Mayo Radio Rally

The annual Mayo Rally took place in Castlebar on Sunday
The 20th of November. There was a great attendance of traders and punters on the day, with plenty of buying, selling and eyeball QSOs taking place throughout the day.

On Saturday night, ahead of the rally itself, Mayo Radio Experimenters Network, the rally organisers, had arranged presentations on Amateur Television and on
Logbook of the World.

Pat EI2HX gave an excellent
introduction to Amateur Television, showing some of
his collection of antennas, transmitters, receivers and
connectors. For those in the audience more used to
working with equipment designed for Kilohertz or
Megahertz frequencies, the "Gigahertz" hardware Pat
works with seems almost exotic, but really an interesting part of the hobby.

Dave EI9FBB, who is not long back from DXpeditioning
with the T32C group on Kiritimati, explained the in's
and out's of the ARRL's Logbook of the World - an online
alternative to paper QSL cards for those working towards a DXCC award.

Dave outlined the steps involved
in setting up and maintaining a Logbook of the World
account and also covered the security measures in place
to ensure the integrity of the system.

We also noted that Dave EI9FBB, our local DXCC card checker, was kept very busy throughout the Rally.

There was a fantastic attendance to the Radio Rally in the West of Ireland, I even got to meet some old friends who I have not spoke too or even seen in a long time and I even got to meet a few new Amateur's who I'd like to take this opportunity in congratulating all new comers to our fantastic hobby.

For anyone interested in joining a very active Amateur Radio Club, check out this club here in the west of Ireland "The Mayo Radio Experimenters Network" based here in the County of Mayo, check them out here on EI7MRE for up to date information.



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New TV Repeater in Ireland

South Dublin Radio Club is in the process of installing
a new television repeater with coverage over the greater Dublin area.

The repeater, which is located on the three rock mountain, will transmit on 2390Mhz and receive signal in on 1249Mhz. While not on the air yet, initial tests have proved sucessful with perfect pictures received 60 miles away at the EI2ATR Cavan repeater site.

The repeater will be linked by radio to the existing TV repeater system currently operating in
Co Cavan, This repeater currently transmits on 1276.5Mhz, 2370 Mhz and 10.040Mhz and gives good coverage of Cavan/Louth/Meath Area.



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RTE

RTE may charge licence-fee payers for access to certain
parts of its online operations, it has been revealed.
The broadcaster is looking at ways to increase its
revenue from its online and digital business. No firm
decisions have yet been made.




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Ham Radio on the Increase

There are over 700,314 ham radio licence holders in
the United States, according to the FCC. There has
been an increase of over 40,000 ham radio licences in
the last five years alone. The ARRL refers to this era
as the "golden years"

According to Allen Pitts of the
ARRL, he reckons that the USA has had over 20-25,000
new hams per year.

Great to hear more people are getting involved in this fantastic hobbie.




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Mayo Radio Rally

The annual Mayo Radio Rally took place in Castlebar on Sunday the 20th of November. There was a fantastic attendance of traders and punters on the day, with plenty of buying, selling
Including eyeball QSOs taking place. We also noted that Dave
EI9FBB, our local DXCC card checker, was kept busy.

On the Saturday night, ahead of the rally itself, Mayo
Radio Experimenters Network, the rally organisers, had
arranged presentations on Amateur Television and on
Logbook of the World. Pat EI2HX gave us an excellent introduction to Amateur Television, showing us some of his collection of antennas, transmitters, receivers and connectors. For those in the audience more used to working with equipment designed for Kilohertz or Megahertz frequencies, the "Gigahertz" hardware Pat works with seems almost exotic.

Dave EI9FBB, who is not long back from DXpeditioning
with the T32C group on Kiritimati, explained the ins
and outs of the ARRL's Logbook of the World - an online
alternative to paper QSL cards for those working towards a DXCC award. Dave outlined the steps involved in setting up and maintaining a Logbook of the World account and also covered the security measures in place
to ensure the integrity of the system.




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Space Station Active on 70 cm Packet

The Amateur Radio station located in the Columbus module aboard the International Space Station is now active on AX.25 packet radio at 437.550 MHz.

To utilize the the packet system, operators need to set their TNC UNPROTO paths to ARISS for digipeating, or they can connect to the packet BBS using the call sign RS0ISS-1. The packet beacon is set to transmit at 2 minute intervals.

Click here to see the current position of the space station in real time. You can also obtain pass predictions online from AMSAT-NA.

