23 Sept 2008
A New Sunspot Emerges
For the first time in months, a significant sunspot is emerging on the sun.
It is a fast-growing active region with two dark cores, each larger than Earth. The magnetic polarity of the sunspot identifies it as a member of new Sunspot Cycle 24.
Because the year 2008 has brought so many blank suns, some observers have wondered if we are ever going to climb out of the ongoing deep solar minimum.
Today's new sunspot is an encouraging sign that the 11-year solar cycle is indeed progressing, albeit slowly.
Visit http://spaceweather.com for sunspot photos and updates.
NEWS
SOUTH COOK ISLANDS, E5. Bill, N7OU will be QRV as
E51NOU from Rarotonga, IOTA OC-013, from September 15
to October 11. He will be active on 40 to 10 meters
using only CW. QSL to home call
3DA0JOTA & 3DA0DJ
David GI4FUM / EI4DJ will be active in a DXpedition to Swaziland
during October to revisit the Hawane site that the Irish Radio Transmitters Society AFRI75 DXpedition were so successful from in CQWPX SSB - March 2007. They ran
a multi two station and made over 9 million points that weekend. They
will be operating as 3DA0JOTA for Jamboree on the Air over 18th &
19th October. They also should have a group of 20 Swazi scouts camping with
them that weekend. It will be their first experience of JOTA. The
following weekend David will be operating as 3DA0DJ in CQWW SSB. They will
be using the same antenna farm as used by the AFRI75 DXpedition
which includes a four square on 40m, verticals for 80m and top band
and a log periodic on the higher bands. There may also be activity
on AO-51. The station will comprise a FT1000 plus 1kW linear on HF.
We expect to have four or five operators. The callsign 3DA0DJ will
be active on HF bands from 18th until 28th October. QSL via GI4FUM -
see 3DA0DJ details on QRZ.com
Swaziland, 18-19 October David GI4FUM / EI4DJ will be
active from Swaziland during JOTA using the call
3DA0JOTA . There will be a group of 20 Swazi scouts
experiencing JOTA for the first time. QSL via GI4FUM -
see 3DA0DJ details on “QRZ dot com”
Swaziland, 25-26 October David GI4FUM / EI4DJ will be
active during CQWW SSB from the former IRTS AFRI75
Dxpedition site & antenna farm in Hawane using the
call 3DA0DJ. The 3DA0DJ call will be active from
18-28 October QSL via GI4FUM - see 3DA0DJ details on
“QRZ dot com”
SPECIAL EVENT STATION
GB2STI ( Steam Trains Ireland ) will be operating
'Railways On The Air' the weekend commencing
Saturday 27th September, from the excursion platform
of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland
Whitehead Co Antrim.
We intend to operate 80/40/20m and will also have a 2m
multimode station on air
The station will be operated by members and friends of
the Antril & District Amateur Radio Society as part of
the celebrations of the first steam passenger train to
operate in the British isles.
Start time on Saturday is 10am special QSL Card is
available for all contacts made during the event via
the qsl manager GI0KPF
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/sep/HQ_M08176_Ulysses_teleconference.html
WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media teleconference Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 12:30 p.m. EDT, to discuss data from the joint NASA and European Space Agency Ulysses mission that reveals the sun's solar wind is at a 50-year low. The sun's current state could result in changing conditions in the solar system.
SOHO MDI Continuum Latest Image
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/...e/mdi_igr/512/
New Cycle 24 Sunspot and SSN wavelet analysis
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/2...le-24-sunspot/
Source:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/2...-10-questions/
Invitation for 2009 DXpedition to NA-233 Aleutians (KL7)
Yuri Sushkin N3QQ would like to invite interested parties to participate in IOTA DXpedition to Gareloi Island (new-one, NA-233) located ~80nm from Adak, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, scheduled for 2nd part of July- early August of 2009.
Details:
http://www.na-234.com/contact_chugin...xpedition.html
IARUMS Region 1
Most member societies of Region 1 have been monitoring
the Incursion on this QRG After monitoring UNIFIL voice
traffic on 14.055 USB from Lebanon.
Ger EI4GXB our Region 1 Monitoring Team member has
filed a complaint to COMREG on 1st September. This
issue now seems to be resolved after OD Monitor OD5RI,
managed to get in direct contact with the UNIFIL
Authorities who have promised to cease operations on
this frequency.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
73'S - DE - EI5IX
18 Sept 2008
RADIO NEWS
In February last as a result of an initiative by IRTS,
ComReg raised at the CEPT Working Group on Frequency
Management WGFM, the question of the inclusion of a
mention of allocations to the amateur service in the
region of 70 MHz in the European Common Allocations
table ECA. There had been no mention of these despite
the fact that an increasing number of countries were
giving operating facilities to the amateur service in
that part of the spectrum.
