Members of the Dalkey Island Contest Group activated
Clare Island, EU121 for the IOTA Islands on the Air
contest last weekend. The team arrived on the island on
Thursday evening and on Friday morning, in glorious
sunshine, set about erecting the antennas which was all
completed by early Friday evening.
Antennas consisted of inverted V dipoles for 40 and 80
and an elevated vertical with the top at 60 feet also
for 40. The 40 metre antennas doubled up on 15 quite
satisfactorily. A delta loop for 20 and a full wave
loop for 10 completed the mini aerial farm.
All the antennas were resonant and coax fed with
matching stubs on the loops. During the contest over
1600 stations were worked in the 24 hours which with
the multipliers gave a score of over 2.6 million
points. This was a very good performance for 100 watts
to single element wire antennas.
The weather was reasonably kind with good days on
Friday and Saturday strong winds and rain on Saturday
night and intermittent showers on Sunday. The first
class accommodation and the excellent food in O’Gradys
Guesthouse which we had taken over for the event more
than made up for any shortcomings in the weather.
Operators were EI2CA, EI5DI, EI6EW, EI7CC, EI7CD, EI8BP
and EI8CE. The ladies who came along on the trip
enjoyed the excellent walking facilities on the island
and the few days away were enjoyed by all.
IOTA Contest
A number of offshore Irish islands were on the air for
the IOTA Contest, which took place last weekend.
Members of South Dublin Radio Club and the City of
Belfast Radio Amateur Society were once again on Inis
Oirr, while the Dalkey Island Contest Group were on
Clare Island.
Rathlin Island, off the Antrim coast, hosted two
DXpeditions: The Kilmarnock & Loudoun Amateur Radio
Club, using the call sign GI0ADX, were there for the
eleventh consecutive year, while a group from County
Dublin and County Down (call sign GI0MPG) were on
Rathlin's East Lighthouse for the second year running.
The IOTA contest was also, of course, well supported by
mainland EI and GI stations.
Most participants reported that band conditions were
better than last year, with longer openings on the
higher frequency bands than in recent years.
Will this be the year?
The 2m WA1ZMS trans-Atlantic beacon
The WA1ZMS beacon on 144.285000 MHz is now running a
500 watt transmitter giving 7 kW ERP
The beacon is GPS locked and the antenna comprises two
5-element stacked yagis beaming at 60 degrees from IARU
locator FM07fm.
EI2MOG On Air
Dundalk Amateur Radio Society are now operating a
Echolink internet gateway link on 145.2125Mhz simplex.
The link has been issued the callsign EI2MOG by Comreg
and node number 57007 by Echolink. EI2MOG will operate
24/7 from it's location at Mount Oriel, Co.Louth,
coverage reports are now welcome via email to
info /at/ ei7dar.com. Further details can be found at
www.ei7dar.com.
The next meeting of the Society is on Wednesday 5th
August at 20.00pm, all are welcome to attend.
Rallies
C.R.C. Rally 2009
The Cork Radio Club is holding their Rally in the
Montenotte Hotel in Cork on the 13th of September.
Special rates for those who wish to stay overnight just
mention Cork radio Club.
Food all day, plenty of parking & doors open at 11am.
All the usual traders will be there.
Mayo Rally
The 2009 Mayo Rally will be held on Sunday November
22nd in Castlebar. The venue is The Welcome Inn Hotel,
Where the 2008 rally was held at short notice, and
doors open at 11.00am.
Rally Director, Padraic Baynes, EI9JA, is now taking
bookings for stands at the Rally. He can be contacted
on 087 6957154. The hotel will be offering a Rally
special deal for accommodation. Full details will be
available soon.
This week in History
1588 The Spanish Armada defeated by the Royal Navy.
1831 New York runs its first steam locomotive.
1852 First steamship SS Chusan arrives Sydney, 80 days from England.
1859 N. Ames of Saugus, Maryland, USA, patented the escalator.
1866 After a dozen years, Cyrus Field successfully completed the trans-Atlantic Cable.
1872 Dr M Loomis granted patent for wireless experiments.
1888 Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia patents the Revolving Door.
1903 BERLIN WIRELESS TELEGRAPH CONFERENCE begins.
1910 A. J. Fisher of Chicago patents the Electric Washing Machine.1914 WW1 Great Britain declares war on Germany.
Thanks to the IRTS for the Info!
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