31 Jan 2012
Declan EI9HQ
Declan will be out on Sunday 12th February on a run to Kilkenny starting around 0930 in WAI Square Oscar22. He will be active on 7.170mhz. (40Meters) Anyone looking for squares from this route please email before 10th February at ei9hq@O2.ie
IOTA Contest Results
Provisional results of the 2011 Islands On The Air contest have now been published.
Despite low sun-spots levels, the contest organisers received over 2,300 logs - the highest number yet – covering 632,000 QSOs and sufficient to enable them to
adjudicate 75% of all QSOs.
The highest scoring station in the contest was the Bristol Contest Group (GJ6YB) who operated from Jersey and achieved a score of just under 15 million points from over 3,300 QSOs.
The Bristol Contest Group were also the IOTA contest winners in 2010.
Irish stations submitted 21 contest logs and one check log. The full provisional results for EI and GI stations are on the IRTS web site - see Contest Results page or the link on the home page. The highest score was achieved by the EI/GI group on Rathlin Island, with a total of 2.7 million points from 1,606 QSOs. Other groups had higher QSO numbers, but the Rathlin group had a better mix of multipliers and island stations. There are also some excellent results from stations in the Single-Operator categories.
The IOTA contest is one of the best supported contests in Ireland. The 2012 contest takes place on 28th / 29th July. The contest organisers have indicated that there will be a number of significant rule changes in 2012, notably to the scoring to emphasise island QSOs and, for the same reason, there will no longer be a World multi-op category as they are anxious to refocus the contest on working islands rather than building points through non-island stations working other non-island stations.
Despite low sun-spots levels, the contest organisers received over 2,300 logs - the highest number yet – covering 632,000 QSOs and sufficient to enable them to
adjudicate 75% of all QSOs.
The highest scoring station in the contest was the Bristol Contest Group (GJ6YB) who operated from Jersey and achieved a score of just under 15 million points from over 3,300 QSOs.
The Bristol Contest Group were also the IOTA contest winners in 2010.
Irish stations submitted 21 contest logs and one check log. The full provisional results for EI and GI stations are on the IRTS web site - see Contest Results page or the link on the home page. The highest score was achieved by the EI/GI group on Rathlin Island, with a total of 2.7 million points from 1,606 QSOs. Other groups had higher QSO numbers, but the Rathlin group had a better mix of multipliers and island stations. There are also some excellent results from stations in the Single-Operator categories.
The IOTA contest is one of the best supported contests in Ireland. The 2012 contest takes place on 28th / 29th July. The contest organisers have indicated that there will be a number of significant rule changes in 2012, notably to the scoring to emphasise island QSOs and, for the same reason, there will no longer be a World multi-op category as they are anxious to refocus the contest on working islands rather than building points through non-island stations working other non-island stations.
19 Jan 2012
EI80IRTS Award
The Irish Radio Transmitters Society was founded in 1932 and the organization are proud to celebrate their 80th anniversary in 2012. As part of the celebrations the Society will be using the special callsign EI80IRTS.
A special certificate, available to all amateurs and SWLs, is being offered to celebrate this wonderful occasion during the period of January 1st 2012 to December 31st 2012.
This award is been sponsored by Dundalk Amateur Radio Society, full details of the award can be viewed at
http://www.ei7dar.com/ei80irts.html
http://www.ei7dar.com/ei80irts.html
Special Callsigns for Amateur Radio stations in the UK during 2012
The Radio Society of Great Britain and Ofcom have reached agreement on the optional use of special callsigns for two significant events during 2012.
For the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, all UK amateur stations will have the option of applying for a variation to their licence if they wish, to use a special prefix for a five week period. This will add or substitute the letter “Q” in the place of the Regional identifier in the callsign.
For the period of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, a similar facility will exist for a seven week period, using the letter “O”.
Both the above facilities will also be available to Amateur Club licences.
Furthermore, calls in the series GB2012aaa will be available for Special Event Stations relating to the Olympics and licences will be issued for four “flagship” stations using the prefix 2O12a where “O” is the letter O, and a is a single letter relating to the location of the station.
Further details of these arrangements are on the attached summary, and administrative details will be issued by Ofcom and the RSGB shortly.
In more detail:
The following facilities will be available to holders of the following licences:
Amateur Foundation Licence
Amateur Intermediate Licence
Amateur Full Licence
Amateur Full (Club) Licence
Amateur Full (Reciprocal) Licence
Amateur Full (Temporary Reciprocal) Licence
Special prefix to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee:
Period: 00.00 BST 5th May 2012 to 23.59 BST 10th June 2012
Authorisation: To conform to the requirements of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, each licensee must obtain a Notice of Variation . This is an on-line process, and will be available from 1st March 2012.
