On Saturday the 14th of April the Lectures commence at 2 pm and continue until 5:30.
The dinner takes place it 7:30 pm and there is a good crowd booked already. If there is anyone else seeking tickets they may be booked until Wednesday next then the final numbers have to be forwarded to the Hotel. There may be a possibility of one or two last minute places on Saturday.
The Rally on Sunday will see 10 Traders and a couple of individual Traders will be present. 9 Radio Clubs will be setting up stands to show their projects and club activities. The venue for the Rally is huge and spacious.
If you have a Free Travel Pass travel to Galway on the Bus or Train - it will cost you nothing to have a really enjoyable weekend and attend the AGM meeting. The Hotel is Situated on the seafront in Salthill. The 401 bus from the Bus/Train Station runs every 20 minutes.
Taxis are also available from the office immediately behind the 401 Bus Stop. The distance is approximately 2.5 miles from the City Centre. We look forward to what promises to be an excellent weekend.
A reminder that the next Amateur Station Licence Examination will be held on Thursday 31st May in the ComReg Offices in Dublin. Some applications have already been received. As places are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis those intending to sit the examination should apply soon. Full details, including entry procedure, examination fee and how to pay the fee online are available at www.irts.ie/exam .
Please note that it is necessary to download the application form from the web page and forward the completed form and the appropriate fee so as to secure a place for the examination.
It is important to note that even if you pay the fee online you must still complete and forward the application form.
The closing date for receipt of completed applications is Thursday 17th May.
Five Exam Reports which were previously published in Echo Ireland are available on the Downloads section of the website at www.irts.ie/downloads under "Studying for the Harmonised Amateur Radio examination Certificate". These reports contain very useful information for anyone studying for the Licence Examination. Intending candidates are advised to pay particular attention to the syllabus for the examination especially Annexes 1 and 2.
The April meeting will take place in the Limerick Institute of Technology on next Thursday 12th April at the usual time of 7:30 p.m. Outgoing IRTS President Gerry Gervin EI8CC will address the meeting.
The April talk will be given by Michael EI3KO on the World War 1 'Y' or Wirelass Intercept Service. Quote: “At the start of WW1 the Admiralty were ill prepared for the use of wireless in the war. They had only one monitoring station. Within a few weeks they had acquired 44 stations for interception. Amateur stations were shut down but a small band of amateurs were allowed to continue. During WW1 the Admiralty has 8 wireless stations in Ireland. The control centre was established in Room 40 in the Admiralty building in London. Room40 decoded the Zimmermann telegram which brought America into the war. The direction-finding stations played a key role”.
The Wild Atlantic Way Trophies and Certificates are ready to be presented at IRTS AGM next weekend, the 14/15 of April in Galway. Since the WAW initiative came from members of LRC, which represented EI66WAW and EI77WAW, the Club has taken the decision to absent Club members from the Top Operator awards and the Club from the Top Club awards. The IRTS has made available all of the income, derived from the WAW initiative, for the purchase of the Trophies and Certificates.
In no particular order the three Top Operators are: Gerard Scannel, Jim Barry, Seamus Campbell. Again in no particular order the three Top Clubs are: Donegal, Kerry, Cork. The order of merit for each award, indicating the number of QSOs, will be announced at the AGM. Each of the WAW participating counties will receive a framed certificate indicating the number of QSOs achieved.
As Tom/EI5CA heads south for the summer, the LRC weekly Morse Code Practice sessions will be reduced to Monday evenings only with effect from next Monday 9th April. Brendan/EI0CZ and Harry/EI2KL will do alternative Mondays. It is planned to end the current series on 7th May.
International Marconi Day is a 24 hour amateur radio event that is held annually to celebrate the birth of Marconi on 25 April 1874. In 2018 it will be held on 21st April from 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC. This event celebrates the huge part Guglielmo Marconi played in the development of wireless. The purpose of the day is for amateur radio enthusiasts around the world to make contact with Historic Marconi Sites using communication techniques similar to those used by Marconi himself.
This is not a contest but awards are made to stations contacting a requisite number of registered Award Stations. For a list of Award stations go to gx4crc.com/imd-stations/
The Howth Martello Radio Group will be activating EI0MAR from the Martello tower in Howth again this year. In 1905 the tower was a receiving station set up to demonstrate the Marconi system to engineering staff from the British Post Office in support of an application for a contract for wireless telegraphy. The Royal Mail Ship Monarch with wireless telegraphy transmitting equipment on board sailed to various locations in the Irish Sea and its signals were monitored and logged in Howth.
EI0MAR plans to be QRV from about 0800 to 1800 UTC as an Award Station and invites visitors to the event. Especially welcome will be operators willing to give some time to go on air either on phone or CW. You can contact the station manager Tony EI5EM by telephone on 087-2147531 or by email “ei0mar /at/ eircom /dot/ net” if interested to operate on the day.
Any operators who wish to use the event call sign EI100MCV this year should contact Dave at “dave /dot/ ei6al /at/ gmail /dot/ com”. Anyone who operates the call sign must forward an ADIF log by email to Dave EI6AL. Dave will maintain a master log and will do the necessary upload to Clublog.
Pedro ON7WP is back in Gambia signing C5WP until 13th April. He has been reported so far on 17, 20 and 40m CW and SSB. QSLs go via the home call.
Tony 3D2AG will be QRV as T2AR from Tuvalu from 14th – 21st April. As he is on a work assignment his operating times will be mainly 0430 UTC to 1300 UTC and 1730 UTC to 2000 UTC. QSL to his home call.
The St Brandon DXpedition was delayed slightly but was expected to be on the air by 7th April. The callsign is 3B7A and they should be on the island until 17th April. QSL manager is F5CWU.
Mike VE7ACN is activating two islands as part of the Islands on the Air Award programme. Last week he was signing VA7XW/VE2 from Havre Aubert Island (IOTA NA-038). This operation lasts until 9th April. He then moves to Harrington Island (IOTA NA-084) from 10th – 17th April where he will use the callsign VE7ACN/VE2. QSL to Club Log OQRS.
Eugeny UA4RX has had his RI1FJ licence renewed until 1st September. He is based at Heiss Island in the Franz Josef Land Archipelago. He operates CW on 40 and 30m and can be QSLed via Club Log OQRS.
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 may be telephoned to the radio news editor, Mark EI6HPB on 086 355 2370.
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.
[N]