Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday June 3rd 2007
International Museums Weekend
The International Museums Weekend takes place on the 16th and 17th of June. This amateur radio special event has grown in popularity since the first event was held in 2002.
Among past participants are The Tower of London, HMS Belfast and the US battleship New Jersey. The Howth Martello Radio Group will be participating again this year, operating from the Vintage Radio Museum in Howth. Visitors are welcome to call and operate the station over the weekend. The museum web site is www.qsl.net/ei5em/museum.html A full list of participating museums and further information of the event is available from the organiser's web site www.ukradioamateur.co.uk/imw
Tipperary Amateur Radio Group
The next monthly meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will take place in Raheen House Hotel Clonmel on Thursday next the 7th of June at 8.00 p.m.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group
Two theory revision classes will take place prior to the theory exam in June. The date of the first class is this coming Tuesday the 5th of June. The following revision class will take place two weeks later on Tuesday the 19th of June. Classes start at 7.30 p.m. and will be held at the usual venue of the Roanmore Centre, Waterford.
A committee meeting will take place on Monday the 4th of June at 8.00 p.m. Committee members are asked to attend.
Rallies
Bangor & District Amateur Radio Society Rally will take place on Sunday the 17th of June in the Crawfordsburn Country Park, Helen's Bay, Co. Down. The Cork Radio Club Rally will take place on Sunday the 23rd of September in the Blarney Park Hotel, Blarney, Co. Cork and the Mayo Radio Rally will be on Sunday the 18th of November in the Belmont Hotel, Knock, Co. Mayo.
A full listing of upcoming rallys is available on www.irts.ie
Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph in Ireland,
“Alpha/Omega Tour”
In 1907, Guglielmo Marconi’s dream of fixed point-to-point wireless telegraph stations linking North America and Europe became a reality. Derrygimla near Clifden, County Galway served as the site of his wireless station. Over the next 15 years, spark-induced blue flashes generated by the station’s massive 20 kV generators sent tens of thousands of wireless messages across the Atlantic, linking to its North American counterpart at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.
2007 marks the centennial of those first sparks generated from Marconi’s historic Clifden station. To commemorate this significant event, as well as radio’s first-ever commercial venture at Ballycastle-Rathlin, Hal W8HC announces a special amateur radio operation from both locations central to Marconi’s fame and success as a pioneer in wireless technology. Ballycastle-Rathlin was his first wireless telegraph station and the Clifden station would be his last, ceasing operation in 1922.
On Saturday and Sunday, August the 4th and 5th. Hal will operate from Ballycastle as GI/W8HC/p. He will be also taking part in the annual Marconi Festival at Ballycastle with the Marconi Radio Group’s MNØMRG special event station on Sunday the 5th of August. On Monday the 6th of August, he will ferry over to Rathlin Island (EU-122) and operate from East Lighthouse (ARLS designator NTI 011).
He will arrive in Clifden on Wednesday the 8th of August where he will operate as EI/W8HC/p at the Derrygimla site on Thursday and Friday the 9th and 10th of August. It is hoped that some operating time can also occur from nearby Letterfrack, site of an ancillary receive station built in 1912 to allow for full duplex operation of the transatlantic signals.
All QSOs will be confirmed via LOTW and special QSLs from each of these historic Marconi locations will be printed and sent via GlobalQSL www.globalqsl.com In addition, a specially designed certificate will be issued to those stations making contact with both GI and EI operations from either Ballycastle or Rathlin and Derrygimla or Letterfrack. In keeping with the historic connection, all QSOs from these locations will be CW only. Limited mobile phone operation will take place during transit in both GI and EI.
Contests
The CW field day will take place in two weeks time on the 2nd and 3rd of June and the VHF/UHF field day will take place on the weekend of the 7th and 8th of July.
The RSGB IOTA contest will be held on the 28th and 29th of July.
Ladies Mini Marathon
The 2007 Flora Ladies Mini Marathon takes place on Bank Holiday Monday the 4th of June at 3.00 pm. It starts from Fitzwilliam Square, and finishes in Stephens Green Dublin 2. Sadly this year’s event will happen without the familiar voice of Donnchadh O’Shea who traditionally operated the net control station. This year’s public service event will be dedicated to his memory. The co-ordinator for the event again this year will be George Adjaye who may be contacted by phone on 086 2586103 or Fax 01 4908546 or email “george_adjayeg at dcu.ie”.
Theory Examination
The next Theory Examination for the Experimenters Licence will be held on Thursday the 28th of June next. Places for the examination are limited and will be allocated on a “first come first served” basis. Intending candidates should forward the appropriate fee to Seán Nolan EI7CD, 12 Little Meadow, Pottery Road Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin. The fee is 50 Euro or 25 Euro for full time registered students, those who are retired, are unemployed or have a disability. In addition to the exam centre at the ComReg offices in Dublin an examination will be held on the same date and with the same paper at the Community Centre, Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork.
The closing date for the examination is the 16th of June and it will be strictly adhered to. Sean's e-mail address for further enquiries is "ei7cd at gofree dot indigo dot ie".
EI75IRTS
Just a reminder that as part of the Society’s Jubilee Celebrations, the IRTS has been allocated the call sign EI75IRTS for the duration of 2007. The licence holder is Finbarr Buckley EI1CS, and with his agreement, the call sign may be used by individual and club members holding a current Radio Experimenter’s licence.
Individual and club members of the IRTS can apply to use the call sign EI75IRTS during the rest of the year. More information is available on 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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