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EI3DIB > NEWS 29.11.08 19:53l 244 Lines 9127 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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From: EI3DIB@EI3DIB.#TIPP.IRL.EU
To : NEWS@WW
Irish Radio Transmitters Society
Radio News Bulletin
Sunday 30th November 2008
****
Webmaster Wanted
The role of the IRTS web site includes keeping members
informed about local and international amateur radio
activities,
The job of the Webmaster is to maintain and develop the
web site so that it fulfils this role in an interesting
and accessible way. IRTS is looking for applications for
the position of Webmaster. Like all of the society's
officer positions, this is a voluntary position.
Members interested in being appointed Webmaster should
indicate their interest to the society's president
Finbarr Buckley EI1CS (buckleyf1@eircom.net) and
demonstrate their web skills by supplying links to web
sites or web pages which they have developed.
****
The Brendan Awards
In 1995 the IRTS announced that they would award a pair
of Challenge Trophies to the first amateur stations to
establish two way communications across the Atlantic on
the 144MHz band.
The Trophies, two inscribed cut glass vases, were kindly
presented by Waterford Crystal and are known as the
`'Brendan Trophies''. Brendan the Navigator was a 5th
century explorer whose exploits are well documented in
early Irish and Scottish literature. Brendan and his
monks certainly left Ireland and are known to have
reached Iceland and probably Greenland, while some
accounts mention a `'further place'', possibly present
day Nova Scotia or Newfoundland.
As was announced earlier in the year, the committee of
the Society decided to broaden the original challenge and
to rebrand them as the Brendan Awards. While the
`'Brendan Trophies'' will continue as the premier award,
there will also be a pair of `'Brendan Shields'' awarded
for the first digital mode QSO and the `'Brendan Plate''
will be awarded for the first verified reception of a
trans Atlantic signal. In addition, the `'Brendan
Medal'', a triennial Silver Medal, will be awarded to the
group or individual who has contributed most to the
promotion of propagation studies on the North Atlantic 2m
path.
The Brendan Awards are designed to give new impetus to
the challenge of the Atlantic at VHF, to rekindle the
spirit of experimentation which drove those early
enthusiasts in the new science of radio, and to encourage
dedicated expeditions, breathtaking antennas or serious
propagation studies in an attempt to claim that elusive
`'First across the Atlantic'' .A full set of the detailed
rules is available on the IRTS website.
****
Radio Frequency Plan for Ireland
The fourth edition of the Radio Frequency Plan for
Ireland has been published by ComReg. This document
shows, for each frequency band, the types of radio
services that are permitted for operation in Ireland and,
in addition, the radio services that are currently in use
in each band.
While this publication is by no means essential for radio
experimenters (as our own frequency allocations are
detailed in ComReg's "Radio Experimenters Guidelines"),
the new document is of general interest, if only to note
the wide range of services using the frequency bands and
in particular to see the services with which we share
some of the bands.
The Radio Frequency Plan for Ireland can be downloaded
from the ComReg web site. A link to the download page
for this document is currently in the "KEY CLICKS!"
section of the IRTS web site.
****
30 metre modes
Da`ithi` GI7OMY, who is the award manager for the 30 metre
digital group for WISE (worked Wales, Ireland, Scotland
and England) has pointed out that he has had to reject
several applications recently where one of the submitted
QSOs showed an EI station operating PSK on 30 metres,
because Irish regulations allow Morse only on the 30
metre band.
While the IARU band plan shows "digimodes" from 10140 to
10150, the regulations for EI experimenters do not allow
digimodes on this band. We plan to ask ComReg whether
the restriction for EI experimenters is really necessary,
given the provisions of the band plan, but pending any
change in the regulations, EI experimenters should stick
to CW only on 30 metres
****
AREN nets
Winter training Nets will commence on the 7th of
December. The date and time of the nets being the 7th and
21st of the month at 19:30. It is envisaged that the net
on the 21st of the month will be a digital mode training
net. Members without email access should contact John,
EI7IG at 0868167310 for more details.
