The Mayo Radio Rally 2008

The Mayo Radio Rally was held on the 23rd of November 2008 which had been changed from usual venue, The Belmont Hotel in Knock to the Welcome Inn Hotel in Castlebar Co. Mayo, due to unforeseen circumstances.

The doors open at 11.00 am and the radio rally turned out to be a massive success.


When speaking to the rally organiser Padraic Baynes EI9JA he mentioned of "the trojan work given by the members of the Mayo Radio Club". Two days before the event the Mayo Radio Club learned that the rally would not be taking place in the Belmont Hotel, Knock, Co. Mayo. Swift action was undertaken by the radio club and within hours every commercial radio station and media outlet in Ireland carried details of the new venue the Welcome Inn Hotel Castlebar. It has to be acknowledged that without the unstinting help and support of a member of the radio club, Adrian Healy the rally may not have taken place this year. I understand that despite all the problems the attendance at the rally had increased on previous years.

I'm looking forward to 2009 rally in Mayo, it was unfortunate that I missed the rally this year as I get to meet new radio friends face to face, even meet many of my old radio friends. I also get the opportunity to thrash out ideas upon antennas, new rigs & technology to other interesting things like DX conditions new methods on operating on-air and all other aspects of broadcasting.

Below are some photos provided by Padraic EI9JA from the rally taken during the day. Were you there can you see yourself???

Mayo Radio Experimenters Network

Winners of the Portable Section in the MRG Autumn Challenge 2008

Is DXAnywhere Your Q Exchange Of Choice For CQ WorldWide DX CW 2008?

TABLE 1. DXAnywhere (link).

TABLE 2. The Q Exchange.

TABLE 3. Q Exchange Social Value Per Call Sign.

TABLE 4. Aggregation of Q Exchange Value Per Spectrum Space.

Why not make DXAnywhere your Q Exchange of choice during CQ WorldWide DX CW 2008 this weekend? DXAnywhere provides dynamic social data beginning with individual call signs to near complete aggregation of telnet data based on spectrum space activity.

Table One.
A video presentation of DXAnywhere mechanics is in production with a release date in the very near future. Additionally, DXAnywhere continues beta testing features while soliciting feedback on Twitter. Perhaps we will see solar data woven in with Q Exchange statistics as well.

Table Two.
Straight forward data with high frequency (HF) operator commentary included. However when one clicks on an individual call sign additional data pops up in a new window.

Table Three.
DXAnywhere searches Internet for additional call sign data to include DXCC information, 73s.org information, and call sign social Q-value based on telnet activity. One can track the ebb and flow of RadioSport activity per call sign by spectrum spaces like 40, 20, or 15m.

Table Four.
DXAnywhere aggregates social activity according to telnet data by spectrum space. However, I'm not aware of social inflation controls such as, an HF operator spotting a specific station more than once on any given spectrum space. In contrast, if social value quickly inflates, this condition may suggest an operator is moving frequency-to-frequency or a telnet spotter is speculating.

DXAnywhere Your Q Exchange of Choice.
My basic premise is fun. My angle is imagination. CQ WorldWide DX CW 2008 is the social event for many ham radio operators from the serious to the casual. Why not make DXAnywhere your destination to measure, calculate, observe, and have fun this weekend?

Contest on.

IRISH NEWS

Irish Castles and Stately Homes on the Air

Steve, EI5DD, has become coordinator for Irish Castles and Stately Homes on the Air. Basically this is an award scheme for working or activating Irish Castles and Stately Homes.

The award scheme will be launched on the 1st of January 2009.
A web site has been set up to show a log of activated Castles and Stately Homes.

This scheme should be of great interest to individuals or clubs who enjoy taking gear out on portable expeditions.
We look forward to plenty of activity in the new year.

It is important to note that to be valid, intended activations should be registered with CASHOTA-Ireland a minimum of 10 days prior to the activation.

