.

The Ian Morris Memorial Trophy is presented at the IRTS AGM each year to the short-wave listener who has the most DXCC entities confirmed during the previous year. The closing date for entries is April the 1st 2001.

St. Patrick’s Day in Moscow

The St. Patrick’s day parade in Moscow will take place on March 18th and radio amateurs will operate a special event station for the occasion. The details are as follows: The operators of the Russian Team are Gene RW3AC, Oleg RK3FT, Slava RK3FM, Victor RU3DGD and Vladimir RX3AHH and they will use the special callsign RI3DSP during Saint Patrick's Day Celebration and Parade in Moscow from midnight on the 17th 17.03 until midnight on the 19th. The team will use all bands and SSB and CW mode.


DX News

SPRATLY ISLANDS. Members of the Central Arizona DX Association are QRV as 9M0M in the Spratly Islands. Activity is on 80 to 10 meters using CW and SSB. QSL via K7XN.


Worked All Ireland

The WAI net frequency is 7.068 MHz and some Counties seem to have a low profile on this net. Operators (operating from fixed stations) are encouraged to call in to the WAI net from time to time, especially on weekends. So the next time you’re operating on the HF bands, take some time out to call in on 7.068 and promote amateur radio in your area.


Space News

The search for alien radio transmissions was put on hold recently by low-tech vandals. The servers for seti@home.com which co-ordinates the search for extraterrestrial intelligence via its members PCs, was inaccessible for several days as a result of the attack. A note on the University of California at Berkeley’s Web site blamed the problem on a fibre optic cable apparently cut by vandals trying to steal a large copper electrical cable nearby. SETI@Home distributes radio telescope signals to its members PCs for mathematical analysis. The project is one of the most successful examples of distributed computing, with more than 3 million members.


Items for inclusion in Echo Ireland should be forwarded to Dave Moore EI4BZ at 021-4883555 in the evenings or at 021-4823172 during office hours. Items can be submitted to Dave by e-mail at ei4bz@eircom.net and you can fax him at 021-4823316. Items for inclusion in the Radio News should be forwarded to Mark Wall EI7IS at QTHR or via e-mail to ei7is@qsl.net or cyberis@e-merge.ie. Items can also be sent to Mark over the phone at 087-6302026. News can also be submitted via e-mail to news@irts.ie for automatic forwarding to both news services.

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