Callsign: the letter Q will be added to calls, or replace the regional identifier. For example (where “aaa” represents the final alpha block of the callsign):
M3aaa becomes MQ3aaa
G3aaa becomes GQ3aaa
GM3aaa becomes GQ3aaa
2E0aaa becomes 2Q0aaa
2M0aaa becomes 2Q0aaa
GX3aaa becomes GQ3aaa
Special prefix to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games:
Period: 00.00 BST 21st July 2012 to 23.59 BST 9th September 2012
Authorisation: To conform to the requirements of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, each licensee must obtain a Notice of Variation. This is an on-line process, and will be available from 1st March 2012.
Callsign: the letter O will be added to calls, or replace the regional identifier. For example (where “aaa” represents the final alpha block of the callsign):
M3aaa becomes MO3aaa
G3aaa becomes GO3aaa
GM3aaa becomes GO3aaa
2E0aaa becomes 2O0aaa (Two Oscar zero aaa)
2M0aaa becomes 2O0aaa (Two Oscar zero aaa)
GX3aaa becomes GO3aaa
For more Info please check this out
- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX
For the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, all UK amateur stations will have the option of applying for a variation to their licence if they wish, to use a special prefix for a five week period. This will add or substitute the letter “Q” in the place of the Regional identifier in the callsign.
For the period of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, a similar facility will exist for a seven week period, using the letter “O”.
Both the above facilities will also be available to Amateur Club licences.
Furthermore, calls in the series GB2012aaa will be available for Special Event Stations relating to the Olympics and licences will be issued for four “flagship” stations using the prefix 2O12a where “O” is the letter O, and a is a single letter relating to the location of the station.
Further details of these arrangements are on the attached summary, and administrative details will be issued by Ofcom and the RSGB shortly.
In more detail:
The following facilities will be available to holders of the following licences:
Amateur Foundation Licence
Amateur Intermediate Licence
Amateur Full Licence
Amateur Full (Club) Licence
Amateur Full (Reciprocal) Licence
Amateur Full (Temporary Reciprocal) Licence
Special prefix to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee:
Period: 00.00 BST 5th May 2012 to 23.59 BST 10th June 2012
Authorisation: To conform to the requirements of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, each licensee must obtain a Notice of Variation . This is an on-line process, and will be available from 1st March 2012.
Callsign: the letter Q will be added to calls, or replace the regional identifier. For example (where “aaa” represents the final alpha block of the callsign):
M3aaa becomes MQ3aaa
G3aaa becomes GQ3aaa
GM3aaa becomes GQ3aaa
2E0aaa becomes 2Q0aaa
2M0aaa becomes 2Q0aaa
GX3aaa becomes GQ3aaa
Special prefix to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games:
Period: 00.00 BST 21st July 2012 to 23.59 BST 9th September 2012
Authorisation: To conform to the requirements of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, each licensee must obtain a Notice of Variation. This is an on-line process, and will be available from 1st March 2012.
Callsign: the letter O will be added to calls, or replace the regional identifier. For example (where “aaa” represents the final alpha block of the callsign):
M3aaa becomes MO3aaa
G3aaa becomes GO3aaa
GM3aaa becomes GO3aaa
2E0aaa becomes 2O0aaa (Two Oscar zero aaa)
2M0aaa becomes 2O0aaa (Two Oscar zero aaa)
GX3aaa becomes GO3aaa
For more Info please check this out
- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX
The new VHF-UHF band plan - 4m in Ireland
The Irish Radio Transmitters Society website reports that the new Region 1 Band Plan for VHF and UHF frequencies came into effect on 1st January this year.
The biggest changes are in the 6 metre band - with new beacon sub-bands and a number of new "centre of activity" frequency allocations.
The revision in the 6 metre band plan is designed to give more bandwidth to CW and SSB users, while recognising increased activity levels in the new digital modes.
The revised Band Plan for the 6 metre, 4 metre, 2 metre and 70cms bands can be downloaded from the downloads page of the IRTS web site. Bear in mind that the 4 metre allocation in EI does not cover the full
extent of the 70.0 MHz to 70.5 MHz band plan contained in the IARU document; a note showing the EI allocation has been added to the document which is on their downloads page.
Those operating on frequencies above 70cms can see the relevant band plans in the VHF Managers Handbook, which is available on the IARU Region 1 web site.
Again, it is important to note the EI frequency allocations, which can differ from the limits shown on the band plan pages.
