The next IRTS committee meeting will take place on Saturday May the 18th at 11.00 a.m. in the Killeshan Hotel, Portlaoise.
The next general meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take place at 8.00 p.m. on Wednesday the 29th of May in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford. The guest at this meeting will be IRTS President, Dave Moore EI4BZ. Members are asked to attend and visitors and new members are welcome.
The Limerick Radio Club are pleased to announce that they will be operating from Inisheer Island, IOTA Ref EU006 in IO53 square, from Friday the 24th of May to Sunday 26th of May 2002. Operation will be on all bands from 80 metres to 6 metres inclusive. This ties in with the CW WPX contest as well as the UKSMG 6 metre contest.
The callsign for the event will be EJ-0-A. Twelve operators will be travelling and the operation will be 24 Hours a day. Further information can be found on the clubs WebPages at www.qsl.net/ej0a More information about this activity is available from the web at www.qsl.net/ej0a
Also, Paul EI6FE will be activating WAI square M40, Co. Claire in June. Operation will be with and FT817 running 5 watts and a dipole antenna. More information will be released soon.
Joe EI3IX recently announced a trip to Inishkea Islands (South Island). This trip now has to be put back 1 month. Joe contacted the ferry owners in Blacksod who take people out to the islands for day trips etc. to confirm the 11th of May, they informed him that due to the unsettled nature of the sea it would be at least the last weekend in May before they would be able to provide this trip.
In light of this Joe has decided to re-schedule the trip for the 8th of June, hopefully at this stage the weather should have improved. The plan is still unchanged operation will be on HF (7.068 MHz), VHF (50.150, 70.2625 & 145.350 MHz) & UHF (433.450 MHz) operation from the 2 WAI squares (F51 and F52) on this island.
If there is any change with the dates due to any further unforeseen problems Joe will try and give as much notice as possible.
The Terenure Rally will take place on Sunday the 26th of May at Terenure College Concert Hall. Doors open at 11.00 am. Admission is €3.00. For information on stalls, contact George EI2CPB on 086-2586103.
The Radiocommunications Agency in the UK has announced details of the qualifications and examinations for the revised licensing structure for the amateur radio service. A new program of study for the UK Intermediate license will be introduced early in 2003. This will be based on the current Novice syllabus but will not include topics covered in the Foundation License.
The new licensing structure was announced in September 2001. It's first phase was the introduction of the Foundation License last January. So far over 1500 M 3 prefix Foundation Licenses having been issued.
Mark Shuttlesworth was active on voice over North America from the International Space Station making random contacts. He used the standard space communications F-M channel pair 145.800 to transmit while listening on 144.490 MHz. One of those he spoke to was AMSAT North America's Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. Mark's audio was captured by Bruce Paige, KK5DO and posted to his website.
This news bulletin is read in Irish every Sunday at 11.30 hrs local time on 7.068 MHz. Newsreaders Paddy EI7GK and Mickey EI6HY welcome call-ins regardless of the level of Irish, so don't be shy about calling in even if you can only give "cúig is a naoi". Paddy has even got emails from SWL's in England and Germany. Beidh Fáilte rómhat.
Items for inclusion in Echo Ireland should be forwarded to Dave Moore EI4BZ at 021-4883555. Items can also be submitted to Dave by e-mail at ei4bz@eircom.net.
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.
[N]