Irish Radio Transmitters Society
Radio News Bulletin

Sunday May 6th 2007
______________________________________________

Michael Gallagher EI3CK: Silent Key

The Mayo Radio Experimenters Network is sad to announce
the passing of Fr. Michael Gallagher, EI3CK after a
short illness. Michael was originally from Achill, Co.
Mayo and is predeceased by his brother Dennis a former
Government Minister.

Fr Michael was ordained on April the 10th 1955 in
Carlow Cathedral and was appointed to Ogoja diocese in
Nigeria. He was stationed and Lyamoyong where he was
involved in the building of St. Brendan's school. He
also worked in Nkalagu and while stationed there he
contracted TB meningitis and was invalided home to
Ireland in 1966. After two years of treatment and
convalescence Michael took up a position in St Peters
in the Glasgow archdiocese and ministered there from
October 1968 to March 1969. He then moved to the
diocese of Motherwell in Scotland and served in St
Brides parish Cambuslang and St Leonards in East
Kilbride. From there he went to St Davids parish,
Airdire where he served from 1984 until his retirement
in September 2004. He held the UK callsign GM3AHB.

Fr. Michael joined the Mayo Radio Experimenters Network
in the late 1990s shortly after the club was formed. He
was a regular attendee at meetings and club events and
will be sadly missed by his large circle of friends.
His death brings to two, the number of members of the
Mayo REN to pass on in the last few months. Don Gibbons
EI5IA, passed away in November 2006.

Michael is survived by his sisters Mary and Sr.
Kathleen, by his brothers Eoin, Brendan and Terry and
by his sisters-in-law Maureen, Diane, Joan and Mary.

Our deepest sympathy to his family and friends. May he
rest in peace.
______________________________________________

Date Announced for Mayo Rally 2007

Rally Director Padraic Baynes, EI9JA, told the May
meeting of the club that the date of November 18 had
been set for the 2007 Rally. The venue, the Belmont
Hotel, Knock, remains same as other years and full
details will be announced later.
______________________________________________

Emcomm party on the air

The second IARU Emcomm party on the air took place on
Saturday last the 5th of May. Three AREN stations using
callsigns from the EI0RENE sequence were on the air.
Band conditions on 7, 14 and 21 MHz were good and the
weather ideal for the portable operations. Logs are
being studied at present and a report will be posted on
the AREN Website.
______________________________________________

Galtee Walking Festival

There are just 4 weeks to go to the 2 days of activity
in the Galtees on the Saturday and Sunday of the June
Bank Holiday weekend. John Ronan EI7IG is event
Coordinator and hes is being assisted by John EI2JB
and other members of the Tipperary Amateur radio Group.
Preparations are at an advanced stage but there are
still radio positions to be filled on Saturday and on
Sunday. Newcomers are welcome and training will be
provided by AREN each morning. Please contact John
EI7IG on 086 8167310 or John EI2JB at QTHR
______________________________________________

Ladies Mini Marathon

The 2007 Flora Ladies Mini Marathon takes place on Bank
Holiday Monday the 4th of June at 3.00 pm. It starts
from Fitzwilliam Square, and finishes in Stephens Green
Dublin 2. Sadly this years event will happen without
the familiar voice of Donnchadh OShea who
traditionally operated the net control station. This
years public service event will be dedicated to his
memory. The co-ordinator for the event again this year
will be George Adjaye who may be contacted by phone on
086 2586103 or Fax 01 4908546 or email george_adjayeg
at dcu.ie.
______________________________________________

Comeragh Cycle Race

There are just 8 weeks to go to the national under 23
road racing championship in Waterford on the 1st of
July. Richie EI9HR is event Co-ordinator and he is
being assisted by John EI8JA. This years race, though
run over essentially the same route as last year will
be on a greater scale with over 160 riders taking part.
The Civil Defence have come on board this year to help
with marshalling and RTE will be filming the event.
AREN will provide the communications for safe traffic
management and accident reporting. There will be more
radio reporting points and mobile stations than last
year so more radio operators are required. Again
newcomers are welcome and training will be provided on
the morning of the race. This is an excellent
opportunity for operators to put their radio skills to
good use in a very enjoyable and rewarding way for the
benefit of the Community. All operators irrespective of
experience are welcome.

