The next Amateur Station Licence Examination will be held on Thursday 4th October at 2 p.m. in the ComReg Offices in Dublin. Full details, including entry procedure, examination fee and how to pay the fee online are available by clicking on the Licence Exam button on the IRTS homepage at www.irts.ie Places for the examination are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The closing date for applications to sit this examination is Thursday, 20th September Please note that it is necessary to download the application form from the web page and forward the completed form and the appropriate fee in order to secure a place for the examination. If you pay the fee on line you must still complete and forward the application form.
The RSGB Islands On The Air Contest, held last weekend, is one of the more popular contests in the EI contesters calendar. Most reports from the participants suggest that band conditions were quite favourable - good openings on the high bands, 20 metres open all night and better-than-usual 80 metre conditions with little summer static.
There were at least a dozen EI and GI stations operating from the mainland. One of the big signals from the mainland was Olivier EI8GQB, who used the contest call sign EI1A for the IOTA weekend. He has posted a claimed score showing over 1,200 QSOs; of particular interests is the fact that much of the power he used during the contest weekend was derived from wind and solar energy.
Two Echo-Juliet island stations were heard: EJ0PL, a Polish / Irish team, who were on Little Saltee Island, and EJ3Z - members of the Shannon Basin Radio Club and Galway Radio Club - who were on Inisbofin.
The annual Inistioge Vintage Rally takes place today Sunday the 5th Of August 2012 in Inistioge Co Kilkenny (weather permitting). See www.searg.com for latest news regarding event going ahead. There will be a large collection of Vintage Cars, Tractors, Motorbikes, Stationary Engines and lots of other attractions for the family.
The South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will also be there where we will have a station in operation using the call sign EI2WRC on the site we will mainly be using HF but we will also be available through the Southern Ireland Repeater Network should anyone require directions etc. We will also have radio equipment from times gone past on display. If you’re in the area Sunday why not come on in for a chat and see the station in operation. We will be delighted to talk to anyone who's involved in radio or anyone who wants to learn more about it.
South Dublin Radio Club will be closed for the holidays over the next two Tuesdays - i.e. no meeting on 7th or 14th August. Meetings will resume on Tuesday 21st August at the usual time of 8.00 pm. SDR meets in the Ballyroan Community Centre on Marian Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14; visitors are very welcome.
The latest edition - No. 04, Summer 2012 - of The 5 MHz Newsletter is now online on Google docs at bit.ly/RdM8PY and includes news on the ITU working party for the WRC2015 5 MHz Agenda Item, plus technical correspondence on NVIS from Marcus Walden, G0IJZ
The latest EI DXCC List includes a number of interesting changes: Patrick EI4IR enters the list for the first time, while Brendan EI3GV has jumped over the 'magic' 300 limit of confirmed DXCC entities - he now has 303 entities confirmed (just a few more to go, Brendan!).
We also note a big increase in confirmed entities by Pat EI9HX and Trevor EI2GLB. The EI DXCC List is on the IRTS web site at www.irts.ie/dxcc and is updated regularly.
A multinational DXpedition to the Comoros in the Indian Ocean will take place from 8 – 20 August. The callsign will be D64K. IOTA reference is AF-007 and the QSL info is via IV3DSH. Pasi OH3WS was QRV from the Aland Islands as OH0/OH3WS on 3 August. He has followed this by travelling on to Market Reef where he will be active as OJ0W until 10 August.
W4XP is going to the Chagos Archipelago from 9 – 25 August. He will activate the callsign VQ9XP. QSLs go via his home call.
Torkel LA6VJA and Fredrik LA6TMA will be active as JW6VJA and JW6TMA from Svalbard from 10 – 12 August. Look for them on CW, SSB and digital.
St. Paul Island (CY9M), the DXpedition to St. Paul Island, which has been in the Top 50 of the "Most Wanted DXCC Entities" for many years, is now QRT. St. Paul Island is an uninhabited island off the East coast of Canada, at the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A team of radio amateurs from North America and Europe were active on the island from 27th to 31st July, using the call sign CY9M, achieving a total of more than 30,000 QSOs. The log shows 60 EI call signs, with Ark EI9KC's 12 QSOs topping the leaderboard.
Items for inclusion in next week’s Radio News can be
submitted via e-mail to “newsteam /at/ irts / dot / ie” for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. Urgent news items for the radio news maybe telephoned to the radio news editor, Aidan, EI7JC on 085 7100511.
Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no later than midday on Thursday in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following Sunday’s bulletin.
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