This initiative yielded results as the revised ECA
published by the European Radiocommunications Office
ERO which was open for consultation until the 16th of
August includes a new footnote EU9 which reads as
follows "In a growing number of CEPT countries, parts
of the band 70.0 to 70.5 MHz is also allocated to the
Amateur service on a secondary basis". The IRTS sent a
detailed submission to the ERO urging that this
footnote be retained and requested other IARU societies
to do likewise. The result of the public consultation
is now available and the Finnish, British, Czech
Republic, Dutch and Norwegian Societies also responded
to the ERO consultation and the proposed new footnote
is in the draft ECA table to be considered by the next
meeting of the CEPT Frequency Management Working Group
in Baku in Azerbaijan on the 22nd to the 26th of
September.
It seems that there have been no difficulties raised
about the inclusion of the new footnote so hopefully it
will be in the final frequency table. Such a footnote
will assist Societies in CEPT countries, which are
reluctant to grant allocations at 70 MHz because there
is no mention of it either in the ITU Radio Regulations
or the European Common Allocations Table.
The IRTS, RSGB, SRAL and DARC in their observations on
the draft table also raised points about the inclusion
of footnotes in the table mentioning that CEPT National
Administrations may make allocations at 500 kHz and 5
Mhz. The IRTS response in addition proposed that the
2009 revision of the frequency table include secondary
allocations at these frequencies and a possible CEPT
proposal in this regard to a World Radio Conference in
the longer term.
A number of new links have been added to the IRTS web
site www.irts.ie in recent weeks and are worth
browsing.
Firstly, following a number of requests, we have added
a Photo Galleries section to the site. This section has
links to a number of galleries, showing Irish radio
experimenters in action in a number of areas including
contests, a DXpedition and a Club Field Day. The
Webmaster welcomes suggestions for additions to the
Photo Galleries section.
The Webmaster's Choice page - mentioned in this
bulletin a few weeks ago - has a number of new links.
One link of particular interest is to an article on
Good Operating Practice. This wide-randing article
covers topics such as "what to talk about in a QSO",
"how to call CQ" and "dealing with conflict
situations". The article, written by Belgian radio
amateur ON4WW, is perhaps over-prescriptive in some
areas, but is nevertheless full of useful tips and is
well worth reading.
Another new Webmaster's Choice link is to a page
listing "Invalid Operations" from a DXCC point of
view, which would be of interest to anyone chasing
DXCC awards.
Ethics and Operating Procedures
One of the Webmaster's Choice links on the IRTS web site is to an
article on Good Operating Practice by ON4WW. We have
now learned that this article has been extended and
turned into a 56-page handbook and a slide
presentation, entitled "Ethics and Operating Procedures
for the Radio Amateur". The handbook and presentation
are described as "a training aid aimed at newcomers and
a reference work to be used by old timers to improve
their behaviours on the ham bands".
Both the handbook and the presentation (which cover the
same material) are now available for download from the
Downloads page of the IRTS web site. The material is
comprehensive and well written and we feel that
students, teachers and existing licensees will find it
well worth reading.
New Radio News Editor
The IRTS Society is delighted to announce the appointment of
Charles Carolan EI8JB as the new News Editor to take
over from Mark Wall EI7IS. Charlie has been living in
Navan for a couple of years having moved there from
Dublin. Although his EI8 call is relatively recent, he
was first licensed while living in Canada as VA3IRL
about 1995, where he enjoyed working many Irish
stations on 80m & 20m from there.
As we prepare to welcome Charlie we would like to thank
Mark EI7IS most sincerely on behalf of the committee of
the Society, our readers, and listeners, for his
consistency in producing a news bulletin regularly
every week for the past eight years.
SSB Field Day
The SSB Field Day contest took place last weekend. A
number of Irish stations participated, including two
stations operating from the grounds of Garbally
College, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.
Local group Shannon Basin Radio Club along with South
Dublin Radio Club were in Garbally for the weekend.
Both stations reported mixed band conditions. There was
little or no propagation on 10 metres, there were
openings on 15 metres on both Saturday and Sunday, 20
metres was open most of the time, though DX was in
short supply, while 40 and 80 metres provided the best
QSO rates for long periods. As usual, the majority of
the field day stations contacted were in Germany and
Britain. Field day stations in Denmark and Switzerland
also participated.
