Irish Radio Transmitters Society
Radio News Bulletin
Sunday 12th February 2012

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IRTS 80th Anniversary AGM & Rally

Tickets for the AGM dinner on Saturday April 21st are selling fast. The
event this year is hosted by Dundalk Amateur Radio Society,
www.ei7dar.com. Dinner tickets are just 32, this is a reduction on
previous years and represents great value for this very special dinner.
B&B is 55 for single and a double is 65. As dinner tickets and
rooms are distributed on a first come first served basis, you are
encouraged and advised to act now to avoid disappointment. The annual
rally, on Sunday April 22nd, will also have its favourites and many new
and novel exhibitors. This is a must attend event in the 80th
Anniversary year of your national society, www.irts.ie.

Dinner tickets can be bought now by contacting Thos, EI2JD on
087-2953256 or email thoscaffrey /at/ hotmail.com or by contacting any
IRTS committee member. The Fairways Hotel can be contacted on 042
9321500 or www.fairways.ie.
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IRTS Request for Return of Trophies

It is time once again to recall all trophies presented at the 2011
IRTS, AGM in Limerick.

Trophies and Cups can be returned to the IRTS Stand at the Phoenix
Radio Club Rally in Coolmine on Sunday 12th February. or to any IRTS
Committee Member before end of February 2012.

This will allow for engraving to be done and allow for repairs if
necessary.

Early return will be appreciated. Peter EI4HX at ei4hxperimental /at/
eircom /dot/net

Nominations For Awards for IRTS Trophies.

The time is here again for nominations for the several awards for IRTS
Trophies that are required from within the membership, this includes
the awards for, 1. Service to the Society or to Amateur Radio. Awards
in this category can be to members or non-members.

2 Awards for other achievements.

Awards in this category [2] include the 4 and 6 Meter Shields, the SWL
Award, and the awards for Quality Construction Projects. These are
confined to members only.

When considering your nominations, please refer to previous successful
winners as included in www.irts.ie/cgi/awards.cgi

Nominations may be from Clubs or Individuals, must be by post or
e-mail, and can be forwarded to the Awards Committee Members, Pat EI2HX
and Jim EI4HH, or to Peter Grant EI4HX, Chair of Awards Committee,
QTHR, or by e-mail to ei4hxperimental /at/ eircom /dot/ net

Closing date for nominations is 29th February 2012.

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Phoenix Amateur Radio Rally

Phoenix Amateur Radio Rally takes place today, Sunday February 12th,
Coolmine Community School, Blanchardstown, doors open at 11am. All
welcome.
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South Dublin Radio Club

South Dublin Radio Club will be launching the new Dublin Television
repeater at today's Phoenix Rally, along with displaying the required
equipment needed for reception.

There will also be a live demonstration this Tuesday 14th February at
the club for those who are let out on Valentines night and probably
most Tuesdays for the following few weeks. Equipment on loan, including
a tiny portable LCD television will be available to check coverage at
your own qth at a first come, first served basis each week.

The Annual General Meeting of the club will take place Tuesday 13th
March. All members are requested to attend.

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South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

The Annual General Meeting of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will
take place on Monday 27 February at 8:00 p.m. in the Roanmore GAA Club,
Cleaboy Road, Waterford. Members are asked to attend and as always,
visitors are welcome.

Please note that membership renewals for 2012 are now due. Membership
costs 30 Euro and is available at a reduced rate of 20 Euro for
pensioners, students and the unemployed. Please pass your payment on to
any committee member or you can renew at the AGM on 27 February. Those
who paid in November or December are fully paid up for 2012.

For information about the group, visit www.searg.com and you can also
follow SEARG on Facebook and Twitter.

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Cork Radio Club

The special call sign EI100T has been issued for the year 2012 to
commemorate the 100th sinking of the Titanic and Cork Radio Club
members will operate the station from Cobh throughout the year. The
main Titanic event will happen over the weekend of April 13/14th and
everyone is encouraged to visit the special event station in Cobh.
Information on EI100T from Cormac EI4HQ QTHR. Further information on
Cork Radio Club is available from Jeremy EI5GM on 083-3317710.

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Galway VHF Group

Craggy Island Dxpedition Group.

A number of members of the Galway VHF Group have recently formed the
"Craggy Island Dxpedition Group". The group is waiting for an
appropriate callsign before the activities begin. Weather permitting,
it is hoped that there will be frequent excursions to offshore Islands
over the coming year. It should be noted that working an offshore
Island does contribute towards the Worked All Ireland Award Scheme and
where possible, there will be operation from all squares on each
Island. Ample notice will be given via the IRTS News service and do
take a look at the Galway VHF Group News page at www.galwayvhfgroup.com
which will also be regularly updated with forthcoming plans.

Galway VHF Group News

The Galway VHF Group continue to hold regular meetings with
demonstrations of test equipment for the Hamshack. At a recent meeting
there was a discussion and demonstration of the Oscilloscope. Other
meetings have demonstrated the use of the Signal Generator, and
Sinadder and their uses when performing conversions of PMR radio
equipment for the VHF Amateur Bands. It is surprising how easy it is to
tweak the receiver sensitivity of such rigs using the aforementioned
equipment. At the next meeting there will be a practical demonstration
covering the building blocks of an AM/FM receiver. After measuring
parameters of each stage, the receiver will then be tuned up with a
signal generator and Oscilloscope. AREN operations will be busy over
the coming year with 7 activities planned so far. These operations will
cover Cycling, Walking, Rowing, and Marathon activities undoubtedly
there will be many more before the year is out.

Classes for the Amateur Radio Examination are being organised by Steve,
EI5DD, for anyone interested from the Galway Area. If there are
insufficient numbers for a class it will be possible to organise
tuition on a one to one basis if this is preferred. Details may be
found on the Galway VHF Group Website at www.galwayvhfgroup.com

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West Tyrone Amateur Radio Club

WTARC is running a course for the Intermediate Exam which will take
place on Tuesday 3rd April 2012.

The course will be on the following Saturday afternoons... Saturday
18th & 25th February, 10th, 24th 31st March, we will not be
accepting any registrations after Wednesday 15th February, cost of the
course is £65 which includes all materials needed for the course and
the exam fee.

A registration form can be downloaded from our website at
www.wtarc.co.uk
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DX News

DK9FN is active from Temotu Province in the Solomon Islands until 24
February. Temotu Province counts as a separate DXCC entity. His
callsign is H40FN and QSL Manager is HA8DD. The IOTA reference number
for this rare one is OC-100

A group of American operators will visit the Bahamas from 13 - 23
February. Look out for the callsigns C6ABB, C6ALC and C6APX.

Other activity in the Caribbean in the coming week will see W4OWY and
AA9A signing V25WY and V25AA respectively from the island of Antigua.

Will AA4NC is QRV from Belize from 16 - 26 February using the call
V31RR. He will be on 160 - 10m using RTTY, CW and SSB. QSLs go via
AI4U.

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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 maybe telephoned to the radio news editor, Aidan, EI7JC on
085 7100511.

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.