Irish Radio Transmitters Society
Radio News Bulletin

Sunday August 19th 2007
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2 metre Counties Contest

The 2 metres counties contest will take place on Sunday
the 26th of August from 2 until 4 p.m. local time. This
is a good opportunity for clubs and individuals to be
active on VHF, even if you’re not competitive this can
be an enjoyable two hours so lets hope that we get a
good turnout in the contest this year. Details and
rules are available on the IRTS web site at
www.irts.ie.
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HF SSB Field Day

The IRTS SSB field day will take place over the first
weekend (1st and 2nd) of September from 13:00 UTC on
Saturday to 13:00 UTC on the Sunday. Again the
grounds of Garbally College, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway
will be available, thanks to Niall EI4CF and once
again the Shannon Basin Club will be hosting their
now famous Barbeque.

This is a multi-operator contest for portable stations
and provides an opportunity for clubs and groups to
practice their portable operating and station set-up
skills. The Paddy Daly Microphone is awarded to the
station with the highest checked score in the open
section and the IRTS HF Shield is awarded to the
station with the highest checked score in the
restricted section. Details and rules are available on
the IRTS web site.
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CQIR – Ireland Calling Contest

The Society's 75th Anniversary Contest CQIR will take
place on the last weekend in September from 12:00 UTC
on Saturday the 29th to 12:00 UTC on Sunday the 30th.
There is great interest world wide being expressed in
this contest which is a celebration of Ireland and the
Irish, throughout the world and with 40 million people
in the United States alone claiming Irish forefathers;
we expect that CQIR will be one of the largest 'one
off' contests ever aired on the Amateur Bands. It is a
24-hour single operator contest with the emphasis on
participation rather than winning and to this end every
participant gains an entry ticket for a spectacular
draw for every 75 QSO’s made during the Contest.

The ticket drawn out of the EI/GI drum will win an all
expenses paid long weekend in New York City for two
people. ARRL have confirmed that this will include a
visit to their national headquarters hosted by ARRL.
Kinnitty Castle in Offaly will host the international
winners for a week with flights for two from anywhere
in the world. The prizes have been fully sponsored at
no cost to the Society and this is really an excellent
opportunity to celebrate the Society and its 75 years
of service to Irish experimenters. We would encourage
all Irish operators to be active during the Contest. So
ring fence the last weekend of September in your diary,
make an effort to have that new antenna up for the
event and lets ensure a good show from the local Irish
operators to support the international Irish who will
no doubt come on the bands in their thousands for the
contest. Full rules are on the IRTS website.
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Notice from ComReg

ComReg would like to advise all Experimenters that
there is currently a delay in the issue of Experimenter
Renewals. During this delay, unless previously
expressly indicated, no experimenter whose fee has been
submitted is restricted from operating within normal
licence conditions.
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EI0MAR

During the past week, Tom O'Donnell (EI4Z) paid a
visit to EI0MAR at the vintage radio museum in Howth.
Tom is 93 years old and still hale and hearty as he
proved by walking up the steep pathway to the Martello
Tower housing the museum. Tom was accompanied by his
son Philip who was a radio officer himself from 1968
until 1980 and operated with the call sign EI3DA
maritime mobile.

Philip claims that his father is Ireland's oldest
living radio experimenter. Is there anybody out there
who knows if this claim can be challenged?

EI0MAR will be celebrating the IRTS's 75th birthday by
using the call sign EI75IRTS on Sunday 26th of August
and 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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Church Broadcasts

For some weeks we have been carrying an item about
broadcasts of Mass from a Church in the north Dublin
area on 28.105 MHz FM. Stations are reminded to listen
out for these transmissions on weekdays at 1000 hrs and
on Sundays at 0900, 1000, 1100 and 1200 local time to
try to identify the Church concerned. Stations in the
Dublin area are asked to take bearings on the
transmissions or try to identify the general area from
which the transmissions originate. We would appeal
again to stations in the Dublin area to put a little
effort into identifying the source of the transmissions
so that details can be forwarded to ComReg. We are
getting international reports on these transmissions
and we have an obligation to do something about them.

We have also received reports of transmission of Mass
on 28.285 MHz. We do not have any idea yet where this
transmission is originating. We would ask stations
countrywide to listen on 28.285 MHz FM at the
appropriate times in their areas so that this station
can also be identified. If you hear anything worth
reporting you should send a report to Thos Caffrey
EI2JD the IRTS Intruder Watch coordinator at QTHR or to
“thoscaffrey at hotmail dot com” with a copy to Sean
Nolan EI7CD at QTHR or to “ei7cd at gofree dot indigo
dot ie”. The report should include date, time,
frequency, signal strength, possible location of
station if identified, beam heading in degrees from
true north and any other relevant information. If the
station is identified from an announcement of local
events, details should be given. Should you hear
anything, no action should be taken other than
forwarding a report as requested.
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South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The next general meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio
Group will take place on Monday the 27th of August at
8.00 p.m. in the Roanmore Centre. All are welcome!

For up to date information, visit the groups’ web site
on www.searg.com.
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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.