The Photo Galleries page on the IRTS web site
www.irts.ie includes some pictures of the two
Ballinasloe-based stations in operation.
DX Bulletins
SOUTH COOK ISLANDS, E5. Bill, N7OU will be QRV as
E51NOU from Rarotonga, IOTA OC-013, from September 15
to October 11. He will be active on 40 to 10 meters
using only CW. QSL to home call.
CANARY ISLANDS, EA8. Operators DL5NUA, DL3HQN and
DL1ARD are QRV as EA8/homecalls from Puerto de la Cruz
on Tenerife, IOTA AF-004, until September 19th.
Activity is on the HF bands using mainly CW. QSL to
home calls.
29 Aug 2008
The K3 and the KX1-QRP!!!!
Well I headed west to my home Qth in Westport, Co.Mayo today where my Dad EI9JA and myself took a visit to Brendan EI6IZ.
I must say what a set up Brendan has he was showing us the Elecraft K3 and what a rig it is too.
That rig and an Acom1000 including a Long Periodic beam antenna made operation on the bands just simply amazing!
I am sold on this rig, its performance is unreal nothing I have ever experienced before, I put a call out on 40meters CW and Bang a pile up before me!
Brendan has done a nice little trick with the K3 and added a KRX3. For those of you that don’t already know The KRX3 adds a second receiver of equal specification to the primary receiver to the K3
Generally sub receivers are useful to help find out where the Dx station is listening in the pileup, to search for multipliers whilst ‘running’ in a contest or to monitor a second band in my case however it was such a useful tool for enhancing the ability to pull individual calls out of the large pileup I had build up. I can safely agree with Brendan on this that diversity holds a lot of promise for weak signal DXing where using 2 separate antennas can help reduce the impact of fading, QRM and noise, maybe radios manufactures in the future could look at putting this in as standard in their latest models.
So as the night went on my DXCC was increasing, Just before I left Brendan gave me his new toy which was another Elecraft but was a KX1 which is a QRP radio and I was amazed with its performance.
The Elecraft KX1 is a backpacker's dream: an ultra-light, multi-band CW station with internal battery and automatic antenna tuner.The KX1 includes a superhet receiver with variable-passbandRIT, S-meter, DDS VFO w/3 tuning rates, 3-digit display, memory keyer, battery voltage monitor, and a 1 to 4-watt transmitter with full QSK. The VFO covers the full 20, 30, 40 and 80 meter ham bands,with the KXB3080 installed, the rig’s DDS VFO allows reception from 1.0 to 16.5 MHz, which includes many popular shortwave broadcast bands. While signals far outside the ham bands are slightly attenuated, it is still possible to copy strong stations even in the commercial AM broadcast band. The KX1 transmits only in CW mode, but can receive SSB and AM signals, thanks to its variable-passband crystal filter.
Soon as we arrived home I connected this rig up to a 80 meter Dipole and made a few contacts on 80 meters first one SM6CW with report of 559 I was amazed at this achievement because Brendan has set this rig to only put out max 3-3.5 watts which I thought was by noways enough but it proved me wrong! I played with this radio for an hour or so and I worked a few Russians one German and one English station on 80 meters and even tried my luck on 30 meters and worked into France. 3 Watts QRP has just blown me away I'm shocked at this radio's performance.
Thanks to Brendan EI6IZ for giving me the experience of these radios.
73's
27 Aug 2008
DX NEWS
GM6UW/P - Monach Isles, EU111. Aug 27 - 28
Four members of the Cambridge University Wireless Society (namely G3ZAY, M0ERY, M0FFX and M0SCH) hope to be active as GM6UW/p from the Monach Islands (EU-111) from mid-afternoon on 27 August until mid-morning on the 28th. The operation will take place only if the wind and sea conditions improve.____________________________________________________________________
A35AU, A35IC, A35SS, A35TE & A35ZS - Tonga. 12-17 Sept

____________________________________________________________________
KH6/JA6REX - Hawaii (OC-019) September 14 - 19

Northern coast of the Big island, KH6
QRV from the Big Island of Hawaii during above dates.
QSL via JA6REX
A52RY - Bhutan. Dec 22 - 31

Bhutan
Frank, I2DMI is visiting Bhutan and will be active (spare time) in RTTY during the above dates. Frank mentions more info in September.
