IRTS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN - Sunday 16th of October 1994
This news bulletin was compiled and edited by Steve Wright, EI5DD, in conjunction with the members of the Galway VHF Group.
AN INTERESTING PROPAGATION ANOMALY ON 2 METRES
On the 13th of May 1994 Tony Allen was tuning around the high end of two metres using his FT 225 RD. Quite by surprise, the voice of Bill, VO1OR, calling CQ on FM broke through the band noise. A note was written to Bill asking which satellite he was working through and a report on the signal was also given. On September the 14th 1994 a reply was received and a quantity of information and maps were enclosed along with information about the satellites that Bill regularly works. Needless to say Bill was quite surprised at the report that he received. The interesting development was that Bill was operating on the uplink of the satellite at the time and mistakingly used FM instead of LSB on the occasion. Regrettably Bill would not have been listening on 2 metres as the satellites work on full duplex and his listening frequency would have been on 435 MHz. The satellite in question did not have a downlink on two metres and to Bill's knowledge there were no other satellites that would have fulfilled the criteria in question. On Bill's side of the water there were lengthy discussions about this development as the path length was around 2,000 miles making it unlikely that the signal was propagated via Sporadic E or Meteor Scatter. The only other explanation was a high flying object of some description. A QSL card was also sent to Tony confirming the SWL report. This is obviously a first for an SWL report. Is it possible to make a direct two way transmission on 2 metres across the pond?
FINGAL RADIO CLUB NEWS
On Sunday the 2nd of October, Fingal Radio Club held its second Radio Rally of the year. Despite the bad weather, this event continues to draw the largest number of amateurs and SWL's from all parts of Ireland to this venue in Ballsbridge. Club members were present as early as 7:30 am on the Sunday morning to prepare and clean the ballroom after the previous night's cabaret. With an excellent turnout of traders and exhibitors, everybody was busy helping set up the stands and getting the equipment moved quickly into the hall and out of the clutches of the inclement weather. As the scene was set the doors opened at 11:30 am and a steady flow of punters flowed through the doors to make it the largest ever attendance at this venue. One of the striking features of this rally is that, despite the large number of punters and traders, there was considerable ease in moving around from stand to stand. Traders reported a busy afternoon as a wide range of equipment exchanged hands Congratulations to Terry Taffe, from Lucan Co. Dublin, who became the winner of the first prize in the grand draw. Fingal Radio Club would like to thank all who attended and supported this event and look forward to meeting everyone next spring. The Committee would like to thank all the club members who assisted all day long and contributed to the smooth running of the event.
FOXHUNT RESULTS
Fingal Radio Club held its second Foxhunt on Sunday the 25th of September near Swords, Co. Dublin. The Foxhunt got underway at 1:30pm as the participants sought out the three foxes - Eddie, EI6GU, Liam, EI3HK, and Harry EI9BW. The foxhunt finished at 4pm and prizes were presented to the winners at Bellewstown Racecourse. The following is a list of the winners.
- 1st Peter EI7GV
- 2nd Rod EI7DF & Hans (SWL)
- 3rd Denis EI4DZB & Ken (SWL)
- 4th Charlie EI2EM
TELFORD RALLY
At the recent Telford Rally, held on the 3rd of September, members of the Fingal Radio Club set up a club stand in which information about the club was readily available. This show, held in the Telford Exhibition Centre every year, is attended by amateurs from all parts of Europe. The stand was visited by amateurs from all parts of the UK, a UA, a W2 and a PE1 operator. Questions on all aspects of the hobby in EI were answered. This proved to be a successful trip for the club and the members are hoping to make a return trip to Telford next year.
Every Monday night, over the past few weeks, the Fingal Radio club and Cork Radio Club have been maintaining a sked on 80 metres. This sked, which begins at 21:30 local on 3.650 MHz is being used to give the B callsigns and SWL members, whilst under supervision, operating experience on the HF bands. The club HF station, which includes an Icom 735 tranceiver and a home-made G5RV antenna, will be used to maintain the sked over the winter months.
Members of Fingal Radio Club are reminded that the AGM is being held on the 24th of October and it is important that all attend.
ONCE AGAIN a special request from the Radio News Editor is made to all radio groups to send in regular reports of club activities. To date, it has been a pleasure to write the script but it is only possible with regular contributions of club information.
ITEMS FOR INCLUSION
Items for inclusion in the Radio News Bulletins should be addressed to Steve Wright, EI5DD, C/o Department of Pathology, Regional Hospital, Galway. FAX messages may be sent to EI5DD at 091-24216. All items included in the Radio News Bulletins will be passed on to Dave, EI4BZ, for inclusion in the monthly newsletter. Items for inclusion in the Printed News should be sent to Dave Moore, EI4BZ, at QTHR, phoned to 021-632444 during the day, or to 021-883555 in the evenings. Items may be sent by Packet Radio to EI4BZ at EI7DKB-5. Fax messages may be sent to 021-632730.
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