IRTS 40 metres Counties contest Results

The results of the 40 metres counties contest held on 8th May have been published, and can be seen on the society's Contest Results page at www.irts.ie/results An enhanced D-layer, caused by a fairly strong geomagnetic storm, which hit the Earth shortly before the contest, resulted in very poor propagation. Just 15 EI/GI counties were active during the contest, however there was good participation from overseas stations, which accounted for 7 of the 19 logs received.

Fortunately the adverse band conditions experienced on 8th May are fairly rare, and let's hope that propagation is better for the society's next contest - which is CW Field Day, on Saturday & Sunday next, 4th & 5th June. This contest runs for 24 hours from 15:00 UTC, but for those unwilling to operate for the full period, we have a restricted 6-hour section. See www.irts.ie/contests for the full rules.

GK4LOH received over 3467 km on 144 MHz

Delighted to announce that a reflection from the structure of the International Space Station enabled a 144.175 MHz signal from Tim GK4LOH in Cornwall to cross the Atlantic

At 02:40 UTC May 24th 2016 ISS Flypast. Signal heard 2 minutes 45 into the recording and continued for over a minute. The transmitted message was "GK4LOH GK4LOH T T T T T T T T T T"

I'm delighted for Tim as I know how much work he has put into building his station in Cornwall, Tim is a fellow contester with us at the Blacksheep Contest Group and this is a fantastic achievement by Tim also highlighting that maybe the infamous IRTS Brendan Trophy Award is within touching distance after all :-)

A video can be seen here of the moment Tim's signal was capatured:

GK4LOH IO70jc reception at VO1FN GN37jr 3467km 144.175MHz ISS flypast

GK4LOH at VO1FN Via ISS 24/5/2016 01:49 UTC 144.175MHz

You can find more about Tim GK4LOH activities here: 

http://www.g4loh.com/

In July 2014 the RSGB VHF Manager John Regnault G4SWX received a Canadian station VC1T on 144 MHz which on investigation was also found to be by ISS reflection, The ARRL report a group of Amateur Radio operators from Atlantic Canada are operating from Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, until July 12 in a bid to complete a 2 meter transatlantic contact and claim the Brendan trophy.

The "Brendan Quest" team was on the air as VC1T from grid GN37os on 144.155 MHz. The group activated on July 4th, and a couple of days later, on July 6th at 13:41 UTC, G4SWX John was able to completely decode an FSK441 transmission from VC1T.

“They attempted to complete the QSO for 4 hours, but were not successful,” the team reported. “However, this reception could qualify for the Brendan Plate.” The team said a station in Ireland was able to copy parts of three transmissions. Because of the initial success, the group now will use FSK441 exclusively in its Brendan bid. 

Read the full ARRL story at:

http://www.arrl.org/news/view/brendan-quest-team-s-2-meter-signal-copied-in-the-uk

RSGB – 432MHz Trophy Championship Contest May 2016

On May 7th the RSGB - 432 MHz Trophy Championship Contest took place from 14:00UTC – 22:00UTC. This was an 8 hour event and the contest ran concurrently with the first few hours of an IARU / RSGB 24 hour UHF contest. This year I was out active with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T" from Locator square JO01KJ. 

There was a lot of preparations made for this contest so we arrived on the site Friday with half the group and started put together our station for the Saturday. Weather conditions was fantastic throughout the weekend on the Isle of Sheppey with temperatures up into the twenties, Matt G0XDI, Bill M0BTZ, Andy M0MUX and Nick G4FAT worked all day Friday and finally got all antenna systems built and Tested by Saturday afternoon just in time for the start of the contest at 14:00UTC.

The Band conditions this year was variable with lot's of QSB and a high noise floor that certainly didn’t help things but all in all it was a good weekend.

We finished up the contest with a claimed score of 109 QSO’s 34,137 points and our ODX was DL7AFB at 824Km.

 G8T Station (4x17ele @ 20m + 2x21ele @ 20m )

Matt G0XDI operating and myself looking on...

Bill M0BTZ & myself in the heat of Battle

Thanks to all for the QSO's hope to work you in the next contest, GL & 73

IRTS 40m Counties Contest

The IRTS 40 Metres Counties Contest takes place Sunday, 8th May from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC. The objective for EI and GI stations is to make as many contacts as possible during the 3 hour period (work everyone), and for those outside Ireland, to make as many contacts as possible with EI and GI stations. EI and GI counties are multipliers.

