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IRTS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN Sunday August 16th 1998


Tall Ships in Dublin

Dublin Port will host the tall ships next weekend and to mark the occasion, a special event amateur radio station will be run for the four days from the port.

The station, being jointly run by members of North-Dublin Radio Club and the Bayside Scouts Radio-Club, will operate from two different venues with the callsign EI3TSR.

The location of the HF station will be the Customs Office just inside the gates at the Iarnrod Eireann Depot at the North-Wall-Quays between Guild Street and New Wapping Street. Please note that both North and South Quays will be pedestrianised for the duration of the Tall Ships visit and it is probable that visitors to the station on Saturday and Sunday next will have to contact Iarnrod Eireann Security first.

Depending on conditions, the HF station will operate on 10 to 80 metres both on SSB and CW - from 10am until 10pm each day.

The VHF/UHF station will be located in The Den of the 1st Port of Dublin Sea-Scouts, just off the roundabout near the old Coastguard Station, Pidgeon-House Road, on the exit leading to the ESB Power Station.

This station will also be operational on packet radio. Watch out for details on the Cluster.

The station will be active on both FM and SSB and will especially welcome callers on 2 metres SSB.

Traffic restrictions from the Northside approach to the East Link Toll Bridge are not available but there should be no difficulty if approached from Sandymount or Ringsend Road via Pearse Street.

Both stations will monitor 145.450MHz to co-ordinate activities and to answer any queries that may arise.

Both stations extend a welcome to amateurs who may like to visit the stations, especially those willing to operate on HF and CW.

All stations contacted will receive a special EI3TSR QSL card.

Further information can be got by e-mail from celtictiger@tinet.ie


VHF Openings

The recent high pressure systems led to some massive openings on the 2 metre band with many of the newer licencees getting their first chance to work stations outside of Echo India.

DX repeaters have been heard on all channels from as far south as North-Africa and French and Spanish stations were very active on the Cork repeater for several days.

EI operators have been heard working well into central Europe on 2 metres SSB.

Stations in the midlands and on the East-Coast seemed to have fared better than stations in the South of the country where the openings did not extend as far into Europe.

The news services would appreciate hearing in detail what you managed to work.


Worked All Ireland

WAI and Island hunters will be pleased to hear that Paddy EI7GK and Declan EI4FCB are planning to activate Inishturk Island off the Mayo Coast next week on 80, 20 and 2 metres.

The date depends on weather conditions so watch out between the 20th and the 28th.

There are two WAI squares on the Island, L57 and L67 and it is planned to activate both on 3.680Mhz and 145.350Mhz.

These will be very important to anyone chasing the Worked All Ireland islands and the Worked All Mayo awards.

Congratulations to Declan EI9HQ who activated 260 squares in counties Mayo, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Roscommon, Longford and Galway over a nine day period July the 31st to August the 9th. Declan covered over two and a half thousand miles on his trip and in the process brought his total of squares activated up to 699. He hopes, depending on refereeing commitments, to activate a lot more over the coming months.

Congratulations also to Mickey EI6HY, George GI4SRQ and Tom EI9CJ on breaking the magic 1,000 barrier of squares worked.

In an effort to promote the Worked All Ireland award Scheme on the higher bands, Declan EI9HQ has been operating on 14.245 to 14.247 MHz while mobile and has attracted quite a bit of interest.

Listeners are asked to keep a listen around those frequencies in an effort to get a WAI net established. In particular, regular 20 metre operators are asked to spread the word with their contacts abroad.


South Dublin Radio Club

Four members of South Dublin Radio Club, Tom EI7HT, Brendan EI3GV, Eoin EI9HZ and Joe EI7GY climbed Lugnaquilla in County Wicklow on Sunday August the 9th and spent the day operating on 2 metres and most of the HF bands. Weather conditions were excellent and band conditions on 2 metres were just as good.

In contrast, 80 metres was disappointing; the band was quiet on the mountain top, but noisy in the lowlands. Most HF operation was on 20 and 40 metres with many contacts into Europe.

This was the fourth successive year that South Dublin members have climbed and activated a 3,000 foot mountain.

SDR members are finding that radio experimenting keeps them fit!

South Dublin Radio Club are currently on their summer break from weekly meetings and will not meet again until the first Tuesday in September.

Visitors and new members are always very welcome at the weekly meetings of SDR which are held in the Ballyroan Community Centre every Tuesday night.


Items for inclusion in the Radio News can be faxed to 021-632730 or passed on the telephone to Dave EI4BZ at 021- 632444 during the day and at 021-883555 in the evening.

Input for the Newsletter should be sent to Kevin EI7IM at QTHR or on 01-4509514 or on E-mail to EI7IM@tinet.ie

All input to either the Radio News or the Newsletter can also be sent by e-mail to news@irts.ie

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