IRTS News for 15th May 1994 RTE RADIO 1 ON SATELLITE ------------------------ RTE Radio 1 is now available in Europe on the Astra satellite channel 22 audio sub-carrier 7.56 MHz. The TV channel is the MTV outlet. RTE 1 is carried in its entirety with Radio 2 filling in once it closes down at approximately 1 am to 6.30 am local. In the US RTE broadcasts 3 1/2 hours to N. America on the WRN Service, which is carried on the Scola satellite. It is hoped that the service will be extended in the future. SOUTH DUBLIN ARC SPRING CHALLENGE --------------------------------- SDR announced its Spring Challenge in the Nov./Dec. newsletter. The challenge was to work as many DXCC countries as possible on the HF bands during the month of February, with the exclusion of contest QSOs. An open section allowed the use of any modes on all HF bands, and the restricted section was for CW operation on one HF band. Two trophies, specially commissioned and made by Tom McGrath EI7HT and Tom Griffin EI9BTB, were presented at the IRTS AGM. There were 11 entries in all, with the winner of the open section being Robert Cummins GI0KOW, scoring a spectacular 888 points. As a matter of interest, his 888 QSOs for February involved 220 separate DXCC countries, more that most of us would work in a lifetime. If you considered the bands were dead in February you'd be surprised to note that Robert worked 92 countries on 10m in that month. Pat Geoghagan chose 40m in the restricted section, and worked 57 countries. Congratulations to all who took part, and to SDR for organising the event. It is planned to run another next year. WICKLOW WIRELESS SOCIETY ------------------------ The AGM of WWS took place on 4 May in the club room at Ravenswell school, Bray. Frank EI2GS, club chairman, gave a summary of the club's activities during the past year, which included the succesful VHF field day on Maulin Mountain in Co. Wicklow, which won for the club the shield for the restricted section of the contest, with 233 contacts. This score was the highest number of all the stations in both open and restricted sections. Bob EI5CK presented the Treasurer's Report which showed some money still in the kitty even after the purchase of 2 new antennas for the FD and the club's first ever Christmas Dinner. It was noted that Sean Butler EI7HR (ex EI5CZB) could not be present as he was still seriously ill in hopital. Bob EI4HE presented the VHF/UHF shield for the 2m FD to Frank EI2GS, and he also presented the IRTS DX trophy, for the leading EI station in he ARRL DX CW contest, to Bill EI9FK who, due to his being heavily involved with the Eurovision Song Contest, could not be present to collect it at the IRTS AGM. The following committee was elected: Chairman Bob EI4HE, Secretary Kevin EI2HM and Treasurer Declan EI9HQ. The meeting went on to discuss preparations for this year's VHF/UHF FD, with final arrangements to be made at the next club meeting, to be held on 18 May. Milan YO8BDW, who has been a regular visitor, farmally thanked the club members for the warm hospitality extended to him during his stay in Ireland. Milan has every intention of maintaining contact with his friends in EI2WW following his return to Romania later this month. RADIO NEWS ITEMS URGENTLY REQUIRED ---------------------------------- Once again an appeal goes out to all clubs and groups around the country for items of interest which can be included in the radio news bulletins. Over the last number of months there has been a terrific response to pleas, and the radio news editor would be most grateful if this could continue. The radio news service is a great opportunity to promote your group or club's activities, and is listened to by enthusiasts all around the country on both HF and VHF. Your efforts, however, small, will keep the content interesting and make the service worthwhile. That concludes the bulletin for this week. Items for inclusion in the radio news should be sent to Steve Wright EI5DD, c/o Dept. of Pathology, Regional Hospital, Galway. Fax messages may be sent to EI5DD at 091 24216. All such items will be forwarded to Dave Moore for inclusion in the printed news. Items for the printed news only should be sent to Dave Moore EI4BZ, QTHr, or phoned to 021 632444 (daytime), or 021 883555 (evenings). Items may be sent by packet radio to EI4BZ at EI7DKB-5. Fax messages may be sent to 021 632730.