           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
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   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.