QSL to P.O.Box # 55 - 22063 Cantù.
26 Aug 2008
Weather & Sunspot Cycle 24. Heralding a New Maunder Minimum & Ice-Age?
"Cycle 23, which hasn't finished yet, looks like it will be long (at least 12 to 13 years) andcycle 24, which has still to start, looks like it will be exceptionally weak," writes one observatory scientist.
"Based on the past Armagh measurements, this suggests that over the next two decades, global temperatures may fall by about 2 degrees C — that is, to a level lower than any we have seen in the last 100 years...."Temperatures have already fallen by about 0.5 degrees Celsius over the past 12 months and, if this is only the start of it, it would be a serious concern," concludes David Watt.
The reason? Sunspot activity has dwindled. There have only been a handful of days in the past two months where any sunspot activity has been observed and over 400 spotless days have been recorded in the current solar cycle.
"The sun’s surface has been fairly blank for the last couple of years, and that has some worried that it may be entering another Maunder minimum, the sun’s 50-year abstinence from sunspots, which some scientists have linked to the Little Ice Age of the 17th century," reports one science blog.
The Sun is Cooling off.
I'm afraid to say!!!
25 Aug 2008
Up Comming Events for EI
SSB Field Day
The SSB Field Day will take place on the weekend of the
6th and 7th of September 2008. More information is
available on the IRTS web site at www.irts.ie.
MRG VHF/UHF SSB Challenge 2008
The annual MRG VHF/UHF SSB Challenge takes place on
September the 7th 2008 between 1500 hrs and 1800 hrs
local time. Any EI/GI operator holding an
amateur/experimenters licence can participate. Clubs
can also participate.
The sections are as follows; Fixed section – 144 MHz /
70 cm SSB only and the Portable section – 144 MHz / 70
cm SSB only.
All completed QSO's count for 1 point per kilometer. A
bonus of 1000 points to be added for completing 10
QSO's on 70 cm.
144 MHz / 70 cm scores to be combined (+70 cm bonus of
1000 points if 10 contacts are worked) to give the
final score.
Exchange is RS followed by a sequential serial number
starting with 001 followed by Maidenhead locator. For
example 59001 IO53AB.
Logs to be forwarded to “ei2mrg at yahoo dot com”,
arriving no later than the 7th of October 2008. Logs
received after this date will not count towards any
award. A trophy will be awarded to the winners of each
section (Fixed & Portable). The complete Contest rules
can be found on www.geocities.com/ei2mrg/
email “ei2mrg at yahoo dot com”.
All the best in the contest!
24 Aug 2008
Better Days Ahead for 40-Meter Band
I noticed something last week where a new U.S. licenced ham recently posted a question on eHam about operating on 40-meter phone. At night, he said, he only hears strong shortwave broadcast stations and very few hams. Don't hams operate on 40-meter SSB at night, he asked? That's a good question and, fortunately, some relief is on the way for 40 meters -- in just a few months. And the change to 40 meters should be rather profound worldwide.
As experienced ham operators know, 40-meter phone at night can be horrible to work because of the ear- piercing interference from foreign broadcast stations.
But some relief is on the way. As of March 29, 2009, foreign shortwave stations broadcasting on 40 meters between 7100 and 7200 KHz are to cease. They will be permitted, however, to continue using 7200 to 7300 KHz. So, that will free a 100-KHz portion of the band from the terrible interference those high-powered stations generate. As such, the 40-meter band will double in size for many of the world's hams.
At present, the band is just 7000 to 7100 KHz in much of the world. (Quite a few countries have already given their hams early permission to use the band above 7100 KHz.)
The 40-meter situation -- with shortwave broadcast stations sharing the band with hams -- has a long and complex history. But here is a short version. Prior to 1938, 40 meters was a worldwide ham-only band from 7000 to 7300 KHz. But in the years leading up to World War II, some governments began pushing to use part of 40 meters for broadcasting. Why? It's prime shortwave real estate and as the world would soon discover, they had war on their minds and wanted good propaganda outlets via shortwave radio. Hence, they obtained international permission to broadcast on a portion of 40 meters provided they did not interfere with hams in North and South America, which comprise Region 2. None of them ever took the non-interference issue seriously and hams in North and South America got stuck with terrible interference and the hams in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Regions 1 and 3, lost their use of 7100 to 7300 KHz as a result.
