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IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 15th May 2016


Contest News

Contesters taking part in the 40m Counties Contest on Sunday last, 8th May, experienced very adverse band conditions, the result of a geomagnetic storm which hit the Earth earlier that morning. Inter-EI/GI QSOs were particularly difficult, however some signals from overseas stations were getting through, especially during the last hour of the contest. The contest manager reports that 15 logs have been received so far, and has asked others with contest QSOs, no matter how few, to submit their logs before the deadline of next Sunday, 22nd May.


Amateur Station Licence Examination

The next Amateur Station Licence Examination will be held on Thursday, 2nd June at:

1. The ComReg Offices in Dublin and 2. The Waterford Institute of Technology.

Those applying for the examination who reside outside the greater Dublin area must write their centre of choice on the top of the application form.

Candidates intending to sit the examination and who have not yet applied are advised to apply immediately.

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

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 Thursday, 19th May.

Three Exam Reports which were previously published in Echo Ireland are 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.

Intending candidates are advised to pay particular attention to the syllabus for the examination especially Annexes 1 and 2.


60 years of 4metres

A special event station, GB4MTR, celebrating 4m (70MHz) band will be operational from 1st November 2016 to 28th November 2016. The event is being organised by Harlow and District Amateur Radio Society in Essex, UK.

Station will operate on 80metres right down to 70cm.


IRTS AGM 2016 – Awards

This week we continue with listing award recipients at the recent AGM held in Limerick.

The Oriel Trophy was awarded to Gerard Scannell EI5KF. The Shandon Trophy awarded to Denis O’Flaherty EI4KH/P. The Slievenamon Shield awarded to Hans Kraus EI9GRB/P. The Dermot Cowley EI2AK Memorial Cup awarded to Dundalk Amateur Radio Society EI7DAR/P. The Pat Conway Perpetual Memorial Trophy awarded to Billy McLoughlin EI7FJ and John Hearne EI2FG.

Full details of awards and recipients can be viewed on www.irts.ie/awards


Cork Radio Club Annual General Meeting

Cork Radio Club held their Annual General Meeting on Wednesday May 11th with a fine attendance at Carrigtwohill Community Centre. In the election of officers, Jerry EI6BT was elected chairman, Dave EI4BZ is Secretary, Jim Barry EI8GS is treasurer, Tim McKnight EI2KA is QSL and Awards Manager and Dave Deane EI9FBB.Denis EI5GSB and Jack EI7HO all make up the committee.

The club will continue to hold meetings monthly, on the second Wednesday each month at Carrigtwohill Community Centre with a starting time of 8.30pm.

The next confirmed outdoor events for the club are the CW Field Day on the 4th and 5th of June and the SSB Field Day on September 3rd and 4th.

The summer barbeque will be held in July and the annual dinner in November.

Several other events are in the planning stages and will be confirmed in due course. Tributes were paid to Vincent EI7HN for his commitment to broadcasting the weekly IRTS Radio News bulletin at 8pm every Monday night on the Cork Repeater.

Listeners are encouraged to stay on frequency after the bulletin and also to support the Cork Repeater Activity night at 9pm every Thursday.

Members are asked to pay their annual membership fee of €20.00 to Treasurer Jim EI8GS as soon as possible. New members are very welcome, especially anyone who intends to study for the licence examination.

Anyone interested is invited to call to Carrigtwohill Community Centre on the second Wednesday of any month and further information is available from Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574 or by emailing ei4bz at eircom dot net.


DX News

Two Japanese operators will be QRV from Koror Island in the Palau Archipelago from 17th to 22nd May. They will use the callsigns T88WI and T88WH. QSLs go via their home calls of JH1BGH and 7K1HLJ respectively.

Merv N6NO will be active as VK9OL from Lord Howe Island from 21st to 29th May. He will concentrate on the WARC bands and use mainly CW. This trip is to celebrate his 80th birthday and also to mark 65 years of enjoying ham radio. QSL direct to N6NO.

Libya has been a very rare DXCC entity on the bands in recent years. Activity has been sporadic by Abubaker 5A1AL. The good news is that ARRL has approved all his operations as good for the DXCC Award. QSL information can be found on QRZ.COM

Another African country which could be considered semi-rare is Congo. From 15th to 23rd May look for Phil TN2MP and Joe TN2BJ. QSLs go via F5MVB and F5AOW respectively.


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.

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