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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday July 2nd 2006


6 and 4 Metre Nets

The next monthly K.A.R.G. 6 metre SSB net meets this Monday, July 3rd, on 50.135 MHz at 2100 hours local time. The purpose of this net is to increase overall SSB activity on the six-metre band. June's net, which was held on June the 5th, saw over two hours of constant activity from well over a dozen participants. Counties represented on the night were: Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Mayo and Roscommon. All are welcome to participate.

The 4-metre activity night takes place on the first Tuesday of each month between 20:00 and 22:00 local time. The next activity night is Tuesday the 4th of July. Please send reports to “ei3ix at eircom dot net”. Call in frequency is 70.2625 MHz. So if you have any AM/FM/SSB gear, vertically or horizontally polarised, give a call in! Don't forget to have a listen for the 4-metre simplexer on 70.350 MHz.


AREN News: Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference

Munster Coordinator Conor EI4JN represented AREN at the recent GAREC conference held in Tampere, Finland. The conference brings together representatives from Amateur Radio Voluntary Emergency communications groups from around the world. A report on the trip will soon be available on the AREN website at www.aren.ie


Emergency Communications

Radio amateurs from Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare provided emergency communications support for the Ring of Imaal Walk, which was held on the 24th of June in Co. Wicklow. The walk, which is organised by An Óige, is 35 kilometres long and this year there were 120 participants. Emergency communications support at five mountain checkpoints as well as a base station at the walk headquarters in Donard School were provided by the radio amateurs. Although the weather for the day was poor, with limited visibility, there were no major incidents.

An Óige personnel expressed considerable interest in the value of the communications infrastructure put in place for the event by the radio amateurs.


Shannon Basin Radio Club

The monthly meeting of the Shannon Basin Radio Club is on Wednesday next at 8.30 p.m. in the Royal Hotel Roscommon. All are welcome.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Club

The next committee meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take place this coming Wednesday the 5th of July at 8.00 p.m. in the Roanmore Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford.

Anybody interested in taking part in Theory Classes during the winter should contact Mark EI7IS on 087-6302026 or e-mail “info at searg dot com” to register your interest. Visit the clubs web site at www.searg com for up to date information.


XE1/EI7GK

Paddy, EI7GK will be QRV from his daughter's house in Mexico for the month of July using the call XE1/EI7GK on 14.268 MHz SSB. The best times for propagation between EI and Mexico is early morning between 06: 00 and 08:00 local time. He will also call in to the Irish Hour on Sundays on 21.317 MHz between 17:00 and 18:00 local time. He will be delighted to work EI and GI stations and will be keen to work EJ stations on the IOTA contest weekend.


Theory Examination

Twenty candidates sat the examination for an Experimenter's licence, which was held on Wednesday last at the ComReg offices in Dublin. The candidates were from ten different counties with one being resident in Germany at present.

The papers are being checked at the moment and the Society expects to have the results into ComReg early next week. This is the third examination that has been held in the year since the IRTS took over responsibility for setting, organising and correcting the licence examination under an agreement negotiated with ComReg by the Society. This agreement has enabled 53 people to sit the licence examination in the last year which is a tribute to the success of the new arrangement as well as to the dedication and hard work by a small group of individuals in the Society who brought it about and continue to service it.

There is obviously a significant demand for experimenter licences. It is hoped with the IRTS Jubilee year coming up in 2007 that Clubs will make a special effort to organise classes to cater for this demand so as to increase the numbers coming into activity of experimental radio.


Licensing Scheme for Community Transmissions

On the 22nd of June, ComReg launched a Wireless Public Address licensing scheme that will allow religious and community organisations to be licensed to transmit services and events for the benefit of people in communities throughout the country.

Eighty 10 kHz channels are being made available between 27.6 MHz and 27.995 MHz. Base station power is to be 1 watt AM and 4 watts FM to a vertical antenna.

The channel at 27.995 MHz is of concern to experimenters. This is only 5kHz below the lower limit of the 28 MHz amateur band. Some of the existing community broadcasts on the 27 MHz band occupy bandwidths in excess of 10kHz so there is potential for interference from this channel to the exclusive IARU CW allocation at the lower end of the 28 MHz band. At certain times the 28 MHz band is open worldwide so there is a potential for interference to the amateur service in other countries.

The matter is being taken up with ComReg by the Society. It is not yet clear when licences under the new scheme will be issued. However, with the recent controversy about the broadcasting of religious services and the necessity to close down stations in the FM broadcast band, it would be expected that licences will be issued almost immediately.

We would ask experimenters to listen out for these broadcasts particularly in channels close to the lower end of the 28 MHz band. If any of the transmissions encroach in any way on this band try to establish the location and identity of the station concerned and report the matter and the nature of the interference to Sean Nolan EI7CD who is the Society's liaison person with ComReg. Sean's address is OK in the Call Book section of the irts website at www.irts.ie or e-mail to “ei7cd at gofree dot indigo dot ie”.


Mass Amateur Satellite Launch

Due to technical problems the launch of the 13 Amateur CubeSats, which was scheduled for The 28th of June, has been postponed until the 26th of July.


New DXCC Entity

The United Nations has admitted the Republic of Montenegro as its 192nd member on the 28th of June. This makes Montenegro the 336th DXCC entity.

It has been reported that Montenegrin radio amateurs can continue to use their YU, YT, YZ, 4O and 4N prefixed callsigns until the ITU allocates a new call sign block for the country. This means that 4N6, 4O6, YT6, YU6 and YZ6 prefixes now qualify as "Montenegro" while other 4N, 4O, YT, YU and YZ prefixes qualify as "Serbia". As Serbia is heir to the former Serbia Montenegro union, it will remain on the DXCC list as a pre-existing and continuing DXCC entity.

Following on Montenegro's new nation status, the International DX Festival Montenegro has been set to run from the 20th of July until the 12th of August 2006. For this festival, several international operators will join with Montenegrin Amateur Radio operators from a number of different stations using a common call sign in an effort to meet the DX community's need to work the newest DXCC Entity. Festival organizers have set an ambitious goal of 200,000 contacts for the event, which will include all HF bands. More information can be had from www.yu6scg.cg.yu/international-dx-festival.html


Marconi Centenary

As part of the Marconi Centenary Celebrations on July the 12th, which mark 100 years since the first transmission across open water in the Southern Hemisphere, VI3MC in Victoria and VI7MC in Devonport, Tasmania, plan to be on the air from the 12th to the 16th of July.

Operation will be on 80, 40 and 20 metres using the following frequencies depending on QRM and usage. 20 metres operation is planned on 14.170 MHz, 40-metre operation will take place on 7.100 MHz and 80- metre operation on 3.570 MHz. Allow for slight change in frequency based on QRM. VI7MC in Tasmania can also be contacted on IRLP node 6616 and EchoIRLP Node on 152375.


Dates for Your Diary

IOTA will take place from 1200 UTC on Saturday the 29th of July to 1200 UTC on Sunday the 30th of July.

The Autumn Leg of the 2-metre counties contest will take place on the 27th of August.

The Blarney Rally will take place on September the 24th 2006.


Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be forwarded to Mark Wall, EI7IS at QTHR or by phone to 051-853806 or 087-6302026. Items for the radio news can also be faxed to 087 5 6302026. News should be submitted via e-mail to “news at irts dot ie” for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no later than midday on Friday.

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