Irish Radio Transmitters Society
Radio News Bulletin

Sunday September 2nd 2007
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Silent Key Billy Cantwell EI7GO

The many friends of Billy EI7GO will be saddened to
hear of his death. Billy had been ill for a relatively
short period and died peacefully at his home in
Mullinahone on Monday last. Billy was one of the most
regular callers into the weekly HF news bulletins and
prided himself on being mostly the first to be heard on
the 80-metre news call in.

Billy was an active member of the Tipperary Amateur
Radio Group and participated regularly in various
HF and VHF nets. He was extremely popular with all
with whom he came in contact. Billy was blessed
with an infectious good humour and a ready wit,
which we all enjoyed. The experimenter community
was well represented both at the removal on Tuesday
evening and at the funeral Mass on Wednesday. The
'voice of downtown Mullinahone' as Billy
humourously described himself is now silent and
will be sadly missed by us all.

To his wife Stella, his son Liam and to his daughters
Anne, Noelle, Ailish and Michelle we extend our
sincerest sympathy. May he rest in peace.
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Counties Contest

The 2-metre Counties Contest took place last weekend.
The weather was good, which encouraged a number of
stations to operate portable, however the lure of the
All-Ireland semi-final may have contributed to the
absence of a number of regulars. Most counties were
heard at one time or another during the day, with the
midland counties certainly well represented.

The Slieve Blooms proved a popular spot for portable
stations, with Trevor EI2GLB and Joe EI7GY operating a
few hundred metres apart on Wolftrap Mountain, county
Laois, and John EI4HS nearby, but over the border in
county Offaly. All who participated in the contest,
even those who gave out just a few points, are
encouraged to send in their logs to the Contest
Manager. The latest date for log entry is the 25th of
September.
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CQIR

September has arrived and our premier international
event for our Jubilee year, the CQIR Contest is just
around the corner.

A quick internet search will demonstrate just how much
interest there is in the event from the international
radio community. We hope your plans for the event are
well advanced and we have set ourselves an ambitious
target to have 250 EI and GI stations on the bands for
part or all of the weekend. This is more of a QSO party
than a contest so we would encourage the non-contesters
to get involved and fly the flag for Ireland and the
Society on the 29th and 30th next.

EI75IRTS will be QRV for the event with the LF night
time operation from the EI7M site in Cork and a HF
station for the Press located in the Pheonix Park in
Dublin. In respect of the Dublin station, we are
anxious to have some young operators on the operating
team. If you are between 15 and 25 years of age,
licensed or not, and are interested in helping out,
please contact Paul EI2CA on 087 2523908 or email “paul
at comma dot ie”.
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MRG Experimenter Group

The MRG experimenter Radio Group VHF/UHF SSB Challenge
2007 will take place between 15.00 hrs and 18.00 hrs
(local time) on Sunday the 9th of September. The Fixed
section takes place on 144 MHz & 432 MHz, SSB only and
the Portable section on 144 MHz and 432 MHz, SSB only.

Any EI/GI operator holding an amateur/experimenter
licence can participate. Closing date for logs is
October 9h 2007. Please forward completed logs to
“ei2mrg at yahoo dot com” Trophies will be presented to
the winners of the fixed and portable sections later in
the year. A full copy of the rules can be had by
visiting www.geocities.com/ei2mrg.
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Tipperary Amateur Radio Group

The next meeting of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group
will take place on Thursday next the 6th of September
at 8.00pm in Raheen House Hotel Clonmel.
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Limerick Radio Club

The next meeting of the Club will be on the Thursday
11th of October at the usual venue, the Limerick
Institute of Technology, Moylish at 19:30 hrs local
time. All those interested are welcome to attend.
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EI0MAR

EI0MAR will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the
IRTS by using the call sign EI75IRTS on the first two
Sundays in September. CW will be the main mode of
operation although some CQ calls will also be made on
SSB as well. If conditions are favourable, the 7 MHz
band will be the main focus, to allow as many EIs as
possible to work the special call sign. The station may
also be QRV on the Saturdays of the same weekends.
EI0MAR is QRV most Sundays between 11 and 3. Telephone
and email contact details for EI0MAR are available on
the museum website which is
www.qsl.net/ei5em/museum.html. A link on the museum web
page will take you to EI0MAR's own web site.
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Upcoming Rallies

Cork Radio Club Rally will take place on Sunday the
23rd of September in the Blarney Park Hotel. For
information contact Con on 021-427136.

The Waterford Rally will take place on Sunday the 21st
of October in the Woodlands Hotel, Waterford. For more
information visit www.searg.com.

The Foyle and District Rally will take place on Sunday
the 4th of November 2007 at the White Horse Hotel,
Derry. For more information visit www.mn0aku.org.uk.

The Mayo Radio Rally will take place on Sunday the 18th
of November in the Belmount Hotel, Knock, Co. Mayo. For
more information contact Padraic Baynes, EI9JA @ QTHR.
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Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be
forwarded to Mark Wall, EI7IS at QTHR or by phone to
051-853806 or 087-6302026. Items for the radio news can
also be faxed to 087 5 6302026. News should be
submitted via e-mail to “news at irts dot ie” for
automatic forwarding to both the radio and printed news
services. Please note that items for the radio news
should reach the editor no later than midday on Friday
in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following
Sunday’s bulletin.