Archived News Script

printer friendly version

IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 3rd May 2015


IRTS AGM 2015

The IRTS AGM 2015 took place very successfully in Kilkenny over the past weekend. SEARG excelled themselves in their superb organisational skills that enabled everything to run as efficient as possible.

The new President of IRTS is Gerry Gervin EI8CC and Vice President is Jim Holohan EI4HH.

A full listing of the new committee is available on irts.ie and click on committee.


IRTS AGM 2015 Awards, Trophies & Cups

A complete awards list, trophies and cups presented at the AGM is available on www.irts.ie/awards Amongst the awards presented was the IRTS DX Trophy; awarded to Mark Condon EI6JK, Hal Hodgens Trophy; Barry Merrill EI/w5GN, IRTS IOTA Trophy; Papa Lima DX Group EJ1Y, Pete Daly Memorial Cup; Avondhu Radio Club EI1Y. More to follow next week.


Contest Rules

The rules for IRTS contests have been updated. The General Contest Rules have been extended in order to provide greater consistency in the requirements for all contests and reduce repetition in the rules. This has allowed us to shorten the rules of the individual contests, which now focus on the unique provisions of the respective contests.

The society runs five Counties Contests and three Field Day contests every year. The next Counties Contest is the 40 metres Counties Contest, which takes place on Sunday 17th May, from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC. In the light of the recent updates to the contest rules, it is worth mentioning that the former rule for HF Counties Contests - requiring QSOs with the same station on different modes to be separated by at least three other QSOs - has been dropped.

The short counties contests continue to be very popular among experienced contesters and not-so-experienced contesters. See www.irts.ie/contests for the full contest calendar and links to the contest rules.


Cork Radio Club

Cork Radio Club held their Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 15th April.

In the election of officers, Jack O’Connell EI7HO was elected chairman, Don Kelly EI8DJ is vice-chairman, Dave EI4BZ is Secretary, Jim Barry EI8GS is treasurer, Tim McKnight EI2KA is QSL and Awards Manager and Dave Deane EI9FBB and Jerry Cahill EI6BT make up the committee. The club will now hold meetings twice monthly, on the first and third Wednesdays each month at Carrigtwohill Community Centre with a starting time of 8.30pm.

The next meeting of CRC will take place on Wednesday May 6th when Dave Deane EI9FBB will give a talk on “DXpedition Difficulties”.

The next confirmed outdoor event for the club will be a Summer Barbeque to be held in conjunction with CW Field on 6th and 7th June.

Members are asked to pay their annual membership fee of €20.00 to Treasurer Jim EI8GS as soon as possible.

Anyone interested in Amateur Radio and or CRC is invited to call to Carrigtwohill Community Centre on the first or third Wednesday of any month and further information is available from Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574 or by emailing ei4bz/at/eircom/dot/net


Dundalk Amateur Radio Society EI7DAR

The AGM of Dundalk Amateur Radio Society will take place on Wednesday 6th May at 8.30pm sharp at the club premises Castletown Road, Dundalk. As this is an important event for DAR all members are encouraged to attend. New members are always welcome. www.ei7dar.com


Next Edition of Echo Ireland

The next edition of Echo Ireland is currently in the process of being put together. IRTS publications rely on you for your support in submitting articles and club news as soon as possible and before May 15th.


Lough Erne Radio Rally

The Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club 34th Annual Rally will be held on Sunday 10th May at the Share Centre, Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh. Doors open at 11.30am

It is easy to travel by express bus from Dublin to the Lough Erne Rally in The SHARE centre on Sunday 10th May. A service at 7.30am from the Busaras stops in Derrylin at 10am (on the way on to Enniskillen and Donegal) The SHARE Centre minibus will meet and take rally goers the final five miles from Derrylin to SHARE. A bacon butty and coffee breakfast will be available at 10.30. Doors open at 11.30. Return services from Derrylin depart at 2.45pm or at 4.45pm. More on website – www.learc.eu


AREN News

On the weekend of 18th and 19th April the Amateur Radio Emergency Network held a training and development event in Dromineer County Tipperary. Members enjoyed a mix of indoor and outdoor activities with Winlink, NBEMS, message handling, navigation skills and kit demonstrations to whet the appetite. AREN would like thank: Declan EI2GE of the Lake Cafe for accommodation; Denis Dillon of Shannon Sailing for the training facilities and especially the members for giving of their time and making the trip. For information about the Amateur Radio Emergency Network, www.aren.ie


Amateur Station Licence Examination

The next Amateur Station Licence Examination will be held on Thursday, 4th June in the ComReg Offices in Dublin. Full details, including entry procedure, examination fee and how to pay the fee on line are available at www.irts.ie/exam . Please note that it is necessary to download the application form from the web page and forward the completed form and the appropriate fee so as to secure a place for the examination. If you pay the fee on line you must still complete and forward the application form. The closing date for receipt of completed applications is Wednesday 20th May. Three Exam Reports which were previously published in Echo Ireland are now available on the Downloads section of the website at www.irts.ie/downloads under Studying for the Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificate. These reports contain very useful information for anyone studying for the Licence Examination.


Tipperary Amateur Radio Group

The next meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will be held at The Park Hotel, Clonmel on Thursday the 7th of May 2015 at 8.30pm. This meeting is open to all and Short Wave Listeners are in particular very welcome to attend. A number of radio related topics are up for discussion as well as plans for participation in the upcoming IRTS 40m Counties Contest. For more information about Tipperary Amateur Radio Group go to the group website www.ei7trg.ie


The 5MHz Newsletter

The latest edition of The 5 MHz Newsletter is now available for free download in pdf format from tinyurl.com/q7uqrqw . Also available on the RSGB 5 MHz and Wikipedia 60 Meter Band webpages.

This copy – Winter/Spring 2015 (No.13) - features 5 MHz news from the Czech Republic, UK, Uruguay, South Africa and Australia, plus 5 MHz Eclipsed, the official ITU Agenda booklet for WRC15, the HB9AW RX Project and Readers’ Feedback. Archieved editions are available on tinyurl.com/p22gybh


DX News

Peter DL2RPS will be QRV as S79RPS from Praslin Island in the Seychelles until 7th May. He will be on 80 – 10m SSB and CW. This operation will count as AF-024 for the IOTA programme and as S7FF-04 for the Flora and Fauna Award. QSL to his home call.

Three Japanese operators will be operating from the Ogasawara Islands as JD1YBT until 10th May. They will be on all bands 160 – 6m. QSLs go via JP1IOF.

Nobuaki JA0JHQ will be active as JA0JHQ/VK9X from Christmas Island from 7th to 10th May. He hopes to be on 40 – 6m CW and SSB. QSL to his home call.

Three members of the Scottish based DX-Interceptors Amateur Radio Club MS0IXD will travel to the Isle of Man from 8 – 11 May. While there they will use the callsign MT0IXD which should ensure steady pile-ups as the prefix MT0 is quite rare. They will operate from Scarlett Point on all bands 10 – 80m using SSB, CW and RTTY. QSL manager is M0OXO and logs will also be uploaded to Logbook of The World.


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 may be 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.

[A]

contact IRTS
irts groups.io