Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 10th July 2011
Contests in July
Just two clubs were heard during the VHF/UHF Field Day last weekend: Network Southern Area Radio Experimenters Club and Dundalk Amateur Radio Society. A number of individual call signs were also spotted during the contest.
The Islands On The Air contest takes place from 12:00 UTC on Saturday 30th July to 12:00 the following day. There is normally plenty of support for this contest from EI and GI stations. We know that Ark EI9KC and friends are planning to operate from Great Blasket Island for the contest and we understand that a number of other offshore island activations are also planned; we would be pleased to hear more details of these for inclusion in future news bulletins.
There is a somewhat unusual contest on Sunday 17th July - the RSGB Low Power Contest. Contest entrants can use a maximum of 10 Watts, and operation is on CW (of course!) on the 40 metre and 80 metre bands. The contest runs from 09:00 to 16:00 UTC, with a one-hour break from 12:00 to 13:00 - presumably for a well-deserved lunch. This contest has attracted a few entries from EI and GI in recent years.
Have a look at www.irts.ie/contests for links to these and other contests.
South Dublin Radio club.
Tuesday 28th of June there was a demonstration of the usefulness of a spectrum analyzer at South Dublin Radio Club. An explanation of how such an instrument could be used for tuning filters and checking the level of harmonics was given with the help of various club members. While such an instrument may not be in the budget of the average person, access to such an instrument, even an older version can make kit building and homebrew much easier.
Mayo Radio Experimenters Network
MREN will hold their annual radio rally on Sunday November 20th 2011. More details from www.ei7mre.org
GI HF Conference
The West Tyrone Amateur Radio Club (WTARC) Omagh are holding a HF Conference on Saturday 20th August 2011. This Conference comes following the very successful DigiCon 09 Conference back in September 2009.
A range of speakers from around GI, EI and G will be in attendance to share their various perspectives on aspects of HF operation. There will also be in attendance Traders such as, Tyrone Amateur Electronics (TAE) and JBT (Jim Bob) along with exhibits from the RSGB and the IRTS.
The Event is supported by Practical Wireless, TAE, JBT, IRTS and RSGB. So come along for what will be a Fun Day Out for all the family. The town of Omagh has a range of top class shopping along with a wide range of other tourist attractions www.omagh.gov.uk/culture_leisure_and_tourism/
We look forward to seeing you there. For details of the Venue etc go to wtarc.co.uk/GIHFConference.aspx
NOAA / Space Weather Prediction Center
SWPC is no longer planning to discontinue the broadcast of its synoptic Geo-Alert products on the WWV and WWVH radio stations. SWPC plans to continue this service for the foreseeable future.
Additionally, updates to the content of this product are underway as a result of the feedback process. For example, in addition to providing the current, daily solar flux at 2800 MHz, we are evaluating adding more frequent observations at 2695MHz. Other improvements to the message content will also be evaluated. Stay tuned to this site for the latest status on these updates.
For additional comments or questions, please email us at swpc.wwv /at/ noaa.gov.
Launch of Astra 1N satellite postponed until late July
SES has announced that the launch of its new Astra 1N satellite has been postponed due to an anomaly that occurred during the final launch count-down on 1 July, 2011. It is intended to first provide interim replacement capacity at the orbital location of 28.2° East. The satellite will subsequently be moved to 19.2° East.
DX News
UA9YAB is QRV from now until 18 July as JT0YAB in Mongolia. For those chasing the Worked All Zones Award it is worth noting that Mongolia is in Zone 23 which is one of the rarer zones. In addition the prefix JT0 is one of the rarer prefixes from JT-land.
The island of Nauru in the central Pacific is not often heard on the bands. This coming week Pekka OH2YY will be active as C21YY until 20 July. He will use SSB only and QSLs go via his home call.
Dave ZR6DG will be in Mozambique from 14-28 July and will sign C92DG. He plans to be active on the bands as time allows. QSL info is via his home call.
The unusual callsign E76ARDF will be in use from now until 20 July from Bosnia-Herzegovina. This is in connection with the 6th Balkan Amateur Radio Direction Finding Championship. It is expected that 120 amateurs from 9 countries will take part in the event.
Another one for the prefix hunters is PT155FD which is commemorating the 155th anniversary of the founding of the first Brazilian Fire Department in Rio de Janeiro. The station will be QRV till 30 July and QSLs go via PS7AB.
Items for inclusion in next week’s Radio News can be submitted via e-mail to “newsteam /at/ irts / dot / ie” for automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news services. Urgent news items for the radio news maybe telephoned to the radio news editor, Aidan, EI7JC on 085 7100511.
Please note that items for the radio news should reach the editor no later than midday on Thursday in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following Sunday’s bulletin.
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