Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday July 2nd 2000
Fingal Radio Club
Fingal Radio Club held it's open day on May 13th at 11 a.m. finishing at 4 p.m A great array of radio and computer gear was up and running and looked very impressive. Charlie EI2EM set up his fast scan television and with the help of Rod Power EI3CZ on the other end, showed us the delight of this mode of amateur radio.
Rod Walsh EI7DF brought along his computer and showed us all how to download from satellites etc, looking at such things as weather maps, RTTY etc. Many more club members such as Joe EI7CRB , Liam EI3HK, Chris EI7AAB, Johnny EI1CY, Harry EI9BW and Henry SWL were on hand to man the radio's and make tea etc. for the many visitors we had during the day. Not many curious prospective members turned up but the organisers were surprised at the interest shown by the many radio hams that visited on the day. The day was considered a great success not just the social end of it but at the end of the day they had one new interested person who now wishes to join the club.
In conjuction with the open day, Joe EI4FV and Peader EI2JA set up a display in Ballymun Library on the joys of amateur radio for two weeks beginning on the 13th of May and finishing on 27th May. The Committee and the members of Fingal Radio Club wish to thank both Joe and Peader for putting on this wonderful display on their behalf. Also thanks to all club members who helped out on the day and made it a great success.
IARU HF Championships and WRTC 2000
The Olympic Games of Radio Contesting will be held in conjunction with the IARU HF Championship over twenty-four hours next weekend.
The contest will run from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday.
The World Radio Team Championship will be held in Slovenia where fifty-three two man teams will battle it out using similar stations spread over Northeastern Slovenia with the event based in the town of Bled.
Qualification to enter the event was based on the results achieved over a range of contests over several years. Unfortunately, no EI operators qualified this time around.
EI will be represented in Bled by Dave EI4BZ and Jim EI8GS who will be operating an observer station in the contest.
There are several attractive awards available for working the WRTC stations A special WRTC T-shirt will be awarded to any EU station making more than 160 QSOs with the WRTC stations who will be callsigns in the S500A to S599Z series.
Prizes will be awarded for working all WRTC stations either mixed, all CW, all SSB or single band.
To claim any of the awards, your log must be submitted no later than August 15th. The contest exchange is signal report plus ITU Zone. Members of the IARU Administrative council and the three regional executive committees will send AC, R1, R2 or R3 as appropriate.
Multipliers are ITU Zones, National Society Stations and IARU officials.
You may enter as Phone only, CW only or Mixed Mode.
Shannon River Run
Plans for this year's Shannon River Run are now well underway. The weekend of 24th/26th September has been proposed as the date for the event and there are still several openings for clubs/societies to become involved.
More information is available at the Shannon River Run website at homepage.eircom.net/~shannonriverrun or from Paul EI2CA or Keith EI4FBB, or by emailing Shenick’s Island.
Following on last weeks report on EI9HQ’s trip to Shenick’s Island, Declan wishes to publicly thank Derek EI7CHB for getting permission for the island, Joe McDonagh the island’s owner, Ben EI4IN for organising the boat, Jeff EI6CW and Ben for their visit on the Saturday afternoon and Sean EI4GK for his help in getting the gear on and of the island.
60 DXCC countries, 18 CQ Zones, 19 IOTAs and 337 prefixes were worked and the best DX was on Saturday night with 127 stations being worked on one run into Japan. Longest distance was VK6 in Western Australia.
Fingal Trip to the Telford Rally
Fingal Radio Club will be running a bus to the Telford Radio Club's annual rally in Cosford on September 10th. The rally this year will be held in the RAF Museum in Cosford, rather than in the exhibition centre in Telford.
Fingal Radio Club has been attending this rally for many years now and find it one of the best. The bus will leave Dublin's North Wall on the 6a.m. fast sailing to Holyhead on September 9th and travel to Brosley, close to Cosford for our overnight stay. A tea\coffee stop and a stop in Wrexham for a small break during this journey will also take place. They would hope to arrive at their overnight stop in the early afternoon and then visit the Iron Gorge, a fascinating spot where the Industrial Revolution begun, for the remaining few hours before the evening meal. There are many hostelries in the town of Brosley for those who need extra enjoyment after the meal.
The total cost including the bed and breakfast and evening meal and entry to the rally will be 150 punts. The bus will leave Cosford at 4.30p.m on Sunday 10th approx. to return to Holyhead. There will be a stop for a meal on the way, however this will be at your own expense. Eight seats remain and those interested should phone Liam Murphy 087-2521542 or 01 8316266 or Email at lmurphy@eircom.ie.
Dates for your Diary
The International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend will be held on August 19th and 20th. Information from Mike GM4SUC at gm4suc@compuserve.com The Marino Institute of Education in Dublin will host Celticon 2000 – a QRP Radio Convention on September 1st to 3rd next.
The Cork Rally will be held in the Blarney Park Hotel on Sunday September the 17th.
While EI4BZ is on holidays for the next few weeks, items for inclusion in the Radio News should be forwarded to Sean Donelan EI4GK at QTHR. His e-mail address is seandonelan@indigo.ie You may phone Sean on 01-2821420.
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