The contest has Fixed and Portable sections, with two mode options: SSB Only or SSB/CW. There is also an SWL section. Those planning to operate in the portable sections should familiarise themselves with the "Requirements for Portable Section Entries" in the rules. To encourage more CW operation in the mixed mode sections, there is a final score bonus of 1,000 points for any entry that includes at least 10 valid CW QSOs with EI or GI stations; note also that there is a suggested CW "centre of activity" of 7022.

See www.irts.ie/contests for the full rules, which include specified frequency ranges within the 40 metre band for this contest. Awards are available in each section for the leading Irish station and for the leading station outside Ireland.

Romania on 5 MHz (60m)

The Romanian telecommunications regulator ANCOM has granted YO amateurs access to 5 MHz on a scheduled testing basis, starting on the 8th April 2016 for approximately a year’s duration. At the moment it is limited to the 3 kHz-wide 5363.5 - 5366.5 KHz slot, CW, PSK, RTTY and WSJT, with possibly other digi-modes to follow. Maximum power allowed is 15W e.i.r.p. and only for those YO hams who wish to register for the testing program. Initial testing will take place every Thursday around 16:00 UTC, concomitantly with the YO DX QTC Net on 3750KHz.

Looking forward to hearing them on the band.

73

73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

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.

CQWW WPX Contest SSB, March 26th & 27th 2016

Call: G2F

Operator(s): M0CHK M0CKE G4MKP M0CLW EI5IX LZ2MAM

Station: G2F

Club: Wisbech amateur radio club

Class: M/S HP

QTH: WISBECH

Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:

Band  QSOs

------------

160:    44

80:      477

40:      977

20:      1471

15:      735

10:      48

------------

Total: 3772  Prefixes = 1320 

Total Claimed Score = 12,910,920

G2F Antenna Farm for CQWW - WPX SSB 2016

Comments:

WPX is great fun, 10m had short openings to SA both days, 15m never really got going for any length of time, 80m and 160m were very noisy.

Station improvements were mostly successful, more to complete as a few areas were troublesome or didn't work as required

Thanks to our guest op and the team

Jim M0CKE ..
Station Manager and Cook @ G2F

IRTS - Counties Contest on 144/145MHz on 28th of March

On Easter Monday, 28th March, the 144/145MHz (2m) Counties Contest runs from 14:00h to 16:00h local time. The multipliers in this contest are the EI and GI counties, while both SSB and FM can be used in the contest. There are separate sections for portable and fixed stations, low power and high power, as well as an FM Only section for single ops and an SWL section in this contest. 

See www.irts.ie/contests for more details. 

This contest has always been well supported and we look forward to hearing as many EI and GI counties including DX on the band.

Galway VHF Group - St Patrick's Day Activity

The Galway VHF Group will be running the Club Station EI4ALE which will count towards the St Patrick's Day Award. The station will be operating on 80m, 40m & 20m and possibly on 15m and 10m if the bands are open. Whilst the operation will predominantly be phone, operators will use Data Modes during the course of the day.

EI4ALE Station Details: 

WAI Square:  M22 Galway

Maidenhead Locator:   IO53LG

Operators: Arek, Gerry, John & Steve

For Further Information Contact: 

Steve EI5DD 

wrights1@eircom.net 

phone +353 87 245 1218

For more information about the Galway VHF Group.

Belgium gets WRC15 - 5 MHz (60m) allocation and 70 MHz (4m) extension

The Belgian telecoms regulator, IBPT, has issued a decision permitting access to the new WRC15 60m allocation for all Belgian Class A amateur licensees (also known as the HAREC licence).

The allocation is from 5351.5 to 5366.5 kHz on a Secondary basis with a maximum power of 15W e.i.r.p. All modes are permitted.

Belgian radio amateurs now have a wider access on the 4m band, 70.1125 to 70.4125 MHz has now been made available with a maximum power from the transmitter output of 50W. Secondary status with all modes available.

RSGB / IARU - March 144MHz & 432MHz Contest March 7th/8th 2015

On March 5th & 6th the RSGB & IARU R1 - 144 MHz & 432MHz International Trophy Championship Contest took place. I was out active with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T" from Locator square JO01KJ. There was a lot of preparations to be made for this contest so we arrived on the site Thursday Night with half the group and started put together our station for the weekend. With weather conditions against us we worked hard all day Friday and finally got all antenna systems built and working by Saturday afternoon just in time for the start of the contest at 14:00UTC.

