The following are some of the awards that were presented at the recent IRTS AGM. The IRTS Sheila Piper Cup 2001 was awarded to Colm Ardiff EI3H. The IRTS Arup Cup 2001 went to Ronnie Mc Grane EI9ED. The IRTS Collins Cup 2001 went to George McHugh GI4SRQ and the IRTS Pat Conway Cup 2001 went to Rev Padraic J O'Kelly EI5DA.
The following awards were also presented. The IRTS CW Field Day (Open section) 2000 was awarded to EI7M/P. The IRTS CW Field Day (Restricted) 2000 was awarded to EI6BT/P. The IRTS VHF-UHF Field Day (Open) 2000 went to EI7M and the VHF SHIELD IRTS VHF- UHF Field Day (Restricted) went to EI7TRG. More awards will be announced in next weeks news.
The Irish Hour on 21.317 MHz AT 1700Z on Sunday the 3rd of June consisted of, Glenn EI1CN who is back in EI on a visit, Harry ZS6HFD in South Africa originally from Dublin, Pat XE2/EI9HX in Mexico, Eva KC7RY in Arizona, Brian W7DFO in Washington and Joe W2ORA in New Jersey. That?s four countries,three continents and three states ? not bad for a band with very poor conditions. Pat, EI9HX is now working in Mexico for the next year and asks his friends in EI to look out for him on the Irish Hour on Sundays. The frequency of the Irish Hour is 21.317 MHz at 1700Z. The Irish Hour also had a good turnout at the 3 pm get-together meeting on Friday and Saturday at the Dayton Hamfest. On the Saturday evening, members of the Irish Hour were surprised and pleased to meet Jim EI2BB and Jeff EI6CW, both from Co. Dublin.
Tom, S92TX, is presently active from the DXCC entity Sao Tome-Principe, operating SSB, mainly on 10, 15 and 20 metres he and expects to be on 6 metres soon. Tom is on assignment for the Voice of America and will be there for two years. QSL via W7KNT.
IQ8MFC is active until July the 31st to celebrate the centenary of Marconi?s First Transatlantic Contact between Great Britain and Newfoundland. QSL via IZ8AJQ.
The station GBR in Rugby, England transmitted a special message in Morse code on 16kHz on Tuesday the 29th of May at 1200 and 1330UTC. Paul Hawkins G4KHU who is one of the events organisers reported that the first reception report was received from SV8QG on the island of Lesbos. He also received a transcript of the transmission as it was received from David AA1A, with a 539 signal report. The GBR transmission was organised to mark the centenary of submarine operation by the Royal Navy, it also celebrated the 75 years of radio broadcasts to ships and submarines from the GBR transmitter.
This is an IRTS contest, which takes place on the first weekend of June every year and this usually coincides with the bank holiday weekend, which probably has an effect on the number of participants. It coincides with other CW Field Day contests in IARU Region 1. There is significant participation by field day stations in Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium,Russia and Slovenia. There is normally also a large entry from UK stations,but this year, because of Foot and Mouth restrictions, the RSGB called off the contest in the UK. Nevertheless, many UK stations operated portable in areas not affected by Foot and Mouth, in order to support their fellow contesters in Europe.
Weather conditions were excellent last weekend but unfortunately propagation conditions were not quite as good. However, activity from European stations was quite high and this contest seems to be getting more popular in mainland Europe each year. As far as we are aware only two EI stations were active. Joe Ryan EI7GY operated from a site on the Slieve Blooms near Kinnitty,County Offaly in the restricted section and the East Cork Group, EI7M were in the open section from a site north of Carrigtwohill. The next HF Field Day will the SSB one on the first weekend in September and we look forward to a better entry.
A small reflective plate about 18 inches square has been sitting on the lunar surface bouncing laser beams back to Earth for the past 30 years. It continues to defy the predictions of some early Apollo planners who guessed the specialised mirror would quickly be buried in powdery moondust. The Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector (LRRR) was one of the two main science projects deployed by the Apollo 11 astronauts. The Apollo 11 retro reflector among other similar units left later by the Apollo 14 and 15 missions, and one Soviet lunar probe, have produced many important measurements over the years. These instruments are the only Apollo experiments still working,and with no measurable degradation in their performance. The measurements may have been the most significant of the Apollo 11 science results. These helped scientists understand what governs the motion of the solar system,and better understand the laws of gravity.
Items for inclusion in Echo Ireland should be forwarded to Dave Moore EI4BZ at 021-4353853 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 021-4354113.
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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