4M / 70Mhz IRTS Radio News Service

The East Leinster Amateur Radio Club (ELARC) will continue the portable nature of the station and will be transmitting this week's news on 4m from the hills outside Skerries County Dublin.

Date: Sunday 3 April 2022
Time: 1030am local time
Frequency: 70.400 Mhz

The club will be putting out a few radio check calls from 1015am on 70.400 using the callsign of EI 0 EL

This location has given good coverage into Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare in the past. So keep an ear out!

IRTS / RSGB - VHF/UHF Field Day 2017

The weekend of 1st & 2nd of July 2017, I ventured out with the Wexford VHF Group for the IRTS VHF/UHF Field Day. This year we were operational on 50MHz (6m), 70MHz (4m), 144MHz (2m) 432MHz (70cm) & 1296MHz (23cm) from Locator Square "IO62OM" under the call-sign "EI9E/P".

On Thursday the 29th of June I drove from London in England to Pembroke Dock in Wales where I got the Nigh time ferry across to Rosslare in Co. Wexford in the south east coast of Ireland. The crossing was choppy that night with gale force 7-8 winds throughout the night but nothing that well needed sleep didn't solve. At 7am I arrived in Rosslare where I met up with the rest of the crew for the weekend. (Janet, Billy EI7FJ, John EI2FG, Pete G4CLA, Mark EI3KD, Neil EI3JE, John EI7IG, Dan EI3JZ, John EI8JA, Roger EI8KN, Pat EI8IQ, Tom EI5ASB, Pete EI4GZB & Declan EI9HQ) 

We arrived at the stations site on top of White Mountain on Friday afternoon at 15:30BST. First thing first, Lunch was prepared. Fair play to John EI2FG he put together an incredible Beef Stew with a "spicy" kick which went down a treat and certainly gave us a great start to the weekend. After lunch was demolished we began to build our portable stations for the weekend, weather conditions at this point of the day was at least dry for station setup but it did have a chill in the air especially up on the mountain top. Work began on the 6m and 2m stations where antennas were put together and erected including the 6m/4m/2m shack. Later the 70cm and 23cm stations was put together and would be finished the next morning. Once it got dark everyone got the their heads down for some well deserved rest and as soon as the sun broke at 6am everyone was up and at it. Breakfast (fit for a king) was prepared by Billy EI7FJ and Janet.... just what the doctor ordered. The 70cm and 23cm stations were finished off after breakfast and all antennas was erected and tested for the weekends contest. Everything was working smoothly and having a separate main course and pastry chef worked very well, although custard supplies were low this year and someone dropped solder flux into the Friday night stew which was the "Kick" I reckon :-). It was a very enjoyable weekend with mighty craic and it was great to meet new faces too. Thanks to everyone who beamed our way, it was fantastic to work you all.

We finished the contest with the following scores:

50MHz:
134 QSO's - 57,454 Points and ODX: IT9FXY at 2,212Km

70MHz:
86 QSO's - 31,944 Points and ODX: PA2M at 791Km

144MHz:
339 QSO's - 144,342 Points and DK5DQ at 980Km

432MHz:
118 QSO's - 46,832 Points and DF0MU at 958Km

1296MHz:
38 QSO's - 15,166 Points and PI4GN at 909Km

Installing the 2m and 6m antenna

2m: 4x5 LFA Antennas

2m: 2x12 LFA Antennas

70cm and 23cm antennas

EI9HQ & EI4GZB installing 23cm antennas

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We are delighted to receive the IRTS Thomond Trophy for the Open section of the IRTS VHF/UHF Field Day and a certificate from the RSGB for the Leading Non-UK Entry in the open section. As always thank you to the adjudicator's and to you for the points. Looking forward to the next one. 73

  

RSGB - VHF/UHF National Field Day 2016

The weekend of 2nd & 3rd of July 2016, I ventured out with the Blacksheep DX & Contest group for the RSGB VHF/UHF National Field Day. This year we were operational on 50MHz (6m), 70MHz (4m), 144MHz (2m) 432MHz (70cm) & 1296MHz (23cm) from Locator Square "JO01KJ" under the call-sign "M0BAA/P".

We arrived on site on the Friday at 15:00BST and began to build our portable stations, weather conditions were patchy on the Friday with the sun beaming down on us one minute then a few showers of rain the next, this hampered us a bit as we were still building the stations right up to the start of the contest on Saturday 14:00UTC. This year we had a few testing challenges with generators and we could have done with some extra manpower but we just put the head down pushed on through then suddenly it was 14:00UTC...CQ Contest!!!