Mike G8TIC on 144MHz

144MHz - 6 x 3ele DK7ZB Array

144MHz - 6 x 3ele DK7ZB & 4 x 10ele DK7ZB array & 2 x 14ele Array

144MHz - 4 x 10ele DK7ZB Array

144MHz - 2 x 14ele DK7ZB Array in the sunshine

432MHz - 4 x 17ele LFA Array & 21ele F9FT Tonna

432MHz setup 

As for the contest conditions they were well down compared to last year, there was no Tropospheric ducting throughout the weekend and on 144MHz our Preamp failed on our 4 x 10ele system which didn't help us and as for 432MHz contest conditions were very poor but with some surprises in the log. UK activity very poor on both bands over the weekend, it was very cold overnight but we managed to keep warm with a gas fire.

We finished up the contest with the following claimed score:

144MHz:

587 QSO's with 406 Points Per QSO - Totaling 238,175 Points, ODX - DL0HTW @ 874km

432MHz:

118 QSO's with 340 Points Per QSO - Totaling 40,064 Points, ODX - DM3F @ 869km

Once again thanks to everyone for the QSO's and Points, looking forward to working you in the next one.

73

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

UPDATE 04/04/2016

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

March 144/432 MHz 2016

Conditions in this event were generally described as "poor", "awful" and "dire". Together with this many entrants commented on the low levels of activity, particularly in the UK. The number of entries was 30% down on 2015, mainly in the fixed station sections. Portable entrants had to endure low temperatures, rain, sleet, snow, freezing fog and muddy ground.

On 144MHz 85 squares were worked. There were only 11 tropo QSOs greater than 800kms and a further 42 QSOs between 700 and 800kms. The best contact was between M0HRF/P and DR1H at 875kms. Six MGM contacts were completed with the best QSO between GM8IEM and OH6KTL at 1523kms.

On 432MHz 63 squares were active. There were 17 contacts over 700kms and a further 18 between 600 and 700kms. The best contact was between G3M and DM5D at 825kms.

Logging standards were relatively poor with 6.6% of QSOs being disallowed. For the first time in this contest, logs were exchanged with our European neighbours and the logs from DL, F, ON and PA were used in the adjudication. Entrants will notice that this showed high numbers of discrepancies in their longer distance contacts.

Congratulations go to:

The Blacksheep Contest Group, G8T, who won the open section for the second year running;

Roger, G3MEH, who won the single operator fixed section;

Alastair, G4RUL/P, for winning the single operator others section;

The Vecta CG, M0VCT/P, who won the six-hour open section;

Richard, GD8EXI, who won the six-hour single operator fixed section for the third year running;

All other band winners and runners up, who together with stations identified, will receive certificates.


Roger Dixon, G4BVY

Radio ham contributed to Detection of Gravitational Waves

Radio amateur Dr. Joe Taylor K1JT and Dr. Russell Hulse won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1993 'for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation'

A New York Times article about the Detection of Gravity Waves notes Joe Taylor's contribution:

In 1978, the radio astronomers Joseph H. Taylor Jr. [K1JT] and Russell A. Hulse, then at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, discovered a pair of neutron stars, superdense remnants of dead stars, orbiting each other. One of them was a pulsar, emitting a periodic beam of electromagnetic radiation. By timing its pulses, the astronomers determined that the stars were losing energy and falling closer together at precisely the rate that would be expected if they were radiating gravitational waves.

In awarding the Nobel Prize in 1993 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said: 

What was new about the Hulse-Taylor pulsar was that, from the behavior of the beacon signal, it could be deduced that it was accompanied by an approximately equally heavy companion at a distance corresponding to only a few times the distance of the moon from the earth. The behavior of this astronomical system deviates greatly from what can be calculated for a pair of heavenly bodies using Newton's theory. Here a new, revolutionary "space laboratory" has been obtained for testing Einstein's general theory of relativity and alternative theories of gravity. So far, Einstein's theory has passed the tests with flying colours. Of particular interest has been the possibility of verifying with great precision the theory's prediction that the system should lose energy by emitting gravitational waves in about the same way that a system of moving electrical charges emits electromagnetic waves.

Read the full New York Times story at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/ligo-gravitational-waves-black-holes-einstein.html

Read the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics press release 

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/

1993/press.html

EI2CCR 2m repeater back on the air with IRTS News

The Dundalk Amateur Radio Society are pleased to announce that their 2m repeater, EI2CCR, is now back on air from its high site location on Clermont Cairn, County Louth.

It is operational on a transmit frequency of 145.675 MHz, with the CTCSS access tone of 110.9 Hz.

