Archived News Script

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday June 24th 2001


Silent Key

Paddy Twomey, EI2HT from Loughrea passed away recently. Paddy was an active radio amateur and keen CW operator. He is survived by his wife Dolores. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.


IRTS Press Release

The Irish Radio Transmitters Society has called on the ODTR, the regulatory body for amateur radio licensing in Ireland, to implement CEPT policy and immediately reduce the Morse code proficiency speed to 5 words per minute.

Society Secretary, John Corless EI7IQ, in a letter to the authority has also called for a substantial increase in UHF allocation for amateur/experimenter use in Ireland, in line with ITU allocations.

The Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificate TR 61/02 was revised in The Hague in early February 2001 and published by CEPT on March the 7th. Under current regulations, applicants for Irish Class A licenses must pass a test of 12wpm, and a situation exists whereby visitors to Ireland with Class A licenses gained at the 5wpm speed, can not operate on HF bands while in this country. This is an unacceptable situation for the IRTS, as Ireland has proven a very popular holiday destination for amateurs.

The ODTR came in for sharp criticism from members at the IRTS AGM recently. Speakers were angry that legislation promised years ago was not yet implemented,and that it did not seem to have advanced since the previous AGM. Criticism was also expressed at the delay in dealing with routine licensing matters. This in particular was a new and worrying development, and marked a deterioration in the level of service extended to the hobby by the regulators. While members were understanding of the workload placed on the ODTR, they remained unhappy with current levels of service and called on Officers of the Society to step up the campaign to have new legislation implemented.


Awards

The following are some of the awards that were presented at the recent IRTS AGM. The IRTS 2 metre Counties for Spring and Autumn 2000 (high power fixed) were awarded to EI2IT and the low power fixed section, again for Spring and Autumn went to EI3ENB and the Paddy Daly Microphone for the IRTS SSB Field Day 2000 (open section) was awarded to EI7M. The IRTS HF Shield for the SSB Field Day (restricted section) went to EI2K which was run by Mayo Radio Experimenters Network.


News from Galway

The Galway Repeater is back to its original position on the tower at Tonabrukey. Aengus EI4ABB and Richard EI5GC put the Antenna back on top of the tower. The coverage should be much better now, and reports would be appreciated. The IRTS News is read from Galway each Monday night at 2000 hrs local on R1 145.625 MHz FM. The news is followed by a QSO.

Staying with Galway, Ciaran EI8IH is the proud owner of a new tower. The tower was erected with the help of Damian EI2HG, Aengus EI4ABB and Richard EI5GC while Ciaran was Tea boy and supervisor, look out for big signals on HF.


Coast Wireless Station Special Event

During the very early days of wireless, Marconi's Wireless Telegraphy Co. built a number of wireless stations around the coasts of our islands for the purpose of facilitating experimental communication with shipping. Ten of these stations were operational in 1901 and in commemoration of this radio amateurs will operate a special Coast Wireless Station special event from each of the ten sites. The event is been organised by Martin Snow GW3PRL of the Dragon Amateur radio Club in Anglesey. In EI Stan Williams EI5IY will opperate from the original Marconi site at Crookhaven and the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will activate the Rosslare site.


4 Metre Activity Evening

Calling all 4 metre operators. In the interests of generating some activity on the 4 meter band there will be a call in on 70.2625 MHz on the first Tuesday of every month. The first 4 metre activity evening starts at 8.00pm on the 3rd of July. Whether you have AM/FM/SSB gear, use vertical or horizontal polarization, give a call in. If there is sufficient interest 4 meter / 6 meter cross band may be investigated. Even if you do not have access to 4 meter gear SWL reports would be most welcome, e-mail EI3IX at joe_fadden@yahoo.com.


2 Meter SSB Activity

Anyone interested in 2 meter SSB activity? If so there is a call in every week after the Sunday 11 o'clock I.R.T.S. news, on 144.300 MHz. A number of operators monitor and call on this frequency but never hear anyone. It does not matter wither your antenna is horizontal or vertical, just give a call and lets try and get some activity going on this mode.

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 at www.qsl.net/ei7gl Thanks to John for including the table on his homepage.


Short Wave News

It has been reported that an international coalition of radio listeners has been formed to urge the BBC to reconsider its decision to end short-wave radio broadcasts of the World Service to North America and the South Pacific on July the 1st. The Coalition to Save the BBC World Service disputes BBC claims that listeners are migrating in large numbers to alternative media such like the Internet and satellite to hear the World Service. For more information visit South Eastern Amateur Radio Group The next general meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take place on Wednesday the 27th of June 2001 at 8.00pm in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy road Waterford. All are welcome. For enquiries,phone 087-6302026 or e-mail searg@angelfire.com.


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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