Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday February 3rd 2008
Theory Examination
The Theory Examination will be held at the ComReg Offices in Dublin at 2 p.m. this coming Wednesday the 6th of February. Best of luck to all the candidates that are sitting the exam.
Emergency Communications
The next IARU EmComm Party on the Air is scheduled for the 3rd of May between 1800 and 2200 hours UTC, this should enable more stations from Region 2 to participate as well as providing a greater challenge to the rest of the world since emergencies can happen at any time.
The details of the exercise (to be called a Simulated Emergency Test or SET) are being finalised.
Radio News Archives
The script for each Sunday's Radio news is uploaded on Monday to the News Archives section of the IRTS web site. The oldest script in the archives is for Sunday the 1st of February 1998, so you can now browse the radio news scripts for the past 10 years on our web site. If you want to see what radio experimenters in Ireland and overseas have been doing for the past decade, visit www.irts.ie/news to see the IRTS News Bulletin Archives.
70 MHz Initiative
The CEPT Working Group on Frequency Management, WGFM, is being asked at its next meeting in mid February to consider a secondary allocation to the Amateur service at 70 MHz.
This arose from an initiative by IRTS based on a technical paper drafted by Dave EI3IO. Arising from this ComReg has submitted a proposal inviting the WGFM to consider a secondary allocation to the Amateur Service in the band 70.0 to 70.5 MHz. This is in the context of the post WRC '07 revision of the ECA (European Table of Common Frequency Allocations) that will take place shortly.
There are allocations at 70 MHz in Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Slovenia and the UK. Other countries are reluctant to release the band for experimentation and research until it is formalised either in Article 5 of the ITU Radio Regulations or in the European Common Allocations Table. The ComReg initiative would give effective recognition to the de facto situation in these countries and more importantly insert a provision for a secondary allocation at 70 MHz to the Amateur Service in the ECA as an enabling provision to Administrations. This would greatly assist National Societies in countries that do not have a 70 MHz allocation in negotiating such a facility with their Administrations. Work is ongoing through IARU Region 1, its National Societies and others in seeking support for the ComReg proposal. We all hope for a successful outcome.
Tipperary Amateur Radio Group
The next Meeting of Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will be held this coming Thursday the 7th of February.
Shannon Basin Radio Club
The next meeting of Shannon Basin Radio Club will take place on Wednesday the 6th of February in Hannon’s Hotel, Athlone Road, Roscommon.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group
The Annual General Meeting of SEARG will take place on Monday the 25th of February at 8.00 p.m. in the Roanmore Centre, Waterford. Members will be notified by post in the coming weeks. All members are asked to attend and visitors are welcome.
Coolmine Rally
The Phoenix Amateur Radio Club will run the Coolmine Radio Rally this coming Sunday the 10th of February 2008 at the Coolmine Community School, Clonsilla, Dublin 15. Doors open for traders at 9:00 a.m. and for the general public at 11:00 a.m. To book tables contact Tony on 087-2439997 or Tom on 086-3417017. The rally will feature a bring-and-buy sale and admission is 4 Euro.
Codes and Ciphers Exhibition
The Codes and Ciphers Exhibition will take place from Monday the 11th of February until Friday the 15th of February 2008 at the Somme Heritage Centre located just off the Bangor Road, a few miles outside Newtownards, Co. Down. Equipment on display will include a German Enigma machine along with other cipher equipment. For more information visit, www.irishsoldier.org
Upcoming Rallies
The Radio Hobbies and Electronics Fair which is run by the Limerick Radio Club will take place on Sunday the 9th of March in the Limerick Radisson SAS Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick. For more information, visit www.qsl.net/ei4lrc
The Lagan Vally Radio Rally will take place on the 15th of March at Lagan Valley Hospital, Lisburn. For information contact Jim Henry, GI0DVU on 048 926 62270.
The Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club Annual Rally will take place in The Share Centre, Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh on Sunday the 13th of April 2008.
The IRTS AGM Weekend
The IRTS AGM Weekend will be hosted by the Galway Radio Experimenters Club and will take place on Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th of April 2008. The venue is the Salthill Hotel. For accommodation deals contact the hotel. The IRTS dinner costs 35 Euro per person. For information contact Damian Commins EI2HG or Tom Frawley EI3ER.
D-Star Yahoo Group
There is a new Yahoo email group dedicated to D-Star software. The group's Files section contains software to decode D-Star. It can decode D-STAR callsigns and text messages.
The D-Star Software Radio groups Yahoo page is at groups.yahoo.com/group/dstarsoftware/messages. You can join the group by sending an email to: "dstarsoftware-subscribe at yahoogroups dot com".
Pitcairn Island Dxpedition
VP6PR is currently QRV from Pitcairn Islands and will remain QRV until the 8th of February. The modes in operation are CW, RTTY and PSK31. QSL is via JJ8DEN.
Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be forwarded to Mark Wall, EI7IS at QTHR or by phone to 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 guarantee
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