The IRTS news for the North East has moved from 145.400 Mhz to the Dundalk Repeater EI2CCR.

The newsreader is Tony EI4DIB and the bulletin is read at 8pm.

Tony has been getting a great number of reports after the news, often up in the 20’s and looks forward to getting even more in the future via the Dundalk Repeater.

Reception reports are always welcome and can be made directly to any member of the Dundalk Amateur Radio Society, through the EI7DAR Facebook page or by email to repeaterkeeper /at/ ei7dar.com

DARS would like to sincerely thank all who have contributed in any way to the re-birth of EI2CCR and we look forward to providing wide area 2m coverage to the north east courtesy of EI2CCR for many years to come.

Source IRTS

RSGB - 432MHz AFS Contest February 7th 2016

This was the first RSGB contest that I've entered for 2016 out portable. This was an Affiliated Societies contest and was open to both individual entrants (who must be RSGB members), and to teams made up of a number of operators who must all be members of the same affiliated society, but not necessarily RSGB members themselves. So an affiliated group effort was required for this contest and we managed to get a team together under The Blacksheep CG which consisted of Single Fixed Operators & Portable Operators:  Roger G3MEH, John G0ODQ were Single Fixed op's and out portable were M0BAA/P (Andy M0MUX, Bill M0BTZ, Matt G0XDI and Nick G4FAT) and myself Pat M0XII/P.


The location that was selected for this contest was a portable location on a chalk escarpment called "The Chiltern Hills" at IO91MP . The contest started at 09:00UTC and ended at 13:00UTC. There were very poor weather conditions let alone flat band conditions with very heavy QSB at times, I also had to finish the contest 30 minutes early due some power issues (Flat battery on my Laptop) so I only limped through this contest.

I finished the contest under M0XII/P with a claimed score of 7,575 points at 120 points per QSO and only managed to work 63 QSO's and 5 DXCC's and 12 WWL's. My ODX was 453Km with GI6ATZ, I would like to thank Gorden GI6ATZ for his patience in completing this contact as QSB had a major part to play during our QSO. The equipment I used out portable was an FT847 and a 19 element Antenna about 5m from ground.

Thanks to everyone who called during the contest and thanks for the points, I look forward to working you again. 73

A Map of my QSO's in this contest  

IARU Region 1 - 2016 Interim Meetings

Interim meetings of IARU Region 1 Committee 4 (HF and bands below 3 MHz), Committee 5 (VHF and bands above 300 MHz) and Committee 7 (Electromagnetic Compatibility) will take place in Vienna, 15th to 17th April 2016. Committees 4 and 5 address spectrum management, band-planning and operational activities such as IARU-R1 contest rules and associated matters.

Amateur licensees in Ireland are encouraged to review the documents submitted and provide comments to the IRTS representatives who will attend the meetings. An overview of the documents is provided on the IRTS web-site at www.irts.ie/iaru-vienna.

Also provided are full details of where to download the documents and how to comment. Please provide any comments you may have by 29th February 2016."

IRTS Contest Rules 2016 Updated

Following consultation with contesters, the committee has decided to update the IRTS contest rules in two areas.

The first area relates to remote stations: these are permitted under the existing rules, however there were no guidelines as to acceptable use. The new General Contest Rules specify a number of limitations on remote operation in our contests, including the fact that the operator must be physically in the same DXCC entity as the remote station, also remote transmitters or receivers outside the station location are not permitted.

The second area dealt with in the latest amendments to the Rules is the use of the DX Cluster. Recognising that the cluster is generally accepted and used in VHF/UHF contests, the Rules now permit the use of the cluster in VHF/UHF Field Day, however the cluster may not be used for posting messages or arranging skeds, nor is self-spotting or asking to be spotted permitted. The prohibition on cluster use for other contests remains.

See www.irts.ie/contests for the full contest calendar and rules.


73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

RSGB VHF Championship 2015

Delighted to announce that the Blacksheep Contest and DX Group have won the 2015 RSGB VHF/UHF Championship for both SSB & CW and what an amazing year it was too, I'd like to personally thank my Team mates (Andy 2E0IBF, Matt G0XDI, Nick G4FAT, Tim G4LOH, Stephen G4SHF, Mike G8TIC, Bill M0BTZ and Rohan M6TIC) for putting in an incredible effort throughout the year into each contest, it has been great Craic... I'd also like to thank you for the QSO's and points throughout 2015 it was much appreciated and I'm looking forward to working you in future contests. 73