Full details are on the website
http://cashota-ireland.org



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THE IRTS CONTEST CALENDAR FOR 2009

Contest	Date	Deadline for logs
80m Counties	Thur 1 January 2009	31 January 2009
2m Counties	Mon 13 April 2009	13 May 2009
CW Field Day	Sat/Sun 6/7 June 2009	7 July 2009
VHF/UHF Field Day	Sat/Sun 4/5 July 2009	4 August 2009
2m Counties	Sun 30 August 2009	29 September 2009
SSB Field Day	Sat/Sun 5/6 September 2009	6 October 2009

NEWS UPDATE

IARU REGION 1 Conference

The IARU Region1 tri yearly conference opened in
Cavtat Croatia on Sunday last. Among the guests
present at the opening ceremony were the Mayor of
Dubrovnik County, the Director of Electronic
Communications and Postal Directorate and the Deputy
President Croatian Agency for Telecommunications and
Post. Over 130 delegates representing 52 member
societies as well as IARU Headquarters and the other
IARU Regions were in attendance. The Society was
represented by the President, Fr.Finbarr Buckley EI1CS
and Sean Nolan EI7CD.

The Conference in its three main Committees had to
deal with over 120 papers on a wide range of issues
that had been submitted to it for consideration. The
days were long with meetings commencing at 8.30am
and running on until 1800, with an hour for lunch
and two short tea breaks. On two evenings there were
workshops on operating standards and on the future
direction of amateur radio which went on to 22.30.
On Wednesday evening Alexander Gulyaer of the
European Radio communications Office gave an
interesting Short presentation on CEPT Activities
related to Amateur Radio.

A new band plan was adopted for the 7Mhz band to be
effective from 29th March 2009. This is the date by
which broadcast stations should have vacated the 7.1 to
7.2Mhz segment and it becomes and amateur primary
allocation in accordance with the decision of WRC'03

On the final day of the Conference Elections were held
for the Executive Committee. The new President of the
Region is Hans Blondeel Timmerman PB2T who defeated
Colin Thomas G3PSM in the election. The new Secretary
is Dennis Green ZS4BS who defeated Angel Padin de Pazos
EA1QF in the election.

The outgoing Secretary Don Beattie G3BJ was awarded the
Roy Stevens trophy for distinguished service to the
Region over the years. The station 9A0IARU was active
over the period of the conference. We hope that some of
you managed to work it.

The next Region1 conference will be held in Sun City,
South Africa in Sep. 2011

The conference ended with a gala dinner on last
Thursday evening.
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PCSAT-1 RETURNS ON 9TH OF DECEMBER

The Amateur Radio satellite PCSAT-1 should return to full operations on 9th December.

Bob, WB4APR, writes on the AMSAT Bulletin Board:
PCSAT-1 should return to full operations on 9 Dec 08.
Plan on another Satellite Simulated Emergency Test.

This should give a few weeks for some good 2m packet contacts and the SSET, and if the ISS is also operational on 145.825, then there is the possibility for some lucky 2-hop DX contacts via both birds. Combined, that is 12 opportunities per day for contacts without any change in the radio.

Operating PCSAT-1 is just like any 1200 baud 2 meter packet repeater. Uplink and downlink are on 145.825 and the path is VIA ARISS. This path is identical to the ISS path so that you do not have to change anything between the two spacecraft. (Until PCSAT-1 is reloaded, however, its digipeating alias is its FCC call W3ADO-1.) You can hear it every day, but its packets die before completion because of poor power budget.

I just commanded PCSAT-1 yesterday and all functions are normal. All we need is the first full-sun orbit on the 9th of Dec to be able to do a full recovery; and then it should last for 2 weeks or more.

You can easily operate mobile using any of the APRS radios as is (D7, D700, D710, VX-8R, DR-135), or any other radio with an external TNC, or even any radio with no TNC if you use a sound-card packet application.