Please contact Richie on mobile 085-1465465 or evenings
on 051-854315. You can also contact Richie by e-mail at
"ei9hr at yahoo dot com".
______________________________________________

2 Metre Counties Contest

Thanks to all the participants of the recent 2 metre
counties contest. If you or your club participated,
please send logs to EI8IU at QTHR or email to "contests
at irts dot ie by the 9th of May.
______________________________________________

International Marconi Day

On the recent International Marconi Day, EI0MAR
operated from the Radio Museum in the Martello tower in
Howth as a special award station. As befits the event
and the location, most contacts were on CW. There were
many visitors in the afternoon. The good weather
brought a lot of people out and Howth was buzzing. Tony
(EI5EM), Joe (EI4FV), Eamonn (EI2CHB), Mike (EI2DJ)
Conor (EI5GAB) and Joe (EI4JA) attended.

Tony (EI5EM) handed over an Elecraft KX-1 transceiver
and audio amplifier that he had built to Joe Deery,
EI4JA. Joe is a blind operator and the KX-1 has a nice
optional feature that relays whatever appears on the
screen to the operator in CW. As Joe is an avid CW
operator this is of great assistance to him.
______________________________________________

Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club (GI3CFW)

The Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club Rally will take place
on Sunday the 20th of May 2007 at the Discovery Centre,
Oxford Island, Lough Neagh, Lurgan. Doors open at
mid-day and talk-in is on 145.525 MHz.
______________________________________________

Limerick Radio Club

The next meeting will take place on Thursday the 10th
of May at 7 p.m. at Limerick Institute of Technology.

Limerick Radio Club has been invited by the Foynes
Flying-Boat Museum to operate a special Amateur Radio
Station in conjunction with the commemorative
Transatlantic Re-Enactment Flight 1937 from
Newfoundland Canada to Foynes Ireland. A special
call-sign has been allocated to the station EI-70-FOY.
The station will be on the air from the 6th to the 8th
of July 2007. On HF the station will operate from 80 to
10 metres. It will also operate on VHF / UHF using the
EI70FOY call-sign.

A special QSL card, commemorating the Re-Enactment
Flight, will be sent to all stations worked over the
three-day event. All QSL cards should be sent to the
Clubs QSL Manager Alan Cronin EI8EM at QTHR.

Limerick Radio Club can be contacted at ei4lrc at
eircom dot net or at www.qsl.net/ei4lrc.
______________________________________________

South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

Going forward and starting from Monday the 28th of May,
meetings of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will take
place on the last Monday of each month instead of last
Wednesdays. The move has been decided in order to
facilitate a number of members who are unable to attend
on Wednesdays.

The committee meetings will also take place on the
first Monday of each month and the next committee
meeting will take place on Monday the 7th of May.
______________________________________________

Theory Examination

The next Theory Examination for the Experimenters
Licence will be held on Thursday the 28th of June next.
Places for the examination are limited and will be
allocated on a first come first served basis. In
order to reserve a place for the exam, intending
candidates should forward the appropriate fee to Seán
Nolan EI7CD, 12 Little Meadow, Pottery Road
Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin. The fee is 50 Euro or 25 Euro
for full time registered students, those who are
retired, are unemployed or have a disability. In
addition to the exam centre at the ComReg offices in
Dublin, it has now been decided with the agreement of
ComReg that an examination should be held on the same
date and with the same paper at the Community Centre,
Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork. This is to facilitate those at
present attending classes for the experimenter licence
examination in Cork and Waterford."

The closing date for the examination is the 16th of
June and it will be strictly adhered to. Sean EI7CD's
address again is 12 Little Meadow, Pottery Road,
Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin and it can be found in the
call book section of the IRTS website at www.irts.ie
Sean's e-mail address for further enquiries is "ei7cd
at gofree dot indigo dot ie".
______________________________________________

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
Sundays bulletin.