10 Jun 2009

UPDATE 10/06/09

Beacon Call Signs

We are glad to report that ComReg has accepted there presentations of the Society and has decided that the existing beacon stations will retain their present callsigns. Any new beacon stations will be allocated callsigns in accordance with the format set out in ComReg Document 09/45c of 28 May 2009.


500 kHz Permissions.

Good news. On Thursday last a Test Licence was issued by ComReg to IRTS under the Wireless Telegraphy(Research and Development Licence) Regulations, 2005 inconnection with operation on 500 kHz. The licence was issued on the basis of an application submitted by IRTS and expressions of interest received from a smallnumber of licensees a little while back.
Under the licence the eight participating stations who submitted expressions of interest have been authorised to operate in the band 501 to 504 kHz with a power of10 dBW ERP (10 watts ERP) using CW or PSK31.We are very pleased that EI has joined the small but growing number of countries that have given some limited access to frequencies in the region of 500 kHz.
These permissions are helping to strengthen the case for a small worldwide allocation in the 500 kHz region which is an objective of the IARU and which is an agenda item for consideration at WRC-11.We wish tot hank Comer for its cooperative approach to his matter and for the quick turn around on the issue of the necessary licence.



80m Counties Contest

The Summer 80m Counties Contest takes place on Sunday 21st June from 1400 to1700utc (note 1500 to 1800 localtime). As part of a demonstration exercise AREN will locate a station at the new Civil Defence Head quarters in Roscrea for the duration of the contest. The station will demonstrate to various government Departments and Agencies our ability to establish a nationwide HF radio network.
Operators are encouraged to participate in the contest in the normal fashion, if not for all then at least for part of the afternoon. Stations working the Roscrea station will score contest points in the normal way,though we would ask that you give your nearest town aswell as your county. The call sign of the Roscrea station will be EI0RTS.
It would assist with the evaluation of the exercise if some stations could call Roscrea at the end of the contest and give their claimed QSO numbers and number of counties. Note that the Roscrea station will not submit an entry to the contest but will provide a checklog to the contest manager.



IRTS VHF Field day

Trevor Dunne EI2GLB our VHF Manager would like any comments and/or suggestions to increase the number ofstations participating in the Annual VHF Field day.This year the Field day takes place over the weekend ofthe 4th and 5th of July.
Trevor can be contacted via e mail atei2glb /at/ hotmail.com with your suggestions.



Mayo Radio Experimenters

Members of the Mayo Radio experimenters are anxious to make radio contact with as many stations in Connaught as possible, during the month of June, as part of their monthly, members-only contest. Operators will be on HFon Sundays after the IRTS 80mt news, on or around3.680MHz SSB.
The club operates a net on Sunday evenings after the 8pm news service form the county. Frequencies are 145.6- the Mayo repeater, 50.450MHz, 70.375MHz, and433.450MHz - all FM. The May Competition was won by Brendan Minish, EI6IZ, runner-up was John Corless, EI7IQ, with John McAndrew, EI3JM in third.



Looking for CW operators for an expedition toNorfolk – VK9AAA

Hellenic Amateur Radio Association Of Australia is organizing a trip to Nolfolk Island from July 22 until July 28th. They are looking for CW operators to support them.
If you are interested, contact the Association
viainfo@haraoa.com or visit their web site at http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/HARAOA/


Rallies

Bangor and District ARS - Radio and Computer Rally
The 2009 rally is to be held on Sunday 14th June2009,At 12 Noon in "The Country Club", Crawfordsburn.ADMISSION £2 INCLUDING 2 RAFFLE TICKETS ! The all new RSGB GB4FUN ! Trade Stands ,Bring and Buy ,BDARSSlide Show
A good selection of radio and computer traders will bein attendance Special interest groups will have their own stands .The ever popular FREE bring and buy will be running as normal
Contact Bill GI4AAM for further details: Tel: 028 91816707
Email: bill.langtry /at/ btinternet.com Website
www.bdars.com


History This Week

1869 Thomas Edison of Boston, MA, patents the electricvoting machine
1896 Marconi files British patent for his radio apparatus.
1896 Henry Ford trials his Ford automobile around streets of Detroit, MI.
1898 First paid wireless telegram sent from Needles,Isle of Wight, UK.

2 Jun 2009

UPDATE 02/06/09

80m Counties Contest

The Summer 80m Counties Contest takes place on Sunday
21st June from 1400 to1700utc (note 1500 to 1800 local
time). As part of a demonstration exercise AREN will
locate a station at the new Civil Defence Headquarters
in Roscrea for the duration of the contest. The
station will demonstrate to various government
Departments and Agencies our ability to establish a
nationwide HF radio network.

Operators are encouraged to participate in the contest
in the normal fashion, if not for all then at least for
part of the afternoon. Stations working the Roscrea
station will score contest points in the normal way,
though we would ask that you give your nearest town as
well as your county. The callsign of the Roscrea
station is not available at the time of going to print
but will be published on the Radio news.

