IRTS 2m (144MHz) Spring Contests Results

The Results of the IRTS 2m Spring contest have been published on the IRTS website, well done and congratulations to all involved.

Click the link below for details:
http://www.irts.ie/cgi/showresults.cgi?2mco_s16.html

73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

19th GM-DX Convention - Saturday 9 April 2016

The 19th GM DX convention was on Saturday the 19th of April, I decided to drive up from London on the Friday evening which took a little over 8 hours journey time with traffic to arrive in the King Robert Hotel in Stirling up in Scotland. When I finally reached the hotel it was really nice to meet up with Dave EI9FBB and Jeremy EI5GM, Col MM0NDX and Clive GM3POI and have a couple of pints and a catch up before heading off to bed in the small hours of the Saturday morning. 

At the convention on Saturday afternoon, there was 100 day-time attendees with 80 attendees for the GM-DX Dinner later that evening. 

The day's schedule had excellent guest speakers and ran as follows: 

TI5W Costa Rica by Mark M0DXR

HR2J Honduras by John G4IRN

YOTA Report Adam MM0KFX

UKEICC News Chris GM3WOJ

TX7EU Marquesas by Tom GM4FDM

S79C Coetivy Island by David EI9FBB

It was a fantastic weekend and it was really nice to meet up with some new and familiar faces in this wonderful hobby, I certainly learnt a lot over the weekend and it was great to share some of the experiences and some great laughs with fellow radio amateurs throughout the weekend. One major lesson learnt from the weekend was, "when attending the GM DX Convention next time, actually Fly to Scotland and then rent a Car for the weekend when your up there" feeling tired all weekend from driving up there was not ideal but we got through it anyway. 

To top of the Weekend, Col MM0NDX and Dave MM0EAX invited Dave EI9FBB, Jeremy EI5GM and myself Pat EI5IX / M0XII out to the Stirling & District ARS Club Station (GM6NX) and to have a look at it and maybe operate the GM-DX Call-sign "GS8VL" on the air from the station. When we got there it was too good of an opportunity to miss so each of us gave a shot at SSB and CW on 40m, 20m, 17m and 15m bands even a bash at 6m was done, I really enjoyed myself with a Pile-up of stations on 17m and 15m bands on both CW & SSB from Russia and Eastern Asia it was a really nice opening to get. It was also great to meet a few of the faces behind the Club station that put it all together and maintain it on a regular basis and also meet some of the operators and youngsters in the club who operate their contest station from there as well. Other clubs around the world should "take note at how a Club station should be done" There was a fantastic team spirit in the club that made us feel very welcome and almost like we were at home. A truly award winning club that promotes excellent service to the hobby, Thanks to all involved there for a fantastic radio operating experience you guys really have something special up there. 

Below is a few Photos taken over the weekend from the GM-DX Convention and the GM6NX Club station with some photos that Nigel G3TXF had taken and posted on his web page that are also re-posted here, Thanks to Nigel and Justin G0KSC for taking some of these pictures over the weekend. Also Thank you to all that I met over the weekend it was fantastic and certainly a event that I will remember for years to come. Bring on GM-DX next year. :-) 

 Start of GM-DX Convention 2016 with Mark TI5W talk

 A view from the back of the Talks

 Some Promotional handouts

 Some of the Raffle Prizes

Dave EI9FBB, John G4IRN, Mark M0DXR and Tom GM4FDM collect their GM-DX Convention speaker mugs.

A Kenwood banner including the signatures of all those attending the GM-DX Dinner is auctioned off for £40.

The "riff-raff" table at GMDX 

Dave MM0EAX, Col MM0NDX, Colin GM0RLZ, John MM0CCC, Clive GM3POI, 

Dave EI9FBB, Pat EI5IX / M0XII and Jeremy EI5GM.

========================================================================

  

GS8VL @ GM6NX CLUB STATION 

Billy GM0OBX was on flames in the heat of Battle on a 17m CW pile-up 

Dave EI9FBB on 40m as GS8VL 

All 3 stations in full swing as GS8VL on SSB

with Jamie 2E0SDV on 17m, Dave EI9FBB on 40m and Pat EI5IX / M0XII on 15m  

Billy GM0OBX setting up 40m CW for Jeremy EI5GM with Pat  EI5IX / M0XII still going on 15m SSB

Billy GM0OBX on 17m CW with Jeremy EI5GM on 40m CW and Pat  EI5IX / M0XII still on 15m CW as GS8VL

VHF Station on 6m & 4m

2 element 40m Yagi

 1st Optibeam OB 9-5 Yagi 

2nd Optibeam OB 9-5 Yagi with a Vertical for 80 and a Vertical for 40m 

 7 element 6m Yagi & Vertical

Till next year GMDX

73

International Marconi Day 2016

International Marconi Day is a 24 hour amateur radio event held annually to celebrate the birth of Guglielmo Marconi on 25th April 1874. 

This year IMD will be held on Saturday 23rd April with many special event stations on air which count as points towards the Marconi Award. Certificates are available for both transmitting stations and SWL stations. A list of participating special event stations may be found at http://gx4crc.com/imd-stations/ 

A Facebook page is also available by International Marconi Day – GB4IMD in the search area.

IRTS AGM 2016

Limerick Radio Club will host the 84th Annual General Meeting of the Irish Radio Transmitters Society on the 9th & 10th April 2016. The venue will be the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, Ennis Road, Limerick. There are 4 Workshop Talks arranged for Saturday 9th April. The talks are free and start at 2pm sharp. Everyone is welcome. You need to book your dinner tickets now as they are selling out fast. They are just €35 and are available from Tony EI2AW QTHR Golf Links Road, Castletroy, Limerick. Limerick Radio Club has arranged with the IRTS that tickets can be booked and payment made online through the IRTS web site at www.irts.ie/agm. On receipt of payment tickets can be mailed to you or collected at the hotel on the night. Payment can be also be made by cheque, money order or via paypal. Contact Tony EI2AW on 061-334076 or Email condona /at/ eircom.net.

The Limerick Radio Club Rally will be held on Sunday 10th. Doors open at 11am. Entrance fee is €5. More information is available from Simon EI7ALB on 0872858884 or kenmare32 /at/ eircom.net

For further information see www.irts.ie and also www.limerickradioclub.ie/

To the Moon and back…

To celebrate the 84th IRTS AGM the IRTS logo has been bounced off our nearest neighbour in space through the good offices of Andreas DJ5AR. The logo was transmitted by HB9Q as SSTV using 1000W into a 10m solid dish. The receiving station was PI9CAM with the 25m Radiotelescope. See www.irts.ie/agm for more details.