Story courtesy of Trevor Hawkins, M5AKA


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ARISSAT-1 May De-Orbit in April 2012:

eHam.net News -- According to predictions satellite is due to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in early April 2012. Launched from the International Space Station on August 8, the satellite is traveling in a low orbit and is steadily losing altitude. The rate of orbital decay may be accelerated by increasing atmospheric density caused by increased solar
activity. With that factor in mind, some ARISSat-1 decay predictions
suggest re-entry as early as February 1.

This is from The ARRL Letter on November 17, 2011
Website: http://www.arrl.org/


ARISSAT-1 May De-Orbit in April 2012:
According to predictions http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/arissat5.htm from Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL, the ARISSat-1 http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php satellite is due to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in early April 2012. Launched from the International Space Station on August 8, the satellite is traveling in a low orbit and is steadily losing altitude. The rate of orbital decay may be accelerated by increasing atmospheric density caused by increased solar activity. With that factor in mind, some ARISSat-1 decay predictions suggest re-entry as early as February 1. ARISSat-1 remains quite active, sending voice messages, digital telemetry and Slow Scan TV images. Amateurs have also been able to enjoy contacts through ARISSat-1's linear transponder despite the fact that the UHF antenna was apparently damaged prior to (or during) deployment. Last month, AMSAT-NA announced a competition http://www.arrl.org/news/arissat-1-team-announces-morse-code-contest to see who can record the last bits of telemetry as ARISSat-1 makes its final plunge. To decode the CW or BPSK telemetry you must use the ARISSATTLM software http://www.arissat1.org/v3/ for Windows or Mac OS. The CW signal is transmitted at 145.919 MHz and the BPSK signal appears at 145.920 MHz, plus or minus Doppler.

Source:

The ARRL Letter




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Longer Lasting Lithium-ion Batteries

Scientists boost battery strength with small holes.
Batteries for phones and laptops could soon recharge ten times faster and hold a charge ten times larger than current technology allows.

Scientists at Northwestern University in the US have changed the materials in lithium-ion batteries to boost their abilities. One change involves poking millions of minuscule holes in the battery.

Batteries built using the novel technique could be in the shops within five years, estimate the scientists.


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RMS Titanic

RMS Titanic, the world’s largest passenger ship at the time, sank on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, following a collision with an iceberg, at approximately 0245 on the morning of April 15th 1912.

1,517 people lost their lives in the tragedy.

The 100th anniversary of the sinking will be marked by several special event stations at ports associated with the ships maiden voyage.

These include Belfast, Southampton, Cherbourg, Cobh, Cape Race, VO1MCE and a maritime mobile station, VE0MGY, at the site of the sinking.

The call sign in Ireland EI100T has been issued for the year 2012 and will operate in co-operation with the Cobh Titanic 100 Committee.

The main events will happen over the weekend of April 13/14th 2012 and EI100T will also be operated regularly throughout the year.

A special award will be announced before the end of December in conjunction with the other special event locations.

Enquiries and QSLs to EI4HQ QTHR.




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Mystery of the Lunar Ionosphere

How can a world without air have an ionosphere?
Somehow the Moon has done it. Lunar researchers have been struggling with the mystery for years, and they may have finally found a solution.

Read the full NASA story here:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/14nov_lunarionosphere/



A video version of this story is available, watch ScienceCasts:
Mystery of the Lunar Ionosphere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zSrP4MacFE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thanks to Ken Eaton GW1FKY for spotting this item.


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Mayo Radio Experimenters Network Radio Rally

The MREN Rally will be held on November 20th this year at its now established venue of The Welcome Inn Hotel in Castlebar, County Mayo. All the usual traders attending and as always it promises to be a very enjoyable rally. An opportunity to meet old and new friends. Come and join us the Doors open at 11am.


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Sun comes alive, blasting massive solar flares

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2011-11-04/sun-storms-solar-flares-space-weather/51075488/1


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Mayo Radio Experimenters Radio Rally

The Mayo Radio Experimenters are holding their annual Radio Rally on Sunday 20th November at their usual location in the Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar, Co Mayo where the doors will open at 11.00am.

This is one of the premier events on the Irish radio scene each year and as well as the usual extensive range of traders, club stands, demonstrations and extensive catering facilities, the club is proud to announce even more reasons to attend this year Rally.