You can make two-way contacts, send beacons and bulletins and send your position so you will show up on the PCSAT web page http://pcsat.aprs.org/

I'd suggest everyone plan on testing their emergency Email capability during this time. Lets set the time window of 12 to 15 December for everyone to try to send an Email via one of these birds. Please see the Satellite Simulated Emergency Test http://www.aprs.org/sset.html. You can use any packet system and no special software is required.

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More operators needed for Lord Howe DXpedition

Bill Horner, VK4FW, a member of Oceania Amateur Radio DX Group Inc. (ODXG), reports:

"We are looking for more operators (couples or singles) for the VK9LA Lord Howe Island DXpedition after securing extra accomodation at a second boarding lodge.

"As the island is almost full, we need to act now to get this finalized. The ODXG and VK9LA Web pages have details of the operation.

"As the plane is already full on the arrival and departure dates, it will be necessary to arrive a day early and leave a day later. I will change my flight to arrive a day earlier to allow me to start unpacking and setting up.

"Urgently, E-mail me if this suits any of you."

If any of you are interested, let him know at:
vk4fw@westnet.com.au

For updates, details on the DXpedition and how to donate to this operation, please visit the ODXG and VK9LA Web pages at:
http://www.odxg.org
http://www.odxg.org/vk9la.htm

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Wanted: CW Operators

Jim Ward, N1LKJ, Eastern MA Section Traffic Manager writes:

If you like CW or want to improve your Morse Code Skills, the NTS Traffic Nets is a great place to do it. We are looking for operators to join us on the East MA. & Rhode Island CW Net (EMARICW).

The Net meets daily at 7:00 PM on 3.565 MHz. If you think it is too fast, just send QNS and they will slow down to anyone's speed. Try it and enjoy the fun of sending and receiving traffic. Help is available for all who want to learn.

For more information about the National Traffic system and traffic nets, please visit http://nts.ema.arrl.org


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Satellite Expected to Go QRT by End of Year

Launched in January 1990, AMSAT-OSCAR 16 (AO-16) a
digital satellite has been operating as a voice
repeater since January 2008, using FM voice on the
uplink and transmitting DSB voice on the downlink (best
received on SSB). But according to the satellite's
command team, the satellite's orbit might force this to
end sometime before the end of the year.

AO-16's uplink is 145.9200 MHz FM; the downlink is
437.0260 MHz SSB. Users are asked to restrict their
uplink power to a reasonable power level, and not to
transmit without being able to hear the downlink.

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Phoenix Mars Lander goes QRT

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has ceased communications
after operating for more than five months.

As anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the
robot's arctic landing site is not providing enough
sunlight for the solar arrays to collect the power
necessary to charge batteries that operate the lander's
instruments.

Mission engineers last received a signal from the
lander on Nov. 2.

DX Bulletins

The Vendee Globe Challenge1-15 November

Members of the Radio Club Vendeen will be active as
TM6VG between November 1-15th.

Activity is to celebrate the 6th sailing race called
'The Vendee Globe Challenge' towards and around the
three great capes, marking the southern tips of the
African continent, Australia and America.

Activity will be on the HF bands, 160-10 meters,
included 30/17/12 meter bands, and VHF 2 meters. Modes
will be CW, SSB and various digital modes. QSL via F6KU
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DXCC End of year approaching

In order to appear in the printed 'Annual and Honor
Roll' listings your submission must be postmarked on or
by Wednesday, December 31, 2008.

The DXCC Honor Roll list is scheduled for publication
in August 2009 QST. For the 2008 calendar year the
minimum requirement to appear in the Honour Roll list
is 329 current entities. The Top of the Honour Roll
total is 338 for this period. Remember, deleted
entities do not count towards the Honour Roll.

Direct comments or questions to dxcc@arrl.org ....

UPDATE

NASA TV to air clean feed of Endeavour's STS-126 countdown.

NASA Television will provide a continuous clean video feed on its Media Channel of space shuttle Endeavour in the hours before its 7:55 p.m. EST liftoff on November 14.