IRTS web site
http://www.irts.ie
IARU Region 1 web site
http://www.iaru-r1.org/
- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX
The biggest changes are in the 6 metre band - with new beacon sub-bands and a number of new "centre of activity" frequency allocations.
The revision in the 6 metre band plan is designed to give more bandwidth to CW and SSB users, while recognising increased activity levels in the new digital modes.
The revised Band Plan for the 6 metre, 4 metre, 2 metre and 70cms bands can be downloaded from the downloads page of the IRTS web site. Bear in mind that the 4 metre allocation in EI does not cover the full
extent of the 70.0 MHz to 70.5 MHz band plan contained in the IARU document; a note showing the EI allocation has been added to the document which is on their downloads page.
Those operating on frequencies above 70cms can see the relevant band plans in the VHF Managers Handbook, which is available on the IARU Region 1 web site.
Again, it is important to note the EI frequency allocations, which can differ from the limits shown on the band plan pages.
IRTS web site
http://www.irts.ie
IARU Region 1 web site
http://www.iaru-r1.org/
- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX
16 Jan 2012
London 2012 Olympic Simplex DStar Nodes
Just to inform you, that the digital node test for the pending London 2012 Olympic Simplex DStar Nodes is planned, it will be a 2-day event next weekend Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd of January.
The test will be carried out both on 2m and 70cm in Echo Test Mode Only (without DStar Gateway) between hours of 10am till 4pm. The DStar node will record your digital test transmission and then retransmit it back to you, at the same time you will then be able to see what type of coverage we will have.
DV Node Test Frequency
Saturday 21st on 433.4125 MHz
Sunday 22nd on 145.3125 MHz
Also Gary, 2E0ULA and Michael, 2E0MRE will be on hand for assistance and talk back will be on to GB7OK. Please let us know how well you can receive DStar Node, your information will help!
For more info visit http://www.gb7ok.com/.
If there are any changes look up Bromley Repeater Group on Facebook
The test will be carried out both on 2m and 70cm in Echo Test Mode Only (without DStar Gateway) between hours of 10am till 4pm. The DStar node will record your digital test transmission and then retransmit it back to you, at the same time you will then be able to see what type of coverage we will have.
DV Node Test Frequency
Saturday 21st on 433.4125 MHz
Sunday 22nd on 145.3125 MHz
Also Gary, 2E0ULA and Michael, 2E0MRE will be on hand for assistance and talk back will be on to GB7OK. Please let us know how well you can receive DStar Node, your information will help!
For more info visit http://www.gb7ok.com/.
If there are any changes look up Bromley Repeater Group on Facebook
ISS performs debris avoidance maneuver
UniverseToday reports that
the ISS needed to perform a maneuver on Friday, January 13 to avoid debris from the 2009 collision between an inactive Russian Cosmos 2251 satellite and a commercial Iridium satellite.
U.S. Space Command recommended the space station perform a debris avoidance maneuver on Friday, January 13, 2012 to move out of harms’ way and dodge a possible collision with the piece of space junk, said to be about 10 centimeters in diameter. The thrusters on the Zvezda service module fired at 1610 UTC on Friday to raise the orbit of the ISS.
Without the maneuver, the object would have made two close approaches to the station on consecutive orbits on Friday, passing within the “pizza box” shaped region around the station, measuring 0.75 kilometers above and below the station and 25 kilometers on each side (2,460 feet above and below and 15.6 by 15.6 miles).
A higher orbit for the ISS means that AOS will occur at a slightly later time than those predicted in existing Keplerian Elements.
Users are encourage to update their tracking elements to maintain tracking accuracy.
Source: Amsat, UniverseToday.com
the ISS needed to perform a maneuver on Friday, January 13 to avoid debris from the 2009 collision between an inactive Russian Cosmos 2251 satellite and a commercial Iridium satellite.
U.S. Space Command recommended the space station perform a debris avoidance maneuver on Friday, January 13, 2012 to move out of harms’ way and dodge a possible collision with the piece of space junk, said to be about 10 centimeters in diameter. The thrusters on the Zvezda service module fired at 1610 UTC on Friday to raise the orbit of the ISS.
Without the maneuver, the object would have made two close approaches to the station on consecutive orbits on Friday, passing within the “pizza box” shaped region around the station, measuring 0.75 kilometers above and below the station and 25 kilometers on each side (2,460 feet above and below and 15.6 by 15.6 miles).
A higher orbit for the ISS means that AOS will occur at a slightly later time than those predicted in existing Keplerian Elements.
Users are encourage to update their tracking elements to maintain tracking accuracy.