50MHz Yagi 

70MHz Yagi

50MHz / 70MHz Station

I was operating on 50 MHz and 70MHz throughout the weekend. Conditions on 50MHz was very tough at times with very little SpEs around this year and what seemed like low activity on 50MHz, I was also dealing with static rain at times which didn't help things and my apologies to those stations I had to ask for the many repeats. It's a pity as I was looking forward to some nice Chordal hop opening to North America on CW but that didn't happen. I finished with 106 QSO's and 19,172 Points and my ODX was GM4ZUK/P at 655km.

Once 50MHz had finished at 22:00UTC we had to dismantle the station and built the 70MHz setup for the next morning at 08:00UTC, Operators were getting tired so we said we would finish the setup on Sunday morning only to find a few issues which delayed my start on the 70MHz band by 15 minutes or so. The joys of Field Day :-) Conditions on 70MHz was pretty bad, slow at times with deep QSB on some distant stations, having CW really helped confirm QSO's but there were No SpEs on the band that I could find during the contest unfortunately. I finished with 75 QSO's and 16,233 points and again my ODX was GM4ZUK/P at 655km.

144MHz Station 

144MHz - 6 x 3ele Yagi's 

144MHz - 4 x 10ele Yagi's 

432MHz - 4 x 17 ele Yagi's

1296MHz - 4 x 44ele Yagi's

1296MHz - 4 x 44ele Yagi's & Station

Blacksheep DX & Contest Team for NFD 2016

L>R Matt G0XDI, Stephen G4SHF, Nick G4FAT, Dave G4FRE, Bill M0BTZ, Bert PE1RKI, Andy M0MUX, Pat EI5IX / M0XII & Mike G8TIC.

Once 14:00UTC on Sunday appeared on the clock some very weary and tired contester's began to disassemble the stations and get ready for the next stage "packing up", we cleared as much as we could before I had to leave to make the journey back to London as I had work the next day but some of the Team decided to stay overnight Sunday go for some beers along with food and then pack up what was left of the stations on Monday morning clear the site in the afternoon.

I have got to thank the Blacksheep DX & Contest group (Mike G8TIC, Stephen G4SHF, Nick G4FAT, Matt G0XDI, Bill M0BTZ, Andy M0MUX Dave G4FRE and Bert PE1RKI) for all the hard work they put in throughout the weekend and especially for making VHF/UHF NFD contest a success for us even though propagation was not great this year the Team stayed positive and pushed on through, I really enjoyed the weekend with the group, it was great craic and a many a good laugh was had and I'm looking forward to the next one.


73's
Pat

RSGB 70MHz Trophy - July19th 2015

On July 19th the RSGB - 70 MHz Trophy Contest took place. I was out active with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "M0BAA/P" from Locator square JO01KJ. Mike G8TIC, Bill M0BTZ, Andy 2E0IBF and I arrived on site on the Saturday evening and set up the antenna system which was a 8 element Yagi on our Versa Tower at 20m, we finally setup the Yaesu FT5000DX with a DB6NT Transverter and a 4CX250B valve linear amplifier producing 160 watts and once everything was prepared we had a quick listen on the bands, had a few QSO's on SSB & CW working CT & PA to then discover that there was some 144MHz Sporadic E's building over France, so we quickly threw together a 7 element Yagi into an FT897 at 50 watts and Mike G8TIC had a Play on the 144MHz band, unfortunately we were too late as we missed the opening that built up over France so we decided at that point to call it a day and go for a beer and some food then get some sleep before the start of the contest at 10:00UTC.

The contest was hard work with very little Sporadic E or Tropo conditions throughout the contest, We finished the contest at 16:00UTC with a claimed score of 115 QSO's 32,214 points with 69 Multipliers and our ODX was Keith CT1JAD at 1752Km.

Thanks once again to everyone who called us in the contest, look forward to the next one.

73's

Pat

EI5IX / M0XII    

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UPDATE 02/09/2015

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70 MHz Trophy 2015

The number of entrants for this event continues to show a healthy increase with 59 this year. In general the weather was kind to the portables but the further north you ventured, the wetter you became!

There was a sporadic-E opening from the start of the contest until 12:06. In this period there were 64 QSOs greater than 1000kms with three CT and two EA stations. The best contact was between GM4ZUK/P and CT1JAD at 2249kms. Comments regarding the tropospheric conditions varied from reasonable to poor. In total there were 6 DL, 2 EI, 1 LX, 2 ON and 19 PA stations together with all G prefixes except GD. The best QSO was between G3TCU and DK5YA at 737 kms. There were 24 QSOs in excess of 600kms. In total there were 217 stations in the logs with 152 G, 30 from other G prefixes and 35 non UK stations.