On Saturday evening, 19th of November we are lucky to have two of Ireland’s most experienced amateurs enthusiasts, who will talk on their respective topics:
Commencing at 7.00pm Pat Fitzpatrick EI2HX will give a talk and demonstration on amateur television (ATV).
Pat has extensive experience and many of you will be aware of his articles in Echo Ireland and qrz.com. This is a unique opportunity to explore this aspect of the hobby and Pat will allow time to answer any queries or comments you may have.

At 9.00pm Dave Deane EI9FBB will give a talk on the ARRL DXCC Program and also on the Logbook of the World system. Dave is an accomplished DX,er and is the only Irish based QSL card checker for the ARRL DXCC programme. Dave took part in the recent T32C dxpedition and will hopefully share some of his experiences on this and other expeditions. Dave will also be present on the IRTS stand on Sunday to check DXCC cards. This is an efficient and practical way to ensure your cards are authenticated so, doesn’t forget to bring any DXCC cards you have for verification.

It is expected the lecture programme will be well attended and the club has arranged some very attractive packages with the Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar to enable overnight stays at affordable prices.
There are full details of the hotel packages, the lecture programme and the latest information on the Radio Rally on the club website ‐ www.ei7mre.org or you can contact Padraic Baynes, EI9JA rally director and organiser on his mobile +353 87 695 7154 or e-mail – pbaynes1@eircom.net for any information about the rally.

For overnight booking/information and details contact the Welcome Inn Hotel direct on: +353 949 022288.




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Mayo Radio Experimenters Network

The Mayo Chairperson calls for radio enthusiasts to join
their local club.

Jimmy Kelly, EI2GCB, was re-elected Chairperson of the
Mayo Radio Experimenters, at their recent AGM. This is
Jimmys third consecutive year, and, under the club
rues, he will have to step aside at next year's AGM,
because of the three year rule. Adrian Healy, EI2HAB,
was returned as Treasurer and selected for the first
time as IRTS Club Rep. The other officers elected
were: Newsletter Editor; John Corless, EI7IQ, PRO
David Hatfield, EI3ECB, Rally Director; Padraic
Baynes, EI9JA, and QSL Manager; Brendan Minish,
EI6IZ. Addressing the meeting, the Chairperson Jimmy
Kelly, EI2GCB, said the club continues to have a
strong and vibrant membership with well attended
monthly meetings and is financially solid. He
congratulated Adrian Healy on his success in the July
theory examination. He said that everyone interested
in the hobby should join their local club; the
availability of theory classes being one of the many
benefits of membership. The club performs well in
contests, he said, including winning the portable
section of the IRTS 80mts. Counties Contest. He noted
that MREN took part in the Lighthouses on the Air
event for the first time this year, which proved a
very enjoyable event. He added that the club was
delighted to support the scouting event, JOTA, again
this year. He thanked members who called in to the
club callsign, EIMRE/P, which is used in these events.
The club organised a number of publicity and promotion
events over the summer on an experimental basis. These
were public events and he reported limited success,
adding that while they were very worthwhile
endeavours, the events themselves would need tweaking
for next year. The chairperson reminded the meeting
that the Rally would be held on November 20th this
year at it now established venue of The Welcome Inn
Hotel in Castlebar. He thanked the management and
staff of the hotel for their continued support of the
club. Jimmy also congratulated John Browne, EI7FAB,
winner of the MREN annual activity, with half a point
margin over Dominic Curtin, EI9JS, in the closest-run
club event ever. The annual activity is decided by a
cumulative tally of scores recorded in the twelve
monthly competitions held by the club for its members.

He concluded his report by thanking his fellow
officers and all the members for their attendance at
club meetings and events and their support over the
year past.

The Connor Shield (for outstanding service to hobby,)
was won jointly by Jimmy Kelly, EI2GCB and Dominic
Curtin, EI9JS and the Wishing Well Shield (for
outstanding service to the club) was won by Padraic
Baynes, EI9JA






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New TV Repeater in Ireland

South Dublin Radio Club is in the process of installing a new television repeater with coverage over the greater Dublin area.

The repeater, which is located on
the three rock mountain, will transmit on 2390Mhz and
receive signal in on 1249Mhz. While not on the air yet, initial tests have proved sucessful with perfect pictures received 60 miles away at the EI2ATR Cavan
repeater site. The repeater will be linked by radio to the existing TV repeater system currently operating in Co Cavan, This repeater currently transmits on
1276.5Mhz, 2370 Mhz and 10.040Mhz and gives good
coverage of Cavan/Louth/Meath Area.

Looking forward to trying some experiments through this repeater when it's up on air.


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