This injustice was partially rectified five years ago when the World Radio Conference voted to evict the broadcasters from 7100 to 7200 and return that portion of the band to hams in Regions 1 and 3. This has no direct impact on us in Region 2 other than after March 29 of next year, the band from 7100 to 7200 KHz should be free of foreign broadcast stations and all the interference they generate. Although many hams around the world will probably continue operating SSB below 7100 KHz -- as they do now -- many will certainly move up into the U.S. phone band above 7125 to work americans simplex instead of operating split frequency.
Just imagine -- ragchewing at night on 40-meter phone between 7125 and 7200 without BC interference? Or working DX stations right on your frequency without having to listen down below 7100. Or, if you're in Region 1 like me or even in Region 3 , you can operate from 7000 to 7200 KHz.
I can't wait.
23 Aug 2008
S21 DXpedition to AS-127
St. Martin's Island is a small island in the northeast part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf peninsula, and forming the southernmost part of Bangladesh. It is the only coral island in Bangladesh. It is about 8 km west of the northwest coast of Myanmar at the mouth of the Naf River. The local name of the island is "Narical Gingira", also spelled "Narikel Janjina/Jinjera", translated from Bangla, meaning 'Coconut Island'.
Located in Chittagong Region Group, for IOTA, St. Martin's Island is a nice place sure to have a good DXpedition from this “wanted” country.

Look for AS-127 that´s Claimed by: 7.8% of participants.
Dxpedition will take place in December 2008, 4 operator : S21RC and another S21 HAMs will try to do the best to work all QSOs possible in 6 days of operation in the island.
The days of the expedition are to be confirmed.
The callsing is still pending, will be announce further ahead.
They can Only one setup station on the air at the moment, they are looking for support, antennas, power supply, rigs, if you have used ham radio Material, all materials are welcome to them.
Also, The stations that donate will be entered in the QSL card.
If you want to help them , Please email: eb7dx@eb7dx.com
Please visit http://eb7dx.com/ for more information
NEWS UPDATE
COUNTRIES WITH NO QSL BUREAU
Tony Baldwin EI8JK, the QSL Outwards Manager, reports
that every week he gets several cards for countries
that do not have a QSL Bureau. There are a total of 63
DXCC entities without a Bureau, and Tony has now
arranged for these to be listed on the IRTS web site.
Click on the "QSL Service" link that is on the
left-hand side of the IRTS web site www.irts.ie to see
which countries have no bureau. Tony reminds us that
there is no point in sending cards for those countries
to him: cards for these countries must be sent direct.
SSB FIELD DAY
The SSB Field Day will take place on the weekend of the
6th and 7th of September 2008. More information is
available on the IRTS web site at www.irts.ie.
RADIO RECORDS: SOUTH AFRICA TO REUNION ISLAND ON 2 METERS
A new radio record is set in the southern hemisphere. ZS2GK and FR5DN have made the first ever 2 meter VHF contact between Reunion Island and South Africa via the South Indian Ocean path. Take a listen:
Actual contact audio. Hear it in the MP3 version of this newscast downloadable at www.arnewsline.org
At 02:15 South Africa time on August 12th, Glenn Kraut, ZS2GK, heard the FR5DN beacon from Reunion Island. At 03:39 he established a two-way contact with Mondon "Phil" Phillipe, FR5DN on 144.200 MHz SSB. The two also made contact on 144.400 MHz using FM. The signal strength was S5 to S6 with no QSB over the VHF path of 2875 km.
ZS2GK used was 400W on SSB and 200W on FM. At the FR5DN end Phil was running 120 watts on either mode. The two operators also discussed the possibility of trying the contact in the near future on the 70 centimeter band:
According to the South Africa Radio League this is a new record on 144 MHz. Ironically, it took place on the morning of the maximum of the Perseids meteor shower. More information and the full audio files of the contact available (AS1I, audio from www.astrorun.com fr5dn/radio /)
The 2008 ARRL Handbook defines tropospheric propagation as "radio waves that are refracted by natural gradients in the index of refraction of air with altitude, due to
changes in temperature, humidity and pressure. Refraction under standard
atmospheric conditions extends the radio horizon somewhat beyond the
visual line of sight. Favorable weather conditions further enhance
normal tropospheric refraction, lengthening the useful VHF and UHF range
by several hundred kilometers and increasing signal strength. Higher
frequencies are more sensitive to refraction, so its effects may be
observed in the microwave bands before they are apparent at lower
frequencies."