Logging standards were generally good with only 2.8% of contacts being judged as not valid. In all three sections the top two stations were separated by very small margins and logging accuracy was key.

Congratulations go to:
The Blacksheep CG, M0BAA/P, for winning the Open Section and being awarded the VHF Managers Trophy;
Erik, G8XVJ/P, who won the single operator (others) section and, as the highest scoring single operator entry, is awarded the Four Metre Cup;
Fred, G4BWP for winning the single operator (fixed) section;

Also to the other stations identified in results who will all receive certificates.
Roger - G4BVY

Pat

EI5IX / M0XII    

RSGB VHF/UHF National Field Day 2015

The weekend of 4th & 5th of July 2015, I ventured out with the Blacksheep DX & Contest group for the VHF/UHF National Field Day.

We were operational on 50MHz (6m), 70MHz (4m), 144MHz (2m) & 432MHz (70cm) from Locator Square "JO01KJ" under the call-sign "M0BAA/P".

We arrived on site on the Friday at 15:00BST and began to set up our portable stations, weather conditions were amazing on the Friday with the sun beaming down on us as we constructed the stations for the contest which were starting on the Saturday at 14:00UTC until Sunday 14:00UTC. We worked hard into the evening on Friday until the Thunderstorms ceased our operations, so we decided to order a Take Away and have a few beers then bed down for the rest of the night to which got up early on Saturday morning and finished off the rest of the station builds. Weather was certainly a lot different on Saturday morning a lot cooler and the land was wet from the torrential rain the night before. 

Team Building the 144MHz - 4 x 10 Array

 Team erecting the 144MHz - 4 x 10 Array

144MHz - 4 x 10 Array up and running

432MHz Shack going together

 

432MHz Station - 4 x 17 Array on a Versa Tower

 50MHz 7 element antenna on a Versa Tower

 50MHz / 70MHz Shack

The good old Power Horse Generator (Now RIP)

EI5IX / M0XII rolling up Eco Flex 15+ Cable

When things go Wrong....

We had a lot more challenges than usual present them selves this time around but we just put the head down pushed on through then suddenly it was 14:00UTC...CQ Contest!!! 

I had the pleasure of operating with Stephen G4SHF and Nick G4FAT on 50 MHz. Mike G8TIC along with Matt G0XDI and Andy 2E0IBF operated on 144MHz and Dave G7RAU with Bill M0BTZ operated on 432MHz for the start of the contest. We kept rotating operators on the stations which was great as it gave every body a feel of the different bands over the weekend. 

Once 50MHz had finished at 22:00UTC we had to dismantle the station and built the 70MHz setup for the next morning at 08:00UTC, Operators were getting tired so we said we would finish the setup on Sunday morning only to find a few more issues which delayed our start on the 70MHz band by 45 minutes. 

Once 14:00UTC on Sunday appeared on the clock some very weary and tired contesters began to disassemble the stations and get ready for the next stage "packing up", We decided to stay overnight Sunday and go for some Fish and Chips have a few beers then get some sleep and be fresh for the morning. We got up Monday early packed up the stations and left the site in the afternoon for journey back home.

We finished up the contest with the following claimed scores and entries into the Open section of this contest with the following:

50Mhz (6m):

182 QSO's - 40'809 Total Points with an ODX of 2007Km with 9H5MC


70Mhz (4m):

91 QSO's - 21'284 Total points with an ODX of 779Km with GM3WOJ


144MHz (2m):

657 QSO's - 268'429 Total points with an ODX of 1100Km with OL7M


432MHz (70cms):

227 QSO's - 75'752 Total points with an ODX of 969Km with OL3Z

I have got to thank the Blacksheep DX & Contest group (Mike G8TIC, Stephen G4SHF, Nick G4FAT, Matt G0XDI, Bill M0BTZ, Andy 2E0IBF and Dave G7RAU) for the hard work they all put in over the weekend and especially for making VHF/UHF NFD contest a success for us even though we had some issues along the way the Team stayed positive and pushed on through, I really enjoyed the weekend, it was great craic and a good laugh and I'm looking forward to the next one.