It would assist with the evaluation of the exercise if
some stations could call Roscrea at the end of the
contest and give their claimed QSO numbers and number
of counties. Note that the Roscrea station will not
submit an entry to the contest but will provide a check
log to the contest manager.


Mayo Radio Experimenters

The next meeting of the Mayo Radio Experimenters will
be held on Wednesday next, June 3rd in The Welcome Inn
Hotel, Castlebar at 9.30pm. The demonstration on balun
building and dipole nests, given by John, EI7IQ, at the
last meeting, proved very popular and another
demonstration is planned for the June meeting. The club
publishes a monthly members' newsletter, edited by
David, EI3ECB, which is now in its ninth year.

The club will be active once again this year, at the
Hollybrook Vintage Rally on the first Sunday in July.
Hollybrook is located between Claremorris and
Hollymount on the R331, and the club uses this event
annually, to demonstrate the hobby to the large crowd
who attend this family event.

The eighth Mayo Rally takes place on Sunday November
22nd at The Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar, once again
under the directorship of Padaric Baynes, EI9JA.


Volvo Ocean Yacht Race


The Galway Radio Experimenters Club has a Special Event
call sign for the Volvo Ocean Yacht Race, which visits
Galway from May 23rd 2009 to June 6th 2009. E I 0 9 V O
R (Echo India Zero Nine Victor Oscar Romeo) will be on
the air through out the festival from the old
lighthouse on Mutton Island, the finish line for stage
7 of the race.

They will be QRV on HF, SSB and CW also monitoring the
local repeater R1 (145.625mhz, IRLP Node 5682). Mutton
Island lighthouse was built in 1817 and was in
operation until December 1977. Recently a restoration
project was undertaken by Galway Civic Trust with the
help of FÁS to preserve this wonderful landmark.

The Galway Radio Experimenters Club would like to thank
Mr Jim Higgins, Heritage Officer with Galway City
Council, for his help and support.



Radio Rallies

Bangor and District ARS - Radio and Computer Rally

The 2009 rally is to be held on Sunday 14th June
2009,At 12 Noon in "The Country Club", Crawfordsburn.
ADMISSION £2 INCLUDING 2 RAFFLE TICKETS ! The all new
RSGB GB4FUN ! Trade Stands ,Bring and Buy ,BDARS
Slide Show

A good selection of radio and computer traders will be
in attendance Special interest groups will have their
own stands .The ever popular FREE bring and buy will be
running as normal

Contact Bill GI4AAM for further details: Tel: 028 9181
6707

Email: bill.langtry@btinternet.com
Website: www.bdars.com



The First 4-Metre Analogue meteor scatter record in RSA

Congratulations to Andre, ZS2ACP, of Port Elizabeth and Paul, ZS6NK, in Polokwane on establishing the first-ever analogue meteor scatter record on 70,200 MHz SSB in South Africa.

Paul says, "After many months trying, Andre and I eventually made it on 4m MS on phone on 6 May 2009 around 06:00 CAT. It took about 25 minutes to complete with 5/5 both ways. There were some massive bursts on FSK441 (up to 8 seconds) and this prompted us to go phone".

The radio peak of the Eta-Aquarids meteor shower occurred in the daylight that morning between 08:00 and 11:00 CAT. There were many long and strong bursts recorded on 50 MHz and 70 MHz; a few lasted up to a minute or longer and QSO's on FM would have been a cinch.

The next few days could still provide some interesting contacts on MS.


BBC 4 Space-Radio Drama on Web

Friday's BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play was based on the true story of two amateur radio enthusiasts who intercept transmissions from early Russian space missions and it can now be heard on the web.

The BBC description says:
The true story of Italian radio enthusiasts who intercept transmissions from early Russian space missions and listen in as the earliest men and women in space call in vain for help.

It is 1964 and the Americans are losing the space race. The Soviets are way ahead and the Americans have failed utterly in gaining any intelligence on their rivals' space programme. So it seems fairly outrageous when two young Italian brothers turn up at NASA claiming to have successfully recorded almost every Russian space mission over the previous seven years.

NASA has to take notice when they realise that the brothers have also intercepted American missions and have tapes of classified transmissions by John Glenn, the first American in space.

As it happens they have been sending these recordings to NASA since the outset, but no one has believed them. No one except Carla Pettigrew, an audio analyst who is now trying to persuade Major Will Spencer, NASA's technical director, that he should believe what they have to say.

Featuring some of the actual recordings made by the Judica-Cordiglia brothers, including the sound of a woman dying in space as her craft burns up on re-entry.

The play was broadcast at 14:15 on May 29 and can be heard again on the web for the next 5 days at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kk4cc

Judica-Cordiglia brothers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judica-Cordiglia_brothers