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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday February 25th 2007


IRTS 75th Annual General Meeting

Arrangements are well in hand for the Society’s 75th Annual General Meeting to be held at the Vienna Woods Hotel in Cork on Sunday April 22nd. The weekend celebrations will follow the usual format with the 75th Jubilee Dinner being held on the Saturday night. Tickets prices have been maintained at last years level and are great value at only 30 Euro.

Several high profile international guests will attend the dinner and AGM and included are Dave Sumner K1ZZ, Secretary of the International Amateur Radio Union and C.E.O. of the ARRL, the American National Society. Also joining us will be the Chairman of Region 1 IARU Ole Garpestad LA2RR and the Presidents of several other sister national societies in Region 1.

All the rooms at the Vienna Woods Hotel have been reserved and there are still a few available and these must be booked through Dave EI4BZ. For those not wishing to stay at the Vienna Woods Hotel, there is an IBIS Hotel very near the venue and the rates there are 82 Euro for a double room and 60 Euro for a single room. Bookings should be made directly with the IBIS Hotel on 021-4354354. If anybody needs a B & B or Hostel organised, contact Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574.

The Committee is obliged by rule to nominate members for the positions of President, Vice President and eleven committee positions. These nominations will be carried in the upcoming issue of Echo Ireland. This does not preclude other nominations for any of the positions and further nominations must be made to the Secretary within fourteen days of receiving the committee’s lists of nominations. Members should read rule 23 covering nominations for office.

The Society has several awards for honouring members who have excelled in some aspect of the hobby. Nominations for these awards are now being sought and should be forwarded to the Awards Manager, Peter Grant EI4HX. Members in possession of trophies since last years AGM are requested to arrange for their return to EI4HX or any committee member as soon as possible. The AGM rally will be held on Sunday April 22nd at the Vienna Woods Hotel and requests for tables should be directed to Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574. There will be no charge for tables which will be allocated on a first come first served basis.


Swazi DXpedition team meeting 18th Feb 2007

The team had a final meeting, before they head to South Africa in March, at the City North Hotel near Julianstown, Co. Meath on Sunday the 18th of February. Those present were EI2CA, EI7CC, EI3GV, EI4DJ (GI4FUM), EI4DJB and GI4VIV. The meeting was very constructive and quite a few problem areas were highlighted. Hopefully the team also found solutions. Pete GI4VIV gave a demo of the Logger 32 logging program and CW control software. The team are now all keen to be off to South Africa.

As there is only a small team of operators and we will only be in Swaziland for 10 days the main activity will centre around the SARL VHF contest on the 17th of March and the CQ WPX SSB contest the following weekend. It is hoped to have assistance from our ZS6 friends for these two contests. As the VHF contest on St Patrick's day will depend on making contacts on 6m and 2m by EME and MS they will be active during the hours of Moonrise and Moonset on the 16th, 17th and 18th of March. Therefore expect to hear activity on 2m and 6m EME and/or Meteor Scatter between Midnight and early afternoon. As far as activity on HF is concerned the team will concentrate on the WARC bands during the week after the St. Patrick's activity.


West Cork Rally Repeater Site Testing

On Wednesday night last, AREN officers EI7IG, EI2GN, EI9FVB and EI4JN, with assistance from: SWL, James McCarthy, Kristian Wash of WIT and John Harrington of Cork Motor club, tested a proposed new repeater site for the upcoming rally.

Declan operated the base station on the hill and the others teamed up to travel the stages, shared driving, navigating and radio operating duties. Weather conditions were less than ideal with strong winds experienced at the summit and dense fog covering the route below. Signal reports were exchanged at pre-described locations along the entire route of the rally. The resulting logs will be studied over the coming week and the Radio Communications Plan submitted to the Clerk of the Course. This year John EI7IG will assist Conor EI4JN in managing the communications equipment for the club on the event which takes place over St Patrick’s weekend. For more Information on the Amateur Radio Emergency Network visit www.dot AREN dot ie.


Return of Trophies

Congratulations to the winners of IRTS trophies for Contests and Awards, at the 2006 AGM. Please note that the deadline for return of Trophies is the 11th of March. This is to allow time for up dating engraving, and any minor repairs, which may be needed. Trophies may be returned to any IRTS Committee Member before that date, or to the IRTS stand at the Limerick RC Rally, on the 11th of March, or by post to EI4HX at QTHR.


Tipperary Amateur Radio Group

The next meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will take place on Thursday next the 1st of March in Raheen House Hotel Clonmel at 8.00 pm sharp. All are welcome.


Shannon Basin Radio Club Sprint Challenge.

The Shannon Basin Radio club request that all logs for the 2006 Sprint challenge be submitted by the end of February 2007, either by post to the contest Manager Noel Mulvihill, Hillquarter, Coosan, Co Westmeath, or by E-Mail to “nfmulvihill at eircom dot net”.

Shannon Basin Radio Club would like to thank all for participating in the challenge, and wish them the best of luck with the results.


South Dublin Radio Club

The Experimenter's Classes are on going in SDR, and have recently started from the beginning again. The classes run on Tuesday nights between 20:00-22:00 for the forthcoming exam in late June. All are welcome.

The South Dublin Radio Club annual general meeting will take place on Tuesday the 13th of March at the club's premises on the Marian Road in Rathfarnam.


South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The Annual General Meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take place this coming Wednesday the 28th at 8.00 p.m. in the Roanmore Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford.

All are welcome and members are asked to attend.


Rallies

The following rallies are scheduled to take place during March and April 2007. First comes the Limerick Rally, which is in the Greenhills Hotel on Sunday the 11th of March. Later that month, on Saturday 24th of March, the Lagan Valley Amateur Radio Society holds its rally in Lisburn. The date Lough Erne Amateur Radio Show has been changed to Sunday the 22nd of April at the Share Centre Lisnaskea Co. Fermanagh.

The IRTS AGM and Rally takes place on Sunday the 22nd of April in the Vienna Woods Hotel, Cork, with the AGM Dinner on the previous night. More details of these events are on the "Rallies and Events" page of www.irts.ie


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 in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following Sunday’s bulletin.

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