Irish Radio Transmitters Society
Radio News Bulletin
Sunday 19th February 2012

______________________________________________

Echo Ireland

Members will receive the February issue of Echo Ireland within the next
few days. A number of events associated with the society's 80th
anniversary celebrations are covered, including the upcoming CQIR
contest, the EI80IRTS Award and, of course, details of the 80th Annual
General Meeting weekend, taking place on 21st/22nd April.

Anthony EI2KC brings us up to date with DXing, propagation and band
conditions with his "HF Happenings" column, while another regular
column "Excerpts from the HX Files" deals with the construction of a
23cms transceiver for ATV use.

John EI7IG, among others, writes about the results of research into
networking protocols used in emergency communications. Communications
of an entirely different type are the subject of an article by Steve
EI5DD on QRSS (very slow CW) experiments and their value in propagation
studies. Meanwhile Paul EI5DI has a very forthright article on amateur
radio, remote control and the Internet.

The new Echo Ireland also includes details of the revised HAREC
examination format, updates from radio clubs, details of forthcoming
activities and plenty more.

______________________________________________

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.
______________________________________________

Success at WRC-12

With the signing of the Final Acts of WRC-12 on Friday last, 17th
February, the amateur service had a new global secondary allocation at
472 to 479 kHz. This is the culmination of ten years of lobbying of
Administrations by IARU Societies worldwide which started when the
question of an MF allocation was raised at the IARU Region 1 Conference
in 2002 in San Marino.

The maritime mobile service is the primary user in the band 435 to 495
kHz and the aeronautical radio navigation service also uses the band
415 to 495 kHz . The amateur service must cause interference to these
services. Ensuring the protection of these services by a block of
countries was one of the reasons why the proposal had a very difficult
passage through the WRC decision making process. In fact the proposal
was not agreed until it had reached Committee 4, the final authority
before the Plenary sessions.

There is a fairly long list of countries that signed up to a footnote
permitting them not to allow amateur operation in the 472 to 479 kHz
segment

The power level is to be 1 watt EIRP but countries more than 800
kilometres from a list of specified countries can increase this to 5
watts EIRP at their discretion. While the new allocation became
effective on the signing of the Final Acts of the Conference it will be
a matter for each Administration to determine when amateurs will have
access to the new band as well as the modes and bandwidths that may be
used.

Another bit of good news from the Conference is that a first reading of
the Graft Agenda for WRC-15 was approved. It includes item 1.4 which
proposes consideration of an amateur service allocation around 5.3 MHz
at the next WRC.

Credit must be given to the IARU societies throughout the world that
have worked on these two projects for the best part of 10 years. We
should make special mention of Colin Thomas G3PSM, Chairman of the IARU
Region 1 External Relations Committee, who was appointed CEPT
Coordinator for the MF allocation item and who has done tremendous work
in this capacity over a number of years to achieve a CEPT Common
Position on the item which contributed in no small way to the
successful outcome at WRC-12.

______________________________________________

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 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.

______________________________________________

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.
______________________________________________

IRTS Region 4

Radio theory classes will be starting in February depending on numbers.
If you are interested please contact Ger McNamara EI4GXB on 087-2532512
or ei4gxb / at/ gmail/ dot/ com
______________________________________________

Limerick Radio Club.

The following officers were elected at the Limerick Radio Club AGM held
on 8 February: Chairman: Simon Kenny EI7ALB Hon Sec: Ger McNamara
EI4GXB Treasurer: Tony Condon EI2AW Committee: Dermot Gleeson EI2GT
John Edgeworth EI6IW Mike Griffin EI4FMB Alan Cronin EI8EM

Trustees Michael Kingston EI2IX Dermot Gleeson EI2GT Tom O'Sullivan
EI3AL

Rally: Limerick Radio Club rally will be held on Sunday March 11th 2012
at the Radisson Blue Hotel on the Ennis Road, Limerick. Doors open at
11am and all the usual traders will attend. Bring and Buy tables can be
ordered from Dermot Gleeson EI2GT.

______________________________________________

GI HF Conference and DiGIcon in 2009,

West Tyrone Amateur Radio Club is planning another Conference to be
held on Saturday 16th June, 2012. A few speakers have already been
secured for the Conference and we are currently working on the program
for the day. As there are still a few slots available, if you feel that
you could enhance the program by giving a talk, demonstration or
workshop, please contact Philip MIØMSO to express your interest.
Contact details are mi0mso /at/ yahoo.co.uk or 077 9338 6795
______________________________________________

DX News

EA5BYP and EA5KM will be active as 3C6A from Bioko Island in the DXCC
entity of Equatorial Guinea from 22 - 26 February. They will then
travel to the separate DXCC entity of Annobon Island where they will
sign 3C0E from 28 February until 11 March. For the IOTA chasers the
reference numbers are AF-010 for Bioko Island and AF-039 for Annobon
Island. QSLs go via EA5BYP.

Bill W0OR is at present in Guatemala studying Spanish and in his spare
time gets on the air as TG/W0OR. He will be there until 26 March.

Two operators are very QRV from Ascension Island from now until 28
February. They are Jim N6TJ signing ZD8Z and Rick N6ND signing ZD8R.

Dave G3TBK will be active again as J88DR from St Vincent in the
Caribbean. He will be there until 14 March on the HF bands with
emphasis on 30, 17 and 12 metres. QSL to his home call.

Phil G3SWH and John EA5ARC will be QRV as 3DA0PW in Swaziland from 21 -
29 February . This will be a CW only expedition. The QTH which is the
Hawane Resort is the same location as the 2007 IRTS DXpedition to
Swaziland.
______________________________________________

Summits On The Air

Perhaps it's a sign of Spring: we have heard a number of summit
activations over the past week. Victor GI4ONL and Victor MI0JST were on
the Antrim hills last weekend, firstly on Knocklayd and then they QSYed
to Trostan, the highest of the Antrim Hills. Operation was on both VHF
and HF, with the HF operation from both summits producing pile-ups. The
two Victors have announced that they plan to be active this weekend
from the Sperrins.

Meanwhile Phil ON4TA is back in Ireland for the third year running.
Phil was active from the Wicklow hills this week and plans to activate
some of the Connemara summits later in the month.
______________________________________________

Talk on Amateur Television

As Part of Engineers Week members of South Dublin Radio Club will be
giving a talk on Amateur Television on Thursday 1st of March. Rather
than taking place where the club normally meets this will take place as
part of a range of talks on Technology and will be held in Dublin city
centre. More details are on the venues website: http:///www.tog.ie

Every Tuesday the club will continue to demostrate the new television
repeater as part of the normal weekly meetings.
______________________________________________

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.