Source: Amsat, UniverseToday.com
UK amateurs experience echo phenomenon
Two UK radio amateurs have reported hearing strong echoes on their 80m CW signals in the evening last week. Tony, G3ZRJ in Herefordshire and Andrew, GW3OQK in Swansea were in QSO on 1 January when they could hear another signal underneath theirs. It turned out to be an echo of their own signals
Tony said the echoes were initially so strong that he had trouble monitoring his CW keying. The delay in the echoes was of the order of 0.25 to 0.5 seconds and the echo strength hit S9. Tests by Andrew on the evening of 3 January revealed the same phenomena at around 2100Z, albeit weaker.
Steve, G0KYA, chairman of the RSGB's Propagation Studies Committee, said that these were unlikely to
be round-the-world echoes, but could be due to a form of magnetospheric ducting where signals follow the earth's magnetic field lines down to the southern hemisphere before being bounced back along the same duct. Steve said that this was quite rare and not really understood.
UK amateurs are being urged to look out for any echoes on their 80m signals and report any findings to G0KYA@QSL.NET
Tony said the echoes were initially so strong that he had trouble monitoring his CW keying. The delay in the echoes was of the order of 0.25 to 0.5 seconds and the echo strength hit S9. Tests by Andrew on the evening of 3 January revealed the same phenomena at around 2100Z, albeit weaker.
Steve, G0KYA, chairman of the RSGB's Propagation Studies Committee, said that these were unlikely to
be round-the-world echoes, but could be due to a form of magnetospheric ducting where signals follow the earth's magnetic field lines down to the southern hemisphere before being bounced back along the same duct. Steve said that this was quite rare and not really understood.
UK amateurs are being urged to look out for any echoes on their 80m signals and report any findings to G0KYA@QSL.NET
15 Jan 2012
Check This Out!
NASA and others has reports on Solar Storms useful for us to know about!
http://solarstormwarning.com/
- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX
http://solarstormwarning.com/
- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX
12 Jan 2012
My UK Call-Sign M0XII
I have received my New UK Call-Sign * M 0 X I I * from Ofcom, the regularity authority here in Great Britain.
Currently I have up-dated my Log's under M/EI5IX on LoTW as my CEPT part of my Irish License M/EI5IX was running out so I had to apply to Ofcom for a Reciprocal License here in the UK.
Propagation has being "Kind" as of late and the DX has been very good for QRP stations such as myself here in outskirts of London City, I'm now looking forward to working some of you on the air while I live over in Great Britain under my new call-sign M0XII!!
73's for now!
Currently I have up-dated my Log's under M/EI5IX on LoTW as my CEPT part of my Irish License M/EI5IX was running out so I had to apply to Ofcom for a Reciprocal License here in the UK.
Propagation has being "Kind" as of late and the DX has been very good for QRP stations such as myself here in outskirts of London City, I'm now looking forward to working some of you on the air while I live over in Great Britain under my new call-sign M0XII!!
73's for now!
IRTS AGM & Rally 2012
The IRTS AGM, Annual Dinner and Rally this year is
hosted by Dundalk Amateur Radio Society at the
Fairways Hotel on the weekend of April 21st & 22nd
2012. Please keep your diaries free for this special
event in our 80th Anniversary year celebrations. More
details to follow.
hosted by Dundalk Amateur Radio Society at the
Fairways Hotel on the weekend of April 21st & 22nd
2012. Please keep your diaries free for this special
event in our 80th Anniversary year celebrations. More
details to follow.
10 Jan 2012
Updated Happings in our Hobby
IRTS AGM & Rally 2012
The IRTS AGM, Annual Dinner and Rally this year is
hosted by Dundalk Amateur Radio Society at the
Fairways Hotel on the weekend of April 21st & 22nd
2012. Please keep your diaries free for this special
event in our 80th year Anniversary celebrations. More
details to follow.
Counties Contest
The IRTS 80 metres counties contest, held on Monday 2nd
January was well supported, with plenty of activity
right up to the last minute of the contest. Most
counties appeared to be represented, although some made
only a brief appearance. Our reporters tell us that
Carlow, Cavan and Kerry were top of the "most wanted"
list, with other sizeable counties like Tipperary and
Waterford not far behind.
This year there was a reasonable level of activity on
the CW portion of the band. As darkness fell, CW ops
benefited in particular from the improved propagation
between Ireland and mainland Europe, allowing some
Scandinavian and Eastern European stations to answer
their contest calls.
