Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday July 6th 2008
Theory Examination
Twenty one candidates have entered for the theory examination for the Experimenters Licence which will be held on Wednesday next at the ComRegOffices in Dublin at 2 p.m. We wish them all the best of luck in the exam.
ComReg Spectrum Strategy
On the 1st July ComReg Published its Spectrum Management Strategy Statement for 2008 to 2010. It is available as document No 08/50 on the ComReg website at www.comreg.ie In March last a draft of this strategy was published was published and public responses were sought. The IRTS submitted a detailed response at the time. As a result of this, the final version just published now includes mention of the self-training and technical investigations aspects of experimental and amateur radio. We also succeeded in having included in the Strategy the upgrading of the amateur allocation at 7100 to 7200 kHz from secondary to primary status from March 2009 as agreed at WRC'03 as well as the general release of the 70 MHz band and access to channels in the region of 5 MHz. These latter two issues were agreed between ComReg and the Society quite some time ago and have been held up pending the settling ofsome administrative details by ComReg. We hope these facilities will be made available in the near future.
European Common Allocations Table
In February last as a result of an initiative by IRTS, ComReg raised at the CEPT Working Group on Frequency Management WGFM, the question of the inclusion of a mention of allocations to the amateur service in the region of 70 MHz in the European Common Allocations table ECA. There had been no mention of these despite the fact that an increasing number of countries were giving operating facilities to the amateur service in that part of the spectrum.
This initiative has now yielded results as the revised ECA published by the European Radiocommunications Office ERO which is open for consultation until the 16th of August includes a new footnote EU9 which reads as follows "In a growing number of CEPT countries, parts of the band 70.0 to 70.5 MHz is also allocated to the Amateur service on a secondary basis". The IRTS has sent a detailed submission to the ERO urging that this footnote be retained. This footnote will assist Societies in CEPT countries, which are reluctant to grant allocations at 70 MHz because there is no mention of it either in the ITU Radio Regulations or the European Common Allocations Table.
Countries with no QSL Bureau
Tony Baldwin EI8JK, the QSL Outwards Manager, reports that every week he gets several cards for countries that do not have a QSL Bureau. There are a total of 63 DXCC entities without a Bureau, and Tony has now arranged for these to be listed on the IRTS web site.
Click on the "QSL Service" link that is on the left-hand side of the IRTS web site www.irts.ie to see which countries have no bureau. Tony reminds us that there is no point in sending cards for those countries to him: cards for these countries must be sent direct.
Friedrichshafen Rally
The Society again had a stand at the Friedrichshafen rally last weekend. The rally is organised by DARC, the German National Society. There were somewhere between 25 and 30 visitors from EI at the rally and all of them paid a visit and many of them helped out on the stand in the course of the rally. The stand included a large selection of tourist information supplied by Failte Ireland in English, French, German and Italien and this was ingreat demand. The flea market is a mecca for the experimenter and is held in two halls the size of large aircraft hangers.
On the margins of the rally IARU Region 1 held a range of meetings on matters of interest and concern to radio amateurs and experimenters. One of these meetings was with representatives of the thirty or so IARU Menber Societies attending the rally. At this meeting the representatives of the IRTS stressed the importance of Societies responding to the public consultation on the ECA so as to ensure the retention of the new footnote relating to 70 MHz.
Postage Costs
When the subject of postage costs was discussed at the Society's recent AGM, one of the members present suggested that an option to receive the IRTS Newsletter - Echo Ireland - by electronic means should be offered. This has now been put in place, and on subscription renewal notices posted since May, members have been given the choice of receiving the newsletter electronically as an alternative to ordinary mail. The take-up from this offer has been excellent, and we are now opening this offer to members generally.
Those who opt to receive the newsletter electronically instead of in paper form will be issued with a username and password, which gives them access to a download site containing PDFs of all the newsletters from 2006 onwards, and which will be updated as each new issue is published. If you would like to receive Echo Ireland by way of electronic download, and so help to reduce the Society's postage bill, please let the Membership Records Officer know. Include your call sign and email address in the request, and send it to “memrecords at irts dot ie”.
South Dublin Radio club
The club plans on having regular talks at the usual club meetings on Tuesdays upstairs at the Ballyroan community centre next to the church on the Marian Road in Rathfarnham. These talks are open to visitors from other clubs and short wave listeners from the greater Dublin area. Normally the talks take place at 8:30 p.m. with tea, coffee and biscuits provided.
On the 22nd of July Tony, EI3GU one of the team members of "Fastnet Force 7" will show a film and answer questions on EJ7FRL, the first and only activation (so-far) of Fastnet rock in 1991.
If you think you could talk on a radio or technology topic then contact the club through the website at www.southdublinradioclub.ie
Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be forwarded to Mark Wall, EI7IS at QTHR or by phone to 087-6302026 or 051-340850. 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.
[A]