"Ducting takes place when refraction is so great that radio waves are
bent back to the surface of the Earth. When tropospheric ducting
conditions exist over a wide geographic area, signals may remain very
strong over distances of 1500 km (930 miles) or more. Ducting results
from the gradient created by a sharp increase in temperature with
altitude, quite the opposite of normal atmospheric conditions. A
simultaneous drop in humidity contributes to increased refractivity.
Useful temperature inversions form between 250 and 2000 meters (800-6500
feet) above ground. The elevated inversion and the Earth's surface act
something like the boundaries of a natural open-ended waveguide. Radio
waves of the right frequency range caught inside the duct will be
propagated for long distances with relatively low losses. Several common
weather conditions can create temperature inversions."
According to VHF guru and conductor of QST's "World Above 50 MHz" column
Gene Zimmerman, W3ZZ, VHF amateurs have long been aware of long distance
tropospheric ducting across stable ocean waters. "The best known such
duct is the Hawaiian duct which links the West Coast of the US,
especially California with the Big Island of Hawaii. But we have also
known that other such ducts exist in different places around the world,
although the ham populations in these areas are often so low that we
hardly ever experience two way communications. The Indian Ocean is one
such place. This outstanding contact between Phil Mondon, FR5DN, on
Reunion Island and Glen Kraut, ZS2GK, in South Africa confirms the
existence of a path between the mainland and islands in the Indian
Ocean. It follows the detection of FM broadcast stations on similar
paths in the South Atlantic Ocean between the island of St Helena and
Angola, Namibia and Cape Town on the mainland, and reports of reception
of Brazilian FM stations on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic."
"Now that the path is proven, many South African hams
are gearing up to increase the distance over the coming southern
summer."
RADIO IN POLITICS: GEORGIAN NATIONAL HAM RADIO SOCIETY SAYS GEORGIA HAMS NOT CONTACTING RUSSIA
Amateur Radio contacts between Georgia and Russia have ceased. At least that’s what the Georgian national ham radio society is claiming as a protest to the military action and occupation of Georgia by Russian troops.
According to information provided by the Southgate News, the President of the National Associations Radioamateurs of Georgia has said that contacts between Georgian and Russian Amateur Radio stations have ceased. Mamuka Kordzakhia, 4L2M, also asks that all amateur radio societies, who are either members and non-members of the International Amateur Radio Union do the same.
It should be noted that this is a plea coming from a leader of a national ham radio society and not the result of any mandate given by Georgian telecommunications authorities. Neither the governments of Georgia nor Russia have placed any restrictions on hams in either nation during the current conflict.
Its unlikely that the International Amateur Radio Union or its member nations will take any stand on this issue. Historically the IARU has kept its distance from the internal politics of any nation, be it an IARU member or not. (NARG, with follow-up by ARNewsline™)
HAM RADIO EVENTS: OLYMPICS COMMEMORATIVE STATION CONTINUES.
Members of the Hong Kong Amateur Radio DX Association continue to be active as V-R-2008-O, This, to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Operations will continue until August 31 st on 40 through 6 meters using SSB, RTTY and PSK31. QSL direct only to VR2XMT Charlie Ho, PO Box 900, Fanling Post Office, Hong Kong.
Sorry guys but there is no electronic e-QSL or Logbook to the World filings accepted for this rather special commemorative event. (Hong Kong DXA)
4 Aug 2008
News
The Islands On The Air contest took place last weekend.
This contest is always well supported in Ireland, North
and South, and this year was no exception.
A combined team from the South Dublin Radio Club and
City of Belfast Radio Amateur Society were again on
Inis Oirr, using the call sign EJ0GI. They have
reported their best ever performance, with more
island stations and more multipliers than in previous
years. Rathlin Island, off the coast of Antrim,
hosted two DXpedition stations: A group from Dublin
and County Down operated from the East Lighthouse
using the call sign GI0MPG, while members of the
Kilmarnock and Loudoun Amateur Radio Club - who have
been coming to Rathlin for this contest for the past
10 years - operated from the island's village using
the call sign GI3YS.
On the mainland, the Dundalk Amateur Radio Society,
call sign EI0W, were active as were at least 30 other
EI, GI and MI call signs.
Most stations reported that band conditions were better
than in recent years, with good openings on the higher
bands, helped at times by Sporadic E.
______________________________
New IARU MS Co-Ordinator for EI
Ger McNamara EI4GXB has been appointed the new
International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System
Co-ordinator for Ireland. The IARUMS does NOT deal with
licensed amateurs who do not follow IARU rules, band
plans etc. and is only directed against intruders such
as broadcast stations, harmonics from broadcast
stations (usually from 40 meters appearing on 20 meters
or 15 meters), military, diplomatic and illicit private
broadcasts, on our hard fought for amateur bands.
