Irish Radio Transmitters Society
Radio News Bulletin
Sunday 27th May 2012

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Licence Examination

There are just over two weeks left in which to apply to sit the next
Amateur Station Licence Examination which will be held on Thursday 28th
June at 2 p.m. in the ComReg Offices in Dublin. The closing date for
entries is Thursday 14 June. Full details, including entry procedure,
examination fee and how to pay the fee online are available by clicking
on the Licence Exam button on the IRTS homepage at www.irts.ie Places
for the examination are limited and are allocated on a first come first
served basis. Please note that it is necessary to download the
application form from the web page and forward the completed form and
the appropriate fee in order to secure a place for the examination. If
you pay the fee on line you must still complete and forward the
application form. Please note over half the available places for this
examination have already been allocated.
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Change in 40 Metre News Frequency

The present 40 metre radio news frequency has become increasingly
busier on Sunday mornings. This has lead on occasions to some
difficulty in the reception of both the bulletins and the reports on
the transmissions. It has been decided, therefore, to move the
transmission of the 40 metre news to a new frequency of 7123 kHz on and
from Sunday the 1st of July. This frequency was selected after
monitoring a range of frequencies over a period of time by amateurs who
use this particular transmission of the radio news bulletin.
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Field Day Contests

Next weekend - Saturday and Sunday, 2nd and 3rd June -the first of the
year's field day contests takes place, with CW field day, which runs
from 15:00 UTC on Saturday to 15:00 on Sunday. The IRTS CW Field Day
contest coincides with similar contests in other European countries, so
there should be no shortage of QSOs. While the emphasis in these
contests is on portable operation, fixed station QSOs are welcome. See
www.irts.ie/contests for more information on this and other contests.
As previously announced, there are some rule changes this year - these
are highlighted in the contest rules.

The Field Day series of contests continues in July with VHF/UHF Field
Day, while HF SSB Field Day takes place in September.
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Official Launch of the Craggy Island DXpedition Group

The Galway VHF Group will be officially launching of the Craggy Island
DXpedition Group using the new callsign EI0TED. The launch will take
place this weekend, on Sunday the 27th of May, at the Craggy Island
Parochial House which is actually located in the Burren, County Clare.
A H.F. Station will be in operation between 11:00 am and 3pm on 80, 40
and possibly 20 metres. Afternoon Tea and buns have been booked for the
operators and guests courtesy of "Mrs. Doyle". Please find time to QSY
to 3680 KHz after the IRTS news where we will take calls before QSYing
to 40 metres for the rest of the afternoon. A special QSL card will be
produced to mark this occasion.

Later this year there will be a number of operations from Offshore
Islands round the coast of Ireland. EI3IS is an experienced kayaker and
hopes to activate some of the more inaccessible islands with no landing
facilities and due to the mode of transport many of these operations
will be QRP. This should not present a major problem if the band
conditions are reasonable. Check out the News section of
www.galwayvhfgroup.com where up to date announcements of our operations
may be found current EI0TED / EJ0TED operations may also be found on
QRZ.COM.

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Louth Erne Amateur Radio Club

Ofcom, the UK regulator, have approved a transatlantic 2m beacon
testing for contact from Fermanagh to North America. Full details can
be viewed on www.learc.eu
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DX News

A group of Italians recently operated very successfully from Somalia as
6O0CW. For those of you who missed them there is another chance to work
Somalia until 30 May when Darko E70A will be QRV as 6O3A. He is QRV on
all bands plus 6m. QSLs go via K2PF or E77E

Bill KX4WW and Noll W9RN will be visiting the Turks and Caicos Islands
from 31 May until 7 June. They will sign VP5/home call and will be
active on all bands 160 - 6m.

For those not travelling to the EURO 2012 games in Poland and Ukraine
there is the opportunity to chase the various special event stations
which are active from now until 5 July. A number of new prefixes can be
worked and details can be found on http://sq2rh.idsl.pl/efc/

Still on a soccer theme look out for Sergey Rebrov UT5UDX who is in
Jamaica at present signing 6Y3W in the CQ WPX CW Contest. Outside the
contest he will sign 6Y/UT5UDX and will be there until 30 May. QSL via
RA4LW.
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North Cork Radio Group

With the success of Last weekends' Cashota activity from Barryscourt
Castle, North Cork Radio Group in conjunction with CASHOTA Ireland are
pleased to inform of another award level event for Cashota chasers.

EI1NC/P will be active on Monday 4th of June from Charles Fort in
Kinsale, Ref : EI018/C. Charles Fort was declared a National Monument
in 1973. William Robinson, architect of the Royal Hospital in
Kilmainham, Dublin, and Superintendent of Fortifications, is credited
with designing the fort. As one of the largest military installations
in the country, Charles Fort has been associated with some of the most
momentous events in Irish history. The most significant of these are
the Williamite War 1689-91 and the Civil War 1922-23.

Further information on the CASHOTA Ireland award program can be
obtained from http://cashota-ireland.org/ also nota that all Irish
Castles are also valid towards Cashota Uk awards at
http://www.cashota.co.uk

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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.