The Mayo radio Experimenters rally will be held in the Belmont Hotel, Knock on Sunday November the 21st. Doors open at 11.30 a.m.
Most of the usual large number of national and local traders have confirmed their attendance again this year. The rally will feature exhibitions and demonstrations and the usual large and varied Bring & Buy section.
The results of the July club competition were as follows: In 1st place was John Corless EI7IQ, 2nd place was taken by Brendan Minish EI6IZ, 3rd was John McAndrew EI3JM, 4th, Terry Ebdon, EI9IW and 5th, Jimmy Kelly, EI2GCB.
Paddy XE1/EI7GK is in Mexico and is active each morning on 14.268 and is very strong in EI with a 5/7, 5/8 signal. He has worked some EI, GI, and G's but would like to hear from more. He is on each morning between 05.00 and 08.00 hrs local.
Keith EI4JM (ex-EI4FBB) has now started a new posting with Concern in Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo. Following his unsuccessful attempts to get a licence while posted in YA last year, submissions are now underway for his new residences. 9X and 9U are not currently issuing licences, although the situation is being monitored closely by various amateurs in the region, but Keith currently has applications in for 5Z4 and 9Q licences.
He is likely to become active in the next month approximately as 9Q1JM and/or 9Q6JM from DR Congo, based in Kinshasa and Goma, depending on security, logistics and time constraints. More details will follow as soon as the situation becomes clearer.
Activity from 5Z4 will normally be on transit trips through Nairobi, so will be more limited and at shorter notice.
SSB Field Day will be held this year on September 4th and 5th and it is hoped to hold it centrally once again at Garbally Park in Ballinasloe. This year, open section stations will be located off site but still in the immediate vicinity of Ballinasloe. Intending entrants should contact the Contest Manager, Noel EI2JC as soon as possible. This of course does not prevent entrants setting up and operating in their own localities. In conjunction with Field Day, experimenters are invited to attend a caravan and camping rally at the same venue. Anyone interested should contact Dave EI4BZ for more information.
The OH2B beacon in Finland, which is part of the world-wide five-band International Beacon Project network, is now back in operation after an absence of two years. It can be heard on the IBP frequencies on 14.100, 18.110, 21.150, 24.930 and 28.200 MHz.
Hal Turley KC8FS is a DXCC Field Checker for ARRL and he has offered his services to any EIs who may need to have QSL cards checked for the DXCC Program Awards. Hal will be in Ireland from August 13th to 22nd and will be staying in Galway, Killarney and Shannon. If you are interested in meeting up with Hal to have cards checked, you should email him as soon as possible at KC8FS@aol.com.
F6EAY is operational from Kabul, Afghanistan using the callsign T6RF. At present he is active only on PSK31.
If you have not registered your lighthouse or lightship station with Kevin, VK2CE could you please fill in the entry form at illw.net/2004.htm
The AREN group will deploy on August 21st and 22nd next in order to activate two lighthouses for the International Lighthouse and Lightship weekend.
This activity will assist members in training to deploy and operate stations from remote locations, and it will bring them into contact with people who are professionally engaged in the prevention of the occurrence of emergency situations.
Lighthouses are open to the public on August 22nd and this presents an opportunity for the group to demonstrate the hobby to an interested audience, as those who visit lighthouses may have an interest in a technical hobby such as amateur radio.
A significant part of this event will be Near Vertical Instance Skywave (NVIS) working and it is planned to conduct tests between the two sites, which are on the west and east coasts of the country. AREN members who are not taking part in the lighthouse weekend will assist in the NVIS experiment from their own or from other portable locations.
All enquiries about these activities and about AREN should be directed to the IRTS Emergency Communications Coordinator, John Ketch, EI2GN on 086-2593005, QTHR or on ei2gn@ketch.ie.
South Dublin Radio Club is now closed for holidays. The next meeting will be on Tuesday the 17th of August, at 8.00 p.m. in the Ballyroan Community Centre, Marian Road, Rathfarnham.
The Waterford 70cm repeater is currently off air for maintenance at the moment. This will be restored shortly, check www.searg.com for the latest information.
The next general meeting of the group will take place on Wednesday the 25th of August at 8.00 p.m. in the usual venue of Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford. All are 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.
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