Archived News Script

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday September 26th 2004


EI8CTB, Silent Key

We were very saddened to hear of the death of Ian Webster, EI8CTB of Raheny, Dublin, and formerly of Ardnacrusha. Ian died peacefully on the 18th of September and his funeral took place on Wednesday last.

We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife Phil, his daughter Valerie, sons Stephen and Robin and to all his relatives and friends.


SSB Field Day

Photos of the four stations which operated in the SSB field day from Garbally College, Co. Galway are available on the web site of Joe Ryan EI7GY, which can be accessed at www.qsl.net/ei7gy/


EI4JM in Kenya

Keith EI4JM has now been issued with the callsign 5Z4KF in Kenya. He is planning to be in Nairobi for most of next week (26th Sept - 1st Oct), and hoping to get active from the Club station there. QSLs can be sent to EI4JM QTHR. Work on obtaining a 9Q callsign is still continuing, and an update will be sent as soon as more information is available.


Declan, EI9HQ on his Travels

Declan, EI9HQ is in the USA from the 24th of September to the 15th of October. He will have his HF equipment with him and also hopes to be running APRS while on his travels. He will be starting in the state of Delaware on the 26th of September and moving south through Maryland, Virginia and into North Carolina and Nags Head for the ARLHS convention on the 8th and 9th of October.

On the way he will be putting on as many lighthouses and USA counties as possible. Listen for him around 14.270 MHz for lights and 14.336 MHz for counties. You can monitor his travels on the internet on the APRS web sites.

Call will be W3/EI9HQ/M in Delaware and Maryland, W4 for Virginia and North Carolina. For APRS, the same callsigns apply but with -9 instead of /M.


International Space Station

A new 2 metre repeater is now operational 24/7 on the international space station. The uplink is on UHF 437.800 MHz and the downlink is on VHF 145.800 MHz no tone burst or CTCSS is required.

To see where the space station is 'live' check science.nasagov/temp/StationLoc.html For 3-day advance predictions download the PCSat decoder program at www.ui-view.com/uiview32/pcdec242.msi When the ISS repeater is being worked the audio may be streamed in the AMSAT conference server on EchoLink so anyone anywhere in the world can listen in.

Audio recordings from the ISS are available on the G3ZHI web site at www.qsl.net/g3zhi/ISS_FROM_G3ZHI.zip The QSO was also relayed live on EchoLink. Also present on the site at www.qsl.net/g3zhi/issrpt.wav is a recording of the ISS in repeater mode passing over Europe last week.


EI Counties Contest

Those who took part in the Autumn leg of the EI Counties Contest should submit their logs to the contest manager, Noel EI2JC as soon as possible.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The next general meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take place at 8.00 p.m. on Wednesday next, the 29th of September in the usual venue of The Roanmore Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford.

The SEARG rally will take place in the McEniff Ard Rí Hotel, Waterford on Sunday the 17th of October 2004. Doors open at 11.00 a.m. and admission is 3 euro. Entry is free for children accompanied by an adult. Bar and food facilities will be available and there is ample car parking. Details about the rally including a directions map are available on the clubs web site at www.searg.com

The hotel is offering a discount for those wishing to stay overnight. For enquiries about the rally, contact Mick EI5DCB on 051-873310.


Cork Annual Dinner

The Vienna Woods Hotel in Glanmire, Co. Cork will be the venue for a dinner and social evening on Friday November 5th next. All experimenters and their friends are invited to take the opportunity to get together and enjoy a good meal in pleasant surroundings. Tickets cost 25 Euro each and can be booked by contacting Jeremy Sheehan EI5GM on 021-4774955 after 1900 or Dave Moore EI4BZ on 021-4883555.


Mayo Radio Experimenter Network

The annual general meeting of the Mayo Radio Experimenters Network will be held in the meeting room, in Stensons of Ballyvary on Wednesday October the 6th at 9 p.m. Visitors and new members are welcome.

The third Mayo Rally will take place on Sunday November the 21st in the usual venue - The Belmont Hotel, Knock. The rally will follow the proven successful format of previous Mayo shows, with a large Bring and Buy section, a number of demonstrations and presentations as well as the large number of traders. Doors open at 11.30 a.m.

The club will host a dinner on the night before the rally, and a prominent guest speaker has been lined for the occasion. A special rate for accommodation has been negotiated with the Hotel, for the Saturday night. All booking enquiries should be made with the Rally Director, Padraic Baynes, EI9JA on 087 6957154.


European Sprint

The European sprint contests have been running now for ten years and the SSB autumn leg will take place on Saturday next October 2nd from 1500 to 1859 utc. The Sprint, with its unusual "QSY Rule", seeks to avoid total domination by the mega-stations. In this contest, no one is permitted to remain on the same frequency for more than two QSOs. This means there is both a time and a place for you to call and be called by other stations no matter how modest your station might be. If you need further information, have a look at www.qsl.net/eusprint or contact the news team for the full rules.


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. Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no later than midday on Fridays.

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