73's

Pat

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UPDATE - 07/08/2015

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I'm delighted to announce that we won VHF / UHF NFD contest for the second successive year, though the margin was incredibly close (00.6%, or 21 Normalised points. Thanks (as always) to those who worked us and to VHFCC for the super fast adjudication. Full results at : http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=VHF%20NFD&year=2015

All the Blacksheep Group Team receiving the various Trophies that we won throughout 2015 including for the Open section the VHF National Field Day  "Surrey Cup" 

which Matt G0XDI and Mike G8TIC are holding in the picture above. 

RSGB 70MHz CW Trophy Contest, May 10th 2015

On May 10th the RSGB - 70 MHz CW Trophy Contest took place. I was out active with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "M0BAA/P" from Locator square JO01KJ and first time that the Blacksheep Contest and DX group have entered this contest. Mike G8TIC and Bill M0BTZ and I arrived on site on the Saturday evening and set up the antenna system which was a 7 element DK7ZB on our Versa Tower at 20m, we worked hard into Saturday night building the system and finally setup the Yaesu FT5000DX with a DB6NT Transverter and a 4CX250B valve linear amplifier producing 160 watts. Once everything was prepared we went for a beer with some food and got some sleep before the start of the contest at 09:00UTC.

Conditions were flat and at times we struggled to work stations in the north of the country, but some big MS bursts at times from the continent included us hearing some Eastern European commercial radio stations break through at times. As for the weather I got to say it was very good to us for this contest and certainly helped us when setting up and taking apart the station.

We finished this contest in 3rd Place with 31 QSO's and 27 Post Code Multipliers totalling 268,083 points, our ODX was GM3WOJ at 779Km's. 

Once again thanks to everyone that called us and gave us points in this contest it was great to see some EI/GI stations in the log too.

Look forward to the next one,

73's 

Pat  

IRTS VHF Field Day 2001

From Terry EI9IW

During the first weekend of July 2001 members of the Mayo Radio Experimenters Network operated a number of VHF/UHF stations from a bog road on Toormakeady, using the call sign of Padraic (Pat) Baynes, EI5IX.

 

 

Photograph of 2001 VHF Field Day

Copyright Terry Ebdon, 2001.

Joe Fadden, EI3IX, provided a Land Rover Discovery which was used as a rather luxurious 6m shack. The bulk of Saturday's 2m, 4m, and 70cm activity was from the back of a VW Transporter belonging to John Brown, EI7FAB, with my car being used on the Sunday.

Arriving rather late, our first priority was to assemble a 6m station as there was a huge opening in progress. A 6m vertical was erected, with Ollie's help, and held in place by parking my car on the base plate. This was quickly hooked up to Joe's FT-100 and Pat, EI5IX, started working the DX. The six metre band remained open throughout the weekend, which effectively made this a 6m contest. The scoring for all bands was based on points per kilometre, so with DX stations being worked across Europe and beyond the other bands were the icing on the cake.

There was a very good turn out, and every one seemed to bring equipment with them; with the result that we had at least two antennae for most bands. At one point there were four masts erected, so we were spoilt for choice. During the day we managed to keep two or three stations on the air most of the time, with Joe being the overnight caretaker. One welcome surprise was the return of Padraic, EI9JA, late on Saturday evening with a huge container full of sausages and chips! Padraic also supplied the breakfast on Sunday, so needless to say he was "man of the contest".

Dermot, EI7IX, originally suggested the site, and a superb one it is. Despite being blocked by a peak to the North East we managed to put a good signal out to most of the country, with both Dublin and Cork being worked on 2m and 70cm. Unfortunately there was some interaction between the 4m transverter and the 2m and 6m rigs which prevented EI7FAB, our main 4m operator, from calling CQ as often as he would have liked. So band pass filters would seem to be a good idea for future IRTS VHF Field Days.

In February 2002 John McDonnell, EI6IR, the IRTS contest manager announced that the Mayo Radio Experimenters Network had won the 2001 event. 

We scored 370,646 points from 243 QSO's.
A breakdown of the score was as follows:

6m - 200 QSO's and 353,257 Points ,

2m - 33 QSO's and 16,482 Points

70cms - 10 QSO's and 907 Points.

Thomond Trophy Winning station in the Open section of the IRTS VHF/UHF Field Day

Padraic Baynes, EI5IX

Just 7,000 behind in 2nd place were EI9E, the East Cork and Wexford Groups with 386 QSO's and 363,453 Points.
A breakdown of their score was as follows:

6m - 170 QSO's and 217,349 Points ,

2m - 95 QSO's and 138,488 Points

70cms - 21 QSO's and 7,616 Points.

Congratulations to all involved, and a big thank you to everyone who lent their support.