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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday March 26th 2000


IRTS Annual General Meeting

The IRTS AGM 2000 will be hosted by Monaghan Radio Club and will be held in The Four Seasons Hotel on Monaghan over the weekend of April the 8th and 9th.

The millennium special event station EI2MM will be operational from the AGM venue from 1300 on the Saturday and will continue all day on Sunday.

The Annual Dinner Dance will be held on Saturday night commencing at 2100. Rob Mannion G3XFD/EI5IW, editor of Practical Wireless and Keith Burnside of ITV fame will be amongst the guests. Tickets cost £20.00.

The rally will be held on Sunday with doors opening to traders at 0730 and to the public at 1130. The admission will be £2.00 and the first 25 paying customers will get a free gift.

The IRTS AGM will start at 1430.

All enquiries to Stephen Hand GI7UIM/EI4FKB on 087-2932438 during the day or at home on 0801-365751479 in the evenings.


Bayside Scouts

The Bayside Scouts Station using the special millennium callsign EI2MM operated for the 3 day's of the EI activity programme from 11.00am to 6.00pm daily.

Most of the contacts were made on the 10 and 17 metre bands where conditions were excellent and the best DX was to JA, ZS and JY.

Almost all European countries answered the CQ calls and a good response was also received from stations in the U.S.A.

Contacts were also made through the W1OJ Boston FM repeater on 29.620MHz (input 29.520MHz) which was being received in Dublin at 5 and 9 +60db.On St. Patrick’s Day.

EI2MM also checked in to the 'Irish Hour' Net on 21.317MHz on St. Patrick's Day and also on Sunday last and received reports from several stations on the net.

Assisting with the station were Joe EI7GW, Joe EI4FV, John EIODK who gave a demonstration of the PSK 31 mode, Sean EI3IP and Paul EI3FKB. Thanks to Peadar EI5FWB and XYL Bernie for looking after the catering.


EI2MIL from the Limerick Inn

Members of Limerick Radio Club set up their Millennium special event station at the Limerick Inn Hotel on Saturday and Sunday last. The station was operated from a bedroom on the third floor and the aerial was a 153 foot long doublet.

In all, over 1500 QSOs were made over the weekend on all bands and the club committee would like to thank the hotel and all the operators for a great effort.

The next outing for EI2MIL will be at the end of April.

QSL cards for the occasion were kindly provided by the hotel. Joe Duffin W2ORA is the Stateside QSL manager for EI2MIL.

South Dublin Radio Club and Glengormley Electronics and Amateur Radio Society Nine members of South Dublin Radio Club travelled to Co. Leitrim on Sunday 19th March, as part of the St Patrick's activity weekend.

Two HF rigs - one into a vertical antenna and one using an 80 metre dipole – were set up, along with a 2 metre station.

The 2 metre station used a 7 element Yagi, for both FM and SSB. The SDR members had over 100 QSOs during the day, with Europe, Asia, North and South America, on both phone and CW.

On 2 metres, many Midland and Southern counties were worked, as well as Northern Ireland and Wales.

SDR's sister club - Glengormley Electronics and Amateur Radio Society - was also active on the day, on 2 metres, 6 metres and HF from Slemish Mountain, Co. Antrim. Slemish has, of course, a strong association with St. Patrick, as it is here the sixteen year old Patrick, as a slave, tended sheep. It was while on Slemish that Patrick experienced a spiritual change that eventually led to his decision to return to Ireland after he had regained his freedom.

The weather on the day was excellent, and members of both clubs enjoyed a fantastic day on the air, out in the open.


Limerick Radio Club AGM

The AGM of the Limerick Radio Club was held on Thursday March the 9th.

Chairman Paul EI6FE extends his thanks to all those who made the effort to attend and those who rang apologising for not attending.

The following officers were elected for the coming year; Chairman Paul EI6FE Secretary Brian EI9AL Treasurer Tony EI2AW Committee: - Tony EI9IL, John EI6IW, Mike EI2IX and Ken EI4IU (with special responsibility for projects).

A.R.E.N. co-ordinator yet to be elected.

Trustees: - John EI9AD, Eamon EI5AJ and Paddy EI2HN.

Tom EI9BG was elected as an honorary life member for all his valuable service to the club. Thank you Tom To date the total number of fully paid up members of LRC is 41.

The officers of the club would like to thank all those who have made contributions to the club over the last year.


Maghera

6 metre operators may be interested in the following news.

On the 21st of February 2000 at 1003, the RTE1 Channel B Transmitter on Maghera was closed down after providing continuous operation for over thirty eight years.

Over the years, the staff at Maghera received many letters and pictures from all over Europe from avid TV DX'ers.

The process of closing down was a gradual one taking several years with a gradual reduction in power and antenna size. At the end of its life it was running some 20dB down on its normal E.I.R.P.

The original transmitter was a Marconi one. This was replaced with the present pair of NEC transmitters which have been in operation since the seventies.

Monday the 21st of February could be seen as a landmark in the history of Irish Television Broadcasting.


Dates for your Diary

The Annual General Meeting of the Cork Radio Club will be held at Wilton Park House on tomorrow, Monday 27th March at 8.45pm. All members are asked to attend.

The IRTS AGM weekend will be held on April the 8th and 9th in Monaghan.

The GM Activity Weekend will be held on April the 15th and 16th.

The IRTS 2 Metres Counties Contest will be held on Easter Monday April the 24th.

International Marconi Day will be held this year on April the 29th and the Enniskillen Rally will be held on Sunday April the 30th at the Killyhevlin Hotel.

The Windmills special event will be held on May the 12th and 13th.

The Worked All Ireland Island Activity weekend will be held over the third weekend in June, that’s the 17th and 18th.

The Marino Institute of Education will host Celticon 2000 – a QRP Radio Convention on September 1st to 3rd next. This event is being arranged and organised by the G-QRP Club with assistance from the Dublin QRP Radio Amateur Club.


Items for inclusion in the Radio News should be phoned to Dave Moore at 021-883555 in the evenings or to 021-823172 during office hours. You may also e-mail to ei4bz@eircom.net or to ei8ir@eircom.net Input for the Newsletter should be sent to Kevin EI7IM at QTHR or by e-mail to ei7im@qsl.net.

Input to either the Radio News or Newsletter can be sent by e-mail to news@irts.ie for automatic forwarding to both news services.

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