Archived News Script
IRTS Radio News Bulletin Sunday 18th March 2018
Licence Examination Report
The IRTS Examination Board publishes reports from time to time, incorporating observations on the standard of answering in the HAREC exams, along with advice for those studying for future exams or tutoring exam candidates. The latest examination report is in the current issue of Echo Ireland. This report, along with four previous reports published over recent years, is included in an updated version of the document "Studying for Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificate" available at www.irts.ie/downloads - the IRTS web site's downloads page. As well as the examination report, this document includes the exam syllabus, notes for candidates, four pages of annexes containing key information very relevant to the exam questions, and a sample paper.
Outgoing QSL Cards
Any members attending the LRC rally on Sunday 25th of this month can save postage by bringing their cards to the rally in a package clearly marked as outgoing QSL cards and leaving them with Harry EI2KL or any member of the LRC. They will then be forwarded on Dave EI6AL for sorting. Any member who has cards to send but is not going to the LRC Rally can also save postage by bringing their cards to the IRTS AGM on 14/15th April and handing them directly to Dave.
IRTS Annual General Meeting
IRTS AGM 2018 will be taking place on the 14th and 15th April in the Galway Bay Hotel. Lectures will be held on Saturday afternoon from 2pm. On Sunday the Rally will take place in a spacious conference hall located underneath the Hotel. Doors will open at 10:00 am to facilitate a longer time for the Rally.
Meals will be available on Sunday in the Carvery for all the weary travellers prior to the AGM.
There are numerous B&Bs in the area of Salthill which may be found on the B&B finders on the internet. Those seeking a room at the hotel should mention the IRTS when booking to get the special rate for the weekend. Anyone wishing to book a room in the hotel for the IRTS weekend should do so as possible, as the rooms will not longer be held for the IRTS after this weekend.
If you wish to book a dinner ticket this should be either purchased/booked through the IRTS website or via Steve Wright EI5DD at “wrights1 /at/ eircom /dot/ net” fairly soon in order to enable confirmation of numbers for this purpose.
North Cork Radio Group
A quick reminder for your calendar. Monday 19th March 2018. Blackrock Castle Observatory will be activated by the North Cork Radio Group. They will be activating the castle under the World Castles Award. Open for the public from 10AM onwards. NCRG will be operating HF mainly, but will have showcase equipment, go boxes and other gadgets to show to the public. The NCRG hope to see many of you there on the day, or, of course, on the air.
Limerick Radio Club
It's only 1 week to the LRC Rally on Sunday the 25th March in the Radisson Blu Hotel Limerick. Anyone wishing to book tables please contact Michael Kingston EI2IX; e-mail “michaelkingston /at/ eircom /dot/ net” or to Harry O'Loughlin e-mail “oloughlin /dot/ harry /at/ gmail /dot/ com” As for previous years the LRC website will advertise for sale items, so please send your list to Michael's e-mail address.
Please check lists of the for sale items on www.limerickradioclub.ie/ and click on the 'Market Place' tab.
Raffle Prizes will include a voucher for one hour on a B737 simulator, compliments of Atlantic Air Adventures, Shannon.
Brendan EI0CZ, Harry EI2KL and Tom EI5CA continue with Morse Practice, on the Limerick 2 metre repeater after the IRTS News at 20:00 on Mondays, and at 20:00 on Tuesdays.
South Dublin Radio Club
South Dublin Radio Club AGM will now take place at 8pm on Tuesday 20th of March 2018 at Ballyroan community centre on the Marian road in Rathfarnham. All members are asked to attend.
EI100MCV – OPERATORS REQUIRED
EI100MCV has been issued as a special event station by ComReg to the National Maritime Museum Radio Club in Dunlaoghaire for the year 2018. This call sign which includes the letters of the original call sign ‘MCV’ of the RMS Leinster is to commemorate the Centenary of the sinking of the RMS Leinster in the Irish Sea on 10 October 1918 just a month before the end of World War 1.
The call sign may be used throughout the year 2018 by all members of the National Maritime Museum Radio Club as well as by any licensed EI amateur radio operator who would like to commemorate this historic centenary. The Club encourages other operators to get involved on a similar basis to the Wild Atlantic Way initiative. The event will be coordinated by Dave O’Connor EI6AL who has acted in this capacity for many similar events.
Operators who wish to use the call sign should contact Dave at “dave /dot/ ei6al /at/ gmail /dot/ com”. Anyone who operates the call sign must forward an ADIF log by email to Dave EI6AL. Dave will maintain a master log and will do the necessary upload to Clublog.
The sinking of the Leinster by a torpedo was, and still is, the single largest loss of life in the Irish Sea with a total of 567 lives lost.
The Maritime Museum Radio Club hopes that many operators will avail of the opportunity to use this unique call sign and so give extensive coverage to this important centenary year.
CQ WPX SSB - EI8GQB
Olivier ON4EI, has returned to Ireland and will be operating up until 28th March 2018 as EI8GQB. During the CQ WPX SSB contest he will operate the Tipperary Club station, call sign EI7T. Olivier runs contests in Low Power/Single Op SSB category using mainly green energy with his temporary 'Field Day like' antenna park setup. You can follow this one-man expedition on qrz.com or meet him on the air. For these dates, please QSL EI7T only via LOTW or EI8GQB via LOTW or QSL MANAGER: PA3249 (direct or bureau).
DX News
Three Polish amateurs, SP2FUD, SP2GCJ and SP9FIH, are QRV until 27th March from the island of St Eustatius in the Caribbean. They are using PJ5/homecall and can be found on CW, SSB and Digital. QSLs are OK via Club Log OQRS.
The Latvian team mentioned last week as signing 3C3W from Equatorial Guinea have successfully transferred to Annobon Island where they are now very active as 3C0W. The IOTA reference is AF-039. QSL info for both calls is Club Log OQRS.
Take JG8NQJ will be back on Minami Torishima as JG8NQJ/JD1 from mid-March for about three months. He is on a work assignment but will be active on the bands when time permits. The IOTA reference is OC-073 and QSL Manager is JA8CJY.
Harald DF2WO is scheduled to return to Burkina Faso from 19th March – 10th April. He will be reactivating his XT2AW callsign and QSL info is via M0OXO OQRS.
Luca HB9OBD is at present operating as D44KIT from Sal Island in the Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa. He can be found on 60, 40 and 20m on SSB and FT8. QSL to 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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