IARUMS has a well-documented system of successful
actions taken against intruders on the amateur bands,
the latest from EI being the church broadcasts on 10
metres FM.
The general release of the 70 MHz band and the
allocation of frequencies at 5 MHz from COMREG, shows
the continual hard work being carried out by the IRTS
to protect and enhance the amateur bands for all
experimenters in Ireland.
Operators in EI are welcome to contact Ger to report
intruders, or for any information on the Monitoring
System on “ei4gxb at gmail dot com” or QTHR. Links are
also available on the Webmasters Choice on the IRTS
website or www.iarums-r1.org.
______________________________
28 Jul 2008
Extra Facilities for Experimenters
The 70 MHz band of 70.125 to 70.450 MHz has been
released generally to experimenters. This means that
any licensed experimenter may now use the band without
the need to make an individual application as was the
position previously. The upper power limit is 50 watts
PEP and 25 watts PEP for mobile operation. This change
has been made in Part IV of the licence documentation
in ComReg Document No 02/77R6 of the 17th of July 2008.
ComReg has also made provision for the release of to
licensed experimenters of spot frequencies in the
segment 5.0 to 5.5 MHz on the basis of an individual
application. The upper power limit is 200 watts PEP.
The frequencies which the IRTS agreed with the military
authorities and with ComReg are four 3 kHz channels
centered on 5280, 5290, 5400 and 5405 kHz. These are
the same as four of the channels at present available
in the UK. When permissions are issued, operators
should bear in mind that three time sequenced
propagation beacons operate on 5290 kHz in the UK. The
application form for a licence extension to cover
operation on the 5 MHz frequencies is ComReg Document
No 02/07R2 and is available on the ComReg website under
Latest Publications and through a link to ComReg
'Publications in 2008' on the IRTS homepage at
www.irts.ie .
These facilities are the result of a long period of
negotiation by IRTS with ComReg and in relation to the
frequencies at 5 MHz with the military authorities
also. ComReg has also published an application Form for
an Automatic Station, that is, a Repeater or a Beacon
in ComReg Document No 08/58 and revised Radio
Experimenter Guidelines in ComReg Document No 02/05R6.
These documents are also available through the link to
ComReg 'Publications in 2008' on the IRTS homepage at
www.irts.ie .
Possible 432 MHz Tropo EI Record
During a good tropo opening on the 21st of July, Robbie
Phelan, EI2IP worked several EA8 stations on 144 MHz
using only 50 Watts and a 10 Element DX7ZB.
He also worked EA8AVI on 432.200 MHz both on CW and
SSB. It could potentially be an EI Tropo record on 432
MHz of approximately 2740 kilometres.
Robbies setup for 432 MHz consisted of an FT-847, using
50 Watts and a 19 Element Tonna at a height of 10
metres and 100 metres above sea level situated about
2.5 kilometres from Atlantic Coast. EA8AVI, Peter was
only using 20 Watts. There is a video link available at
http://youtube.com/user/ei2ip .
A New Website for Radio Amateurs
Mark Mc Nicholas (EI5GYB) is currently looking into
building a website for radio amateurs. There is
currently just a discussion board present but he plans
to have a full site with resources for radio
experimenters in Ireland.
The website is available at www.radioexperments.com.
