Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 14th January 2018
80 Meters Counties Contest
Reminder regarding the 80 metres Counties Contest, which took place on New Year's Day, the deadline for submission of logs is Monday 15th January. The contest manager is calling for any outstanding logs to be submitted before this date.
QSL Outwards Manager
Tony Baldwin EI8JK is stepping aside as QSL Outwards Manager after many years of sterling service. The Society is indebted to him for all his work and sends him sincerest thanks.
Dave O'Connor EI6AL has agreed to take up the position in addition to his many other commitments to IRTS. Full contact details are on the QSLs page which is to be found under Services on the IRTS web site.
Morse Tests
Morse testing will be held at the Phoenix Radio Club Rally at the Coolmine Community School on Sunday February 11th starting at 1100.
Places can be booked by contacting Dave EI4BZ on 087-6290574 or by email to “ei4bz /at/ eircom /dot/ net”.
Wild Atlantic Way
While the on air activity for the WAW operators and co-ordinators has ended, the work goes on for the WAW QSL Manager, Dave EI6AL. Please don't forget to send your logs as soon as possible to him, so that he can crunch the numbers to make the totals available.
Please note that the cut off date receipt of all WAW logs is today Sunday the 14th January 2018. The final results will be announced at the IRTS AGM in Galway on Sunday 15th April 2018 - when Certificates and Trophies will be awarded.
SOTA
Despite the current weather spring is not far away and many amateurs thought will turn to the great outdoors and Summits on the Air (SOTA). Albert White EI6KO has produced a tri-fold brochure explaining SOTA and amateur radio to members of the public and others that may be interested.
This excellent publication is available to download from the Downloads section of the IRTS Web site. It can be found there under “Operating”. Why not print out a few copies and have them available to explain our hobby.
Southern Ireland Repeater Group
It recently became necessary to relocate our 70cm repeater EI7BWR on 430.875 to an alternative site due to a change of site owners who were not as accommodating to amateur radio. The new site is Mullaghanish Mountain which is located on the Cork/Kerry border. The coverage from the new site should be similar to the previous site but with improved coverage in a Westerly direction. Because of the relocation and to keep with the licensing format the repeater's callsign has been changed to EI7MHR.
Our 2 meter repeater EI2DBR on 145.650 located at Devil's Bit Co. Tipperary has been suffering from interference on and off for the past while due to intermod. The interference is very intermittent and out of our control so it was decided to change the access to CTCSS to prevent the false triggering of the repeater causing an annoyance to users. A site visit was made on the 12th of January last to made the necessary changes and the tone 103.5Hz was decided on and programmed in the unit.
Any users with queries regarding the changes can email them to: “sirnrepeaters /at/ gmail /dot/ com”
Phoenix Amateur Radio Club Rally
A little reminder that the Phoenix Amateur Radio Club rally will take place on 11th February 2018 in Coolmine Community School, Dublin 15, D15 FW97. Doors will open at 10:00 a.m. To book a table contact Tony at 087-243 9997. Tea and refreshments will be available all day. Unlimited free car parking.
AREN
On the weekend of 3rd and 4th of February, AREN will hold a National training and development weekend in Domineer, County Tipperary. Accommodation is available, booking required. For more information, visit www.aren.ie or contact EI4JN. New members welcome.
South Eastern Amateur Radio Group
The January meeting of the group will take place on Monday the 29th of January 2018 in the Roanmore Social and Sports Centre, Cleaboy Road, Waterford at 8.00 p.m. sharp. At this meeting Keith EI5KJ will be doing a show and tell on working amateur radio satellites entitled "Satellites made simple!". New members or anyone interested in learning more about amateur radio or the group are as always very welcome to attend
For anyone that wishes to find out more about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and their activities you can come along to any of their meetings. You can check out their website www.searg.ie and you can also join them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
Limerick Radio Club
LRC wishes to congratulate John and Ivars who have been advised of their success in the recent HAREC Examination. As they await their call signs, the club wishes them many years of happy and successful operating.
Morse code instruction continues after the IRTS News, which is read at 20:00 on Mondays. Code for improvers is on Tuesdays at 20:00. EI QRP and Homebrew Group The EI QRP and Homebrew Group on Facebook has been growing from strength to strength with over sixty members to date. Currently, many of the members are building the QCX transceiver kits from QSP Labs. The group is a great place for exchange of ideas and general information on QRP and homebrew activity in EI. So if you are on Facebook why not join our group.
Cork Radio Club
Congratulations to club member Justin McDonagh on recently passing the HAREC examination and we look forward to hearing him on the airwaves soon. Mentoring for members intending sitting the HAREC examination in the summer continues and new participants are very welcome to join in.
Contact regarding any Cork Radio Club activity can be made by email to “info /at/ corkradioclub /dot/ ie” or by telephone to 087-6290574
DX News
Chris VK2YUS will be QRV from Efate in Vanuatu from 14th – 21st January. He will be using the callsign YJ0CA and hopes to be on 40 and 20m SSB. The IOTA reference is OC-035 and QSLs go to the home call. A small multi-national team led by Zorro JH1AJT will operate as E31A from Asmara, Eritrea from 14th – 23rd January. They will be on all bands 160 – 10m CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via Club Log OQRS. Brian GW4DVB will be back in St Vincent in the Caribbean from 21st – 27th January. He will be heard from Palm Island using his J88PI callsign. Activity will be mainly SSB on 40 – 6m. QSL to his home call. The well-travelled JA1PBV is at present operating as 5X2S from Entebbe, Uganda. QSL to his home call. Pete K8PGJ will reactivate his ZF2PG callsign from the Cayman Islands from 13th – 21st January. Logs will be uploaded to Logbook of The World and QSLs can be obtained via his home call.
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, Mark EI6HPB on 086 355 2370.
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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