Archived News Script

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 22nd April 2018


Contest Results

Results of the IRTS 70 cms and 2 metres Counties Contests held on Easter Monday have been published, see www.irts.ie/results the Contest Results page for full details. Award Certificates for the leading station in each section may be downloaded from the respective results pages.

Activity during these contests was lower than last year, in part due to the adverse weather over the Easter weekend, which resulted in fewer portable stations taking part. 18 logs were submitted for the 70 cms contest, stations in 20 EI and GI counties were in the logs. The 2 metres event attracted 26 logs, with 26 EI and GI counties in the logs.

The next IRTS contest is the 40 metres Counties Contest on Sunday 6th May, starting at 12:00 UTC.


IRTS Annual General Meeting

The AGM and rally last weekend was a great success. As always it provided a wonderful opportunity to meet up with our amateur radio friends. There was good representation from many radio clubs/groups around the country as well as trade stands containing excellent equipment/bargains. We would like to thank everyone who organised, took part in and attended the AGM/Rally this year.


Amateur Station Licence Examination

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.


Tipperary Amateur Radio Group

The next meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will take place in The Park Hotel, Clonmel on Thursday 3rd May at 8.30pm. Plans will be finalised for events taking place over the summer months. New members or anyone interested in amateur radio are very welcome to attend.

For anyone who wishes to find out more about the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group and its activities you can come along to any of their meetings. You can also check their website www.ei7trg.ie or contact club PRO Ronan EI4KN at QTHR for further information.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The April meeting of the group will take place on Monday the 30th of April 2018 in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford at 8.00 p.m. sharp. At this meeting John EI7IG will be doing a show and tell on DMR entitled "DMR and Brandmeister in Ireland” New members or anyone interested in learning more about amateur radio or the group are as always very welcome to attend.

In addition to this, the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group EI2WRC will for the 11th consecutive year take part in the Geoparks Communications weekend which takes place over the weekend of the 9th & 10th of June to coincide with European Geoparks week. The location will be their usual spot at the Old Copper Mine, Tankardstown, Bunmahon. Access to the site will be available on the morning of the 9th with ample room for parking and camping overnight. The clubs renowned BBQ will take place on the Saturday evening.

If you fancy a go at Foxhunting SEARG will have a fox in hiding on both Saturday and Sunday. So, everyone get your Foxhunting gear out of the attic! Tea/Coffee will be available all weekend.

More details of the weekend will be announced once fully confirmed. SEARG would like to thank John Galloway, Manager of the Copper Coast Geopark Centre, Bunmahon for making this excellent site available for them to use for the Geopark Weekend 2018. For more info about the Copper Coast Geopark see the website www.coppercoastgeopark.com

For anyone who wishes to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and their activities you can come along to any of their meetings. Check out the group website www.searg.ie You can also join them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.


DX News

Bruce XW4XR will be QRV from Vientiane, Laos from 23rd April until 4th May. Look for him on 40 – 6m CW, RTTY and FT8. He also lives in Vietnam where he uses the call sign 3W3B. QSLs for both calls go via E21EIC.

Alex W1CDC will be active as V47CDC from the island of St Kitts from 25th April until 5th May. He will be on all bands 80 – 10m CW only. QSL to the home call.

Pasi OH3WS will be working on Market Reef from 27th April until 4th May and while there will be on the air as OJ0W. He will be active during his spare time, mainly on CW. QSL to his home call.

To mark the 25th Anniversary of the Russian Robinson Club several members will be activating two different IOTA islands in Mozambique. Firstly they will be on Mozambique Island (IOTA AF-088) from 29th April – 3rd May using the call sign C96RRC. This will be followed by activity from Inhaca Island (IOTA AF-066) from 5th – 9th May using the call sign C98RRC. QSLs for both call signs are via Club Log OQRS.

Prefix hunters may be interested in Special Event stations that will be on the air to celebrate 70 years of the State of Israel. The calls to look out for are 4X70A, 4X70E, 4X70I, 4X70L. 4X70R, 4X70S, 4X70J and 4Z70IARC. They will be on the air until 27th June.

Kay WA0WOF/EI7HQ and three other YL’s will be operating from A5 Bhutan from April 29th to May 5th. Kay has been issued with the call A52YLE.The Dxpedition will be using the call A52YL. Kay will be listening out for EI calls, all the details of the DXpedition are available on WA0WOF’s web page on QRZ.COM


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.

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