Archived News Script

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday June 20th 2004


EURADIO

Stations that have not yet submitted their logs for the recent Euradio event should do so as soon as possible.

They may be sent electronically to pokane@ei5di.com or in the case of paper logs to Paul O'Kane EI5DI at QTHR. Please note the new email address for EI5DI.


XE1/EI7GK

Paddy EI7GK will be QRV from his daughters house in Mexico in July, using the callsign XE1/EI7GK. He will be on 14.268 MHz and 21.317 MHz beaming towards Ireland.

When he was there in 2002 he found the best time to get propagation to EI was early morning from 0600 to 0800 Irish time. He will be keen to work any EI, GI or MI stations. Beidh Fáilte riomh QSO as Gaeilge.


IOTA Contest

The Islands On The Air Contest, organised by the Radio Society of Great Britain and held on the last weekend of July each year is probably the best supported international contest by EI operators. There are three IRTS trophies to be competed for in this event.

The IRTS IOTA Trophy is awarded to the leading island DX-pedition station,the IRTS DX Cup is for the leading EI operator and the Hal Hodgens Key is won by the highest scoring EI entrant in the 12 Hour CW section.

The announced DX-peditions at this stage are the trip to Bere Island in West Cork which will be a joint venture between the East Cork Group and the Bristol Contest Group. They will operate from the recently renovated Martello Tower on the island and will use the callsign EJ2MT.

Another international group will operate from the Saltee Islands. This will be a Belgian-Irish team and the Irish contingent will include Sean EI4GK, Ian EI7CX, Joe EI7GY and Declan EI9HQ. There are suggestions that there might be activity from the Aran Islands,the Blaskets and from Inishboffin Island off County Donegal.


DX News

DL8HCZ is currently active as CQ14HZE. This is a special callsign for the European Football Championships and will be operational until the 3rd of July.

AC3A will be QRV on HF (40m and above) and 6 metres as CE0/AC3A from Easter Island until the 24th of June.

ZA1DX is QRV from Tirana, Albania until Wednesday the 23rd of June next as part of the Albanian DX Convention.


Packet Radio

Limerick Radio Club has replaced their old Packet BBS, which has been off the air for many years, with a totally new IP based system. EI4LRC-2 at Patrickswell is running at 1200 baud on 144.600 MHz, using MixW and soundcard without a TNC.

Email ei9feb@eircom.net for more details on how to connect. This is a dedicated Web, News and Mail server ONLY accessible on Packet.


VHF/UHF Field Day

The first weekend in July is again the time for the IRTS VHF/UHF Field Day. Please look at page 22 of the March/April issue of Echo Ireland for the new point scoring system for this competition. The new scoring should encourage more activity in the Open section and provide for more competition on individual bands.

Listeners are reminded that the leading station on each band is awarded 1000 points with other entrants getting pro-rata points for their score. This means that entrants in the open section should make every effort to have as good a station as possible on every band. To date, the only entry we know of is the Wexford/East Cork combination and preparations are well advanced to have a competitive station on all bands.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

South Eastern Amateur Radio Group held a Bring and Buy last Thursday the 17th of June. This was a successful event with a stand by South East Communications and a bring and buy area. Jim EI8IG gave a demonstration of ATV and Brendan Kehoe (SWL) demonstrated Wireless WAN. The event was well attended by members and visitors. Special thanks to Mick Hoban EI5DCB for organising the event.

Please note that there will be no general meeting for the month of June and the next general meeting will take place on July the 28th. A committee meeting will take place as normal on Wednesday the 7th of July next.


Island Activity by the WestNet DX Group

The WestNet DX Group will be active from Inis Mor in the Aran Islands until Tuesday next June the 22nd using the callsign EJ7NET.


EI0HQ, IRTS Headquarters Station

The annual IARU HF Championships will take place over 24 hours on July 10th and 11th. EI0HQ will be operated as the IRTS Headquarters station and plans are to have a station on every band on both CW and SSB. Any one interested in getting involved either by providing a station or as a travelling operator should contact EI4BZ as soon as possible. Anyone willing to operate CW will be especially welcome.


Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News for next week should be forwarded to Mark EI7IS. News should be submitted via e-mail to news@irts.ie for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services.

[N]