****
500 kHz in Canada
In mid November, Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) announced
that the amateur radio Regulator, Industry Canada, has
accepted an RAC proposal for selected Canadian radio
amateurs to operate in the vicinity of 500 kHz. The
proposal states that RAC would recommend amateurs who
would be licensed to operate in the 504-509 kHz band with
a maximum power of 20 W ERP and bandwidth up to 1 kHz.
Stations operating in this band would be technically
operating under Special Developmental Licenses,
although they would all be radio amateurs. Distinct call
signs would be used and the licenses would be renewable
on an annual basis, subject to the amateur demonstrating
the research that had been carried out. According to
the RAC, these amateur operations would support efforts
at the 2011 World Radio Conference (WRC-11),
to secure an amateur allocation in the 600 meter
band.
The US, under the auspices of the ARRL's 500 kHz
Experimental Station, WD2XSH, is also conducting research
in this band. Canada is the eighth country to do
experimentation on 500 kHz; along with the US, the UK,
Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and
Romania.
****
Dublin European City of Science
Dublin has been chosen as European City of Science for
2012. The event is expected to attract 8,000 Irish and
international delegates to the city in July of that year.
Minister for Science and Technology Jimmy Devins said the
decision today was "recognition of the great strides that
Ireland has made in the area of science technology and
innovation".
****
Shannon Basin Radio Club
The Shannon Basin Radio Club Sprint Challenge will be
held on Sunday 30th November between 14:00 and 18:00.
Please see www.shannonbasinradioclub.com for contest
rules. Logs to be forwarded to Brian EI8IU at qthr or to
brianei8iu@eircom.net
****
Limerick Radio Club
There was a good turn-out for the November meeting of the
Club at the Limerick Institute of Technology. Alan EI8EM
gave a very interesting talk on "HF DX-ing. He suggested
some very useful operating tips for anyone seriously
interested in working DX and pile-ups. Alan was speaking
from first-hand experience of working DX, as he has
worked 334 countries and is currently on the ARRL DXCC
Roll of Honour. Our sincere thanks to Alan for a very
interesting and informative presentation.
The next meeting of the Club will be held on Thursday 11
December 2008 at the Limerick Institute of Technology at
7:30 pm. The annual Christmas Quiz will be held, once
again under the stewardship of Pat (EI9GY) & Liam
(EI4GB). The Quiz, with prizes galore, has proven a most
enjoyable evening in past years so a large attendance is
expected on the night.
****
Sun Shows signs of Life
After two-plus years of few sunspots, even fewer solar
flares, the sun is finally showing signs of life. David
Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
believes that the solar minimum is behind us. His
statement is prompted by an October flurry of five
sunspot groups. That may not sound like much, but in a
year with record-low numbers of sunspots and long
stretches of spotlessness, five is significant. and
represents a real increase in solar activity.
Even more significant is the fact that four of the five
sunspot groups belonged to Solar Cycle 24, the long-
awaited next installment of the sun's 11-year solar
cycle. October was the first time that sunspots from new
Solar Cycle 24 outnumbered spots from the old Solar Cycle
23. It's a good sign that the new cycle is taking off.
Solar physicists check two things to tell the difference
between old and new cycle spots: a sunspot's heliographic
latitude and its magnetic polarity. New-cycle sunspots
always appear at high latitude, while old-cycle spots
cluster around the sun's equator and the magnetic
polarity of new-cycle spots is reversed compared to old-
cycle spots. Four of October's five sunspot groups
satisfied these two criteria for membership in Solar
Cycle 24.
****
Items for inclusion in next weeks Radio News should be
forwarded to Charlie EI8JB, via e-mail to "charlie dot
Carolan at gmail dot com. Or by phone to 087-6265418
News can also be submitted
via e-mail to "newsteam at irts dot ie" for automatic
forwarding to both the radio and printed news
services. Please note that items for the radio news
should reach the editor no later than midday on Thursday
in order to be guaranteed inclusion in the following
Sunday's bulletin.
Best 73 from John, Sysop @ EI3DIB.#TIPP.IRL.EU
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