The officers and members of the IRTS committee would like to take this opportunity to wish all experimenters, short-wave listeners their families and friends a very happy Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support of both the printed and radio news service over the past year and we look forward to your continued support in 2005.
The next committee meeting of the IRTS will take place on January the 8th at 11:00 a.m. at the Montague Hotel, Portlaoise.
History was made on Friday last, December 17th when 300 primary school children witnessed at first hand Irelands first schools contact with the international space station.
The event, held at University College in Cork, was hosted by the European Space Agency, the Discover Science and Engineering programme and Enterprise Ireland.
Ten schools were selected to attend the event and one child from each school was able to ask astronaut Leroy Chiao a question. These children were dressed in specially created space suits.
The event was officially opened by Mr. Michael Ahern T.D., Minister for Trade & Commerce and Sean Nolan EI7CD Vice President of the IRTS also addressed the audience.
An audio-visual presentation was made by European Space Agency astronaut Jean Francois Clervoy KC5WKG. He spoke about his three completed missions and the realities of day-to-day life in space.
Cork Radio Club members set up the local end of the communications link, which was via land bridge through Will VK5ZAI in South Australia.
Jeremy EI5GM operated the Cork end of QSO.
The link-up was very successful and the audio was connected to the public address in the auditorium with excellent quality.
Cork Radio Club members involved included Jeremy Sheehan EI5GM, Fr. Finbarr Buckley EI1CS, Aedan O'Meara EI3EG, John O'Sullivan EI3EC, Tom Whelton EI8FXB and Stephen O'Leary EI6JA. Jim Barry EI8GS filmed the entire operation for the Cork ATV Group.
It is reported that the Danish authorities have published proposals which will allow Danish radio amateurs to use the additional band 7100 to 7200 kHz from the 1st of January 2005. The Polish regulatory authority has agreed that the additional 100 kHz segment will become available on a secondary basis when the new frequency allocation table is published which is expected in January next. The IARU Member Societies in Belgium, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands have applied to their licensing authorities with a view to gaining early access to the extended 7 MHz band.
The goal of the serious DX'er is to work all of the 335 entities on the DXCC list. Many of us get to 100, some of us get to 200, a few of us get to 300, but almost nobody gets to 335.
We are pleased to report that last week an Irish amateur achieved the ultimate. When he worked one of the VU4 stations currently operating from the Andaman Islands, Frank O'Brien EI2GS was working number 335 and became one of the very small number of amateurs in the world to reach the top of the DXCC Honour Roll. Congratulations Frank!
Aidan Murphy EI5HW is having a 3-page article published in the February issue of QST.
QST Magazine, the journal of the ARRL, is the most widely read Amateur Radio publication in the US. The article is titled "A LIGHTER THAN AIR FLIGHT OF FIRSTS, An Amateur Radio hot air balloon adventure from the Emerald Isle". Six full colour photographs will also feature in the spread.
Aidan's article was accepted for publication by QST's Managing Editor Joel P. Kleinman, N1BKE over 4 months ago, however with the way the content of each issue of QST is planned, categorised and printed, the actual publication date was only made known recently.
The closing date for entries to the 2nd Annual SDR Photo Competition is the 11th of January 2005. Presentation of prizes will take place on the 25th of January. This Photo Competition should be every bit as successful as last years. More information can be had from the clubs web site at www.qsl.net/ei2sdr
On Tuesday the 11th of January there will be a demonstration on packet by Dave EI3IO. This will include details of the increased packet coverage in the Dublin area and the new features recently added. Visitors are more than welcome.
Dave EI3IO and Manjurul S21AM will operate from Char Dakhin Shahbazpur (Bhola Island) AS-140 (eighth most wanted IOTA reference in Asia), from the 4th to the 7th of February 2005. A special call sign is being sought from the licensing authority. Two 100 Watt CW/SSB MF/HF stations will be operational and activity on all bands is planned, subject to antenna availability. A 30-metre communications tower is on-site and half slopers are being considered for 160 metres and 80/30 metres. QSL route is via EI3IO. Logs will also be up-loaded to LoTW and eQSL.
The Tipperary Amateur Radio Group would like to wish all their Members, Fellow Experimenters, and Short-wave Listeners, a peaceful Christmas and a happy New Year. The group would also like to thank all the Operators who call in to the Sunday evening news at 8.30 p.m. on 145.450 MHz and 433.450 MHz. Your support is much appreciated.
Emergency communications training will begin for AREN members on December the 18th next at 0930 hrs. This will take the form of a directed HF net, which will consist of three parts:
1 - Members will bring relevant press items relating to emergency planning and emergency communications for a brief discussion.
2 - Members of the group will read the relevant section of the training course on air.
3 - Net control will summarise the most important points of the section of the training course.
Progress is being made in liasing with Statutory and Voluntary Emergency Planning Groups and Irish Radio Amateurs will soon be asked to play an active voluntary role in this area. Anybody who may be considering joining the AREN group should do so without delay, in order to take part in the first round of training. This is an opportunity to use our hobby for a purpose other than that which is recreational or experimental. For more information contact John, EI2GN on 021-4323283 between 0900 to 1700, or by mobile on 086-2593-005 or via email to ei2gn at ketch.ie.
The Phoenix Amateur Radio Club Rally will take place on Sunday the 6th of February 2005 in Coolmine Community School, Blanchardstown. Doors open at 11.00 a.m. and admission is 3 euro. Doors will open for traders at 9.30 a.m. For enquiries regarding tables, phone Tony on 01-8252074.
The next Club-TV / HAM satellite broadcasts are scheduled as follows: "Dalakanalen". A movie from SK4SQ on how to build a repeater will be aired on January 22nd at 1000 UTC. "What is Amateur Radio" from the RSGB will be aired on February 19th at 1000 UTC.
The group will use Sirius 2 on 5 degrees East and the downlink frequency is 12588 MHz, vertical polarisation, SR 3400, FEC 3/4. A test card or promo will always appear as line up 10 minutes before time scheduled. Further info can be found on www.parabolic.se under Club-TV.
The clubs field day will be held on Saturday the 15th of January, at a location in North Kerry. Stations interested in particular grid squares in Kerry are asked to email their needs to clubinfo at kerry dot com, where it is hoped that more squares can be activated over the coming months.
Up-to-date information on the club and its activities can be found on the web at www.kerry.com
Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News 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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