26 Jul 2008
IOTA Contest
The following activations have been notified:
| Ref. No. | From | To | Callsign: |
|---|---|---|---|
| AF-004 | 22 Jul 2008 | 29 Jul 2008 | AM8IL |
| AF-014 | 24 Jul 2008 | 31 Jul 2008 | CT3/DF1LON |
| AF-021 | 1 May 2008 | 1 May 2009 | ZS8T |
| AF-047 | 24 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | CQ9U |
| AS-024 | 22 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | JA1YUC |
| AS-117 | 26 Jul 2008 | 30 Jul 2008 | 8J9HGR |
| EU-001 | 25 Jul 2008 | 4 Aug 2008 | SX5C |
| EU-003 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | CU1F |
| EU-003 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | CU1T |
| EU-006 | 24 Jul 2008 | 30 Jul 2008 | EJ3GKB |
| EU-008 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | GM7A |
| EU-010 | 25 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | MM0LSB/P |
| EU-014 | 9 Jul 2008 | 3 Aug 2008 | TK/F8DZY |
| EU-028 | 25 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | IA5/IV3LZQ |
| EU-028 | 25 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | IA5/IV3PUT |
| EU-029 | 20 Jul 2008 | 30 Jul 2008 | OZ/DO2ML |
| EU-030 | 18 Jul 2008 | 4 Aug 2008 | OZ/DL6MHW |
| EU-030 | 21 Jul 2008 | 26 Jul 2008 | OZ1BLO |
| EU-030 | 21 Jul 2008 | 26 Jul 2008 | OZ/LA8DW |
| EU-030 | 25 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | 5Q2T |
| EU-038 | 25 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | PA0HFT |
| EU-052 | 19 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | SV8/OT6T/P |
| EU-052 | 20 Jul 2008 | 8 Aug 2008 | SV8/PH2CV/P |
| EU-055 | 19 Jul 2008 | 3 Aug 2008 | LA/DL7AT |
| EU-055 | 19 Jul 2008 | 15 Aug 2008 | LA9RY |
| EU-055 | 26 Jul 2008 | 30 Jul 2008 | LA6Q |
| EU-067 | 25 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | SV8/SV1JG |
| EU-071 | 17 Jul 2008 | 5 Aug 2008 | TF7/DL3PS |
| EU-072 | 21 Jul 2008 | 31 Jul 2008 | J48NL |
| EU-072 | 21 Jul 2008 | 31 Jul 2008 | J48JJ |
| EU-072 | 21 Jul 2008 | 31 Jul 2008 | J48P |
| EU-072 | 21 Jul 2008 | 31 Jul 2008 | J48PS |
| EU-084 | 24 Jul 2008 | 29 Jul 2008 | SM/G3LAS |
| EU-088 | 23 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | OZ8MW/P |
| EU-097 | 19 Jul 2008 | 10 Aug 2008 | OH/G4FSU |
| EU-097 | 19 Jul 2008 | 10 Aug 2008 | OH/G4FSU |
| EU-099 | 21 Jul 2008 | 26 Jul 2008 | GB8LMI |
| EU-099 | 23 Jul 2008 | 29 Jul 2008 | MJ0X |
| EU-109 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | M0OVL/P |
| EU-123 | 24 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | MM3M |
| EU-125 | 25 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | OZ0FR |
| EU-127 | 25 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | DA0T/P |
| EU-127 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | DL5XL/P |
| EU-132 | 25 Jul 2008 | 3 Aug 2008 | SP5XSD/1 |
| EU-132 | 25 Jul 2008 | 3 Aug 2008 | SQ5BB/1 |
| EU-132 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | SP7VC/1 |
| EU-132 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | SP8RX/1 |
| EU-133 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | RI1AA |
| EU-135 | 1 Jul 2008 | 31 Jul 2008 | SM5EFX/2 |
| EU-136 | 22 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | 9A2CY/P |
| EU-146 | 25 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | PE1OPM |
| EU-146 | 25 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | PD5CW |
| EU-147 | 24 Jul 2008 | 30 Jul 2008 | RK3AZY/1 |
| EU-147 | 25 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | RI1NU |
| EU-168 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | TF/DD4B |
| EU-172 | 25 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | OZ7BQ/P |
| EU-178 | 23 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | ES0/YL2PN |
| EU-179 | 22 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | UW0G |
| NA-067 | 25 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | N4A |
| NA-096 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | CO7PH/P |
| NA-113 | 24 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | C6APR |
| NA-139 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | N2US |
| NA-140 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | K1RY |
| NA-229 | 25 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | KD6WW/VY0 |
| NA-229 | 25 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | K9AJ/VY0 |
| NA-234 | 21 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | KL7DX |
| OC-133 | 26 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | 9M6DXX/P |
| SA-023 | 25 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | PY6RA |
| SA-080 | 24 Jul 2008 | 27 Jul 2008 | ZW6GK |
| SA-090 | 24 Jul 2008 | 28 Jul 2008 | YW6AJ |
IOTA Meeting Frequencies
The main meeting frequency is 14.260MHz. Other ones on SSB are 28.560, 28.460, 24.950, 21.260, 18.128, 7.055 and 3.755MHz. The CW frequencies are 28.040, 24.920, 21.040, 18.098, 14.040, 10.115 and 3530MHz. No specific CW frequency has been nominated on 7MHz but it is recommended that operations should include a frequency above 7.025 when the band is open to North America. These frequencies are not reserved for IOTA nets or the making of island QSOs but are shared with other users on a normal non-interference basis.