Logs should be submitted as soon as possible to
contestmanager@irts.ie
IRTS 80th Anniversary
IRTS will be celebrating its 80th anniversary this year
2012. Details of a worldwide contest – CQIR – to take
place on Saint Patrick’s Day, Saturday 17th March 2012
have just been announced. Full rules and information
are available at www.irts.ie/cqir or by email to cqir@irts.ie
IRTS will be celebrating its 80th anniversary this year
2012. Details of a worldwide contest – CQIR – to take
place on Saint Patrick’s Day, Saturday 17th March 2012
have just been announced. Full rules and information
are available at www.irts.ie/cqir or by email to cqir@irts.ie
9 Jan 2012
ISS on 145.800 MHz Monday morning
ISS on 145.800 MHz Monday morning
There's a chance to hear ISS astronuat Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX, on 145.800 MHz FM on Monday morning.On Monday Jan. 9, at approximately 1014 UT, an International Space Station (ISS) amateur radio contact is planned with students at Descartes High School, located in Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France.
The contact will be in English and downlink signals should be audible in the British Isles and Europe on 145.800 MHz FM.
A simple 2m hand-held transceiver or a VHF Scanner is all you need to hear the International Space Station.
Read Listening to the International Space Station
http://www.uk.amsat.org/3491
The IZ8BLY Vox Recoder, enables you to record the ISS on 145.800 MHz
FM while you're away from home
http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/VoxRecorder/
ARISS ham radio contact planned with Descartes High School, France
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2012/ariss_event_0901.htm
5 Jan 2012
43 years of 73 Magazine on web
PDF's of all issues of the popular Amateur Radio publication 73 Magazine produced by Wayne Green W2NSD from 1960-2003 are available for download.
Wayne was always into the latest ground breaking Amateur Radio technology and his magazine reflected that with articles on RTTY, ATV,SSTV, FM Repeaters and Amateur radio satellites.
A popular part of the magazine was Wayne Green W2NSD's 'Never Say Die' column. In it he gave his views on just about everything. Among Wayne's favorite topics over the years were:
The failure of the ARRL to prepare for the 1971 World Adminstrative Radio Conference which resulted the loss of hundred of MHz of amateur satellite frequencies
- The disaster of incentive licensing
- The FCC restrictions on repeaters
- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
All the 73 Magazine PDF's can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/73Magazine
Wayne is now 89 (D.O.B. believed to be September 3, 1922) and still going strong, you can read his blog at http://www.waynegreen.com/wayne/news.html
Wayne was always into the latest ground breaking Amateur Radio technology and his magazine reflected that with articles on RTTY, ATV,SSTV, FM Repeaters and Amateur radio satellites.
A popular part of the magazine was Wayne Green W2NSD's 'Never Say Die' column. In it he gave his views on just about everything. Among Wayne's favorite topics over the years were:
The failure of the ARRL to prepare for the 1971 World Adminstrative Radio Conference which resulted the loss of hundred of MHz of amateur satellite frequencies
- The disaster of incentive licensing
- The FCC restrictions on repeaters
- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
All the 73 Magazine PDF's can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/73Magazine
Wayne is now 89 (D.O.B. believed to be September 3, 1922) and still going strong, you can read his blog at http://www.waynegreen.com/wayne/news.html
3 Jan 2012
The new IARU 50Mhz R1 Band-plan
Take a look at the new Band Plan from the IARU Region 1 of the
Magic Band that is 50MHz (6Meters)
The bandplan has came into effect on 1st January 2012
ARISSat-1 altitude is rapidly decreasing
Came across this interesting bit of news on Southgate Amateur Radio News website
The altitude of amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1 (145.950 MHz FM) continues to decline rapidly.
On Tuesday, Dec 27, 2011, ARISSat-1 was losing about 4.1 km (~2.5 miles) a day in altitude, by Friday Dec 30 2011 the decay was 5.9 km (3.6 miles) per day. This rate will continue to increase over the next days and ultimately result in the satellite burning up in the atmosphere.
Telemetry reports haven't shown a large increase in temperatures yet, please collect and report these values during each illumination period. There have been a number of people that continue to update their calculations on when the satellite will re-enter, now expected to be sometime this week.
The fall rate dh/dt is increasing dramatically. Be sure to do daily updates of the ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf-B Keps from Celestrak.com. The ARISSat-1 orbit changes daily while the satellite continues to lose altitude.
Roland, PY4ZBZ from Brazil has updated graphs of height and fall rate on his Web site: http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/arissat.htm#r
ARISSat-1 Getting Hotter
http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/12/30/arissat-1-getting-hotter/
http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/12/30/arissat-1-getting-hotter/
AMSAT News Service (ANS)
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/news/
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/news/
1 Jan 2012
HAPPY NEW YEAR ***2012**
I would like to wish my family and friends world wide a very happy and prosperous 2012 an may you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going and the insight to know when you're going too far.....
All the very best....... Happy New Year
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