Beginning at 2:30 p.m., video will show one stationary wide shot of Endeavour on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The feed will include live audio of communications between launch controllers and the shuttle but not the commentary airing on NASA TV's Public Channel. NASA TV commentary will air on both channels beginning approximately nine minutes before the scheduled launch time at the conclusion of what is known as the T minus 9 minute hold in the launch countdown.

During the shuttle's 15-day STS-126 mission to the International Space Station, the crew will deliver supplies and equipment necessary to double the station crew size from three to six members and conduct four spacewalks.

For NASA TV's downlink coordinates, streaming video and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

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Historic QSO

On 14th November, the next launch of the space shuttle
Endeavour is scheduled to take place. This is almost 25
years to the day after a famous QSO took place between
the IRTS headquarters station and Owen Garriot(W5LFL)
aboard the space shuttle Columbia. This was the first
amateur radio operation from space. Mike Staunton
(EI3DY) was at the microphone at EI0RTS when contact
was made on two-metres. The station was set up
especially for the occasion at the RTE museum, then
located in Rathmines. Unfortunately, the Columbia
disintegrated on re-entry to earth's atmosphere in
February 2003 killing all seven aboard.

Two events took place recently which brought to mind
that famous QSO in 1983. Own Garriot's son Richard was
recently a fare-paying space tourist when he spent 12
days aboard the International Space Station. However,
on 25th October members of SDR, including Mike (EI3DY)
paid a visit to EI0MAR at the vintage radio museum in
Howth which has a recording of that famous EI0RTS QSO
with the Shuttle from 1983. Tony, EI5EM played the
recording to the gathering, following which, Mike
received a spontaneous round of applause.

Tony hopes to have that recording on youtube by the
time this news is broadcast. Key search words will be
ei0rts, ei3dy, irts and columbia. The museum in Howth
has now reverted to winter opening hours 11-4 on
Saturdays and Sundays. If any groups or clubs would
like to visit the museum they can email tony@ei0mar.org
or through the museum's web page www.ei0mar.org.
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Shuttle Launch STS-126

The next shuttle launch is scheduled for the 14th of
November, This mission will have four amateur radio
operators onboard. It will be Piloted by Eric Boe and
Mission Specialist Donald Pettit, KD5MDT, Steve Bowen,
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, KD5TVR, Shane Kimbrough,
KE5HOD and Sandra Magnus, KE5FYE. Magnus will replace
space station crew member Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ, who
has been aboard the station for more than five months.
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Cross band Repeater on board THE I.S.S.

Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT has turned on the cross
band repeater on board the International Space Station
and early reports indicate that its coverage is quite
good to those within its ever shifting radio range.

The world-wide frequencies are 437.80 MHz as your
uplink while you listen on 145.80 MHz as the downlink
or output channel. Operation is similar to working the
Amsat Oscar 51 satellite or any ground-based cross band
system. The big difference is that in this case you
literally talk through the repeater on board the I-S-S
to other hams within range of the I-S-S radio footprint
on the ground.

How long the cross band repeater will remain in
operation is not known. 145.8 MHz is also used for
normal QSO's and school contacts, you can expect it to
be off during those times. Also, the cross band
repeater uses the cross band repeat function of the
on-board Kenwood D 700 radio. This unit is also used
for other on-orbit ham radio operations and during
those periods the repeater will likely be off line.
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Chinese Amateur Radio Satellite Update

The XW-1 will be launched into a Sun synchronous orbit
to an altitude: 499 kilometres with an inclination of
98 degrees and an orbital period of 94 minutes. It will
be powered by a 16 amp hour Lithium Ion battery that
will recharge off solar cells that will be a part of
the spacecraft.

XW-1's ham radio payload will consist of a Morse beacon
operating at 435 MHz plus a linear transponder for 2
meter and 70 centimetre operations and an FM repeater
operating cross band from 2 meters also up to 70
centimetres. A digital store and forward transponder on
these same bands round out the gear which Chen says
will way in at 5 point 2 kilograms. That come out to be
about 11 pounds.
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