Club Lectures: 2018

Club Lectures and Activities in 2018

December

As a mark of respect to the passing of Helen XYL of Harry EI2KL, the December meeting was not held.

November

Mike, EI3KO gave a very interesting and informative talk on the Ballybunion Wireless Station 1913 - 1925. Universal Radio Syndicate established the station. During WW1 the station played an active part in intercepting signals from German U-boats.

October

A reminder that the Tountinna 2m repeater EI2TAG is off the air since Monday evening 29th October 2018. It will remain off until further notice. In the meantime the LRC IRTS News will be read on the LRC 70 cms repeater EI7WHR, located on Woodcock Hill IO52PR. The repeater input frequency is 434.725 MHz and the output frequency is 433.125 MHz.

There was a good attendance of LRC members for the first meeting after the summer break. Unfortunately the speaker for the night was unable to attend so the talk was postponed to a later date. In any case there were plenty of updates and issues to be discussed to fill the evening.

The club activated the EI100MCV call sign from Shannon AirAdventure Centre on Saturday 13th October. Bands 20, 30 and 40 metres yielded a total of 161 QSOs on CW and SSB. Thanks to Harry EI2KL, Brendan EI0CZ, Mike EI2IX Michael EI3KO, Simon EI7ALB and SWL Alan who helped set up and operate the station. Not forgetting Jane of Shannon AirAdventure who continuously plied them with refreshments.

A date for your diary is Sunday March 10th 2019, when LRC will hold it's annual Rally in the Radisson Blu Hotel on the Ennis Road.

September

The information evening on a preparatory course on Amateur Radio was held at Limerick College of Further Education on Wednesday September 5th from 7:30pm. Despite a lot of effort by LRC members, only one person who is already a SWL member, showed interest. Thanks to Harry EI2KL, Brendan EI0CZ, Michael EI2IX, Ivars EI4KP and Simon EI7ALB who brought HF and VHF equipment and antenna to demo Amateur Radio to the public.

August

Dates and times for Loop Head set up will begin on Friday 17th August from 14:00 and take down about 16:00 on Sunday 19th August. As usual two stations will be operating - one from the observation room and the other from the base of the lighthouse. While the club will be providing an ICOM 756PRO and a Kenwood TS940, anyone wishing to bring their own rig and/or antenna are more than welcome to do so. It is an opportunity to contrast and compare rigs and antennas as well as picking up some hints and tips from the 'elder lemons.'

Limerick College of Further Education will be running a course HL050 on Introduction to Amateur Radio Technology/Transmitters. It is billed as a taster course to be run over 8 weeks on Tuesdays from 7:00 to 9:00pm. See www.lcfe.ie.

An information evening will be held at the college on Wednesday September 5th from 7:30pm. Members of the Limerick Radio Club will be in attendance.

The logs for LRC’s IL&LW at Loop Head have been combined and the statistics produced by Liam EI7DSB. They are impressive when compared to the past three years and given that the two antennae used were a full size G5RV and a multiband dipole.

The grand total was 804 QSO with the CW QSO total at 428 across 17, 20, 30, 40 and 80 metre bands. While the total of SSB contacts was 376 on the 20 and 40 metre bands.

The country total was 50, ranging from Japan to the USA, with Germany well ahead on CW followed by European Russian, and then Poland, France and Spain with fairly equal QSOs, SSB contacts were mainly to England followed by Germany, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

July

Plans were completed for LRC's participation in the 2018 International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend from Loop Head. Preparation requires a lot of coordination between LRC, Clare County Council, Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL), NUIG and of course issuance of a licence from ComReg.

NUIG run a wave height monitoring station at Loop Head, which transmits just below 14.000 MHz and because of proximity, the Wave Height transmissions swamp the 20 metre amateur band. CIL kindly arranged for the unit to be switched off for the duration of the IL&LW.

This will be LRC's 8th year at Loop Head and it has been one of the highlights of the Club's yearly activities, with up to 14 club members participating at various times over the weekend. Set up will begin on Friday 17th August from 14:00 and take down about 16:00 on Sunday 19th August. As usual two stations will be operating one from the observation room and the other from the base of the lighthouse.

Preparations are also well in hand to provide a HAREC course beginning in September. It is expected that the course will be run in the Limerick College of Further Education. Details of dates, times and fees will issue, as we get closer to the start date.

May

The final LRC Meeting, before the summer break, was held in the Limerick Institute of Technology on Thursday the 10th May at 7:30 PM. Club activities for the summer months will be outlined.

The May talk, by Simon EI7ALB, will be on EME. Please note that the final session of the CW instruction will be transmitted on the LRC 2 metre repeater on Monday 7th May immediately following the IRTS news. Thanks to Harry EI2KL, Brendan EI0CZ and Tom EI5CA for their commitment and patience and for generating renewed interest in CW over the last 6 months.

April

Outgoing IRTS President Gerry Gervin EI8CC addressed the April club meeting. The April talk was given by Michael EI3KO on the World War 1 'Y' or Wireless Intercept Service.

Quote:

At the start of WWI the Admiralty were ill prepared for the use of wireless in the war. They had only one monitoring station. Within a few weeks they had acquired 44 stations for interception. Amateur stations were shut down but a small band of amateurs were allowed to continue.

During WWI the Admiralty has 8 wireless stations in Ireland. The control centre was established in Room 40 in the Admiralty building in London. Room 40 decoded the Zimmermann telegram, which brought America into the war. The direction-finding stations played a key role.

The Wild Atlantic Way Trophies and Certificates are ready to be presented at IRTS AGM next weekend, the 14/15 of April in Galway. Since the WAW initiative came from members of LRC, which represented EI66WAW and EI77WAW, the Club has taken the decision to absent Club members from the Top Operator awards and the Club from the Top Club awards. The IRTS has made available all of the income, derived from the WAW initiative, for the purchase of the Trophies and Certificates. In no particular order the three Top Operators are: Gerard Scannel, Jim Barry, Seamus Campbell.

Again in no particular order the three Top Clubs are: Donegal, Kerry, Cork. The order of merit for each award, indicating the number of QSOs, will be announced at the AGM. Each of the WAW participating counties will receive a framed certificate indicating the number of QSOs achieved.

Brendan EI0CZ, Harry EI2KL and Tom EI5CA continue with Morse Practice, on the Limerick 2 metre repeater after the IRTS News at 20:00 on Mondays, and at 20:00 on Tuesdays. As Tom/EI5CA heads south for the summer, the LRC weekly Morse Code Practice sessions will be reduced to Monday evenings only, with effect from next Monday 9th April. Brendan/EI0CZ and Harry/EI2KL will do alternative Mondays. It is planned to end the current series on 7th May.

LRC wishes to thank all who attended our Rally last Sunday 25th March, including Traders, Bring & Buy other club stalls and LRC club members, who helped make it a success. There were some nice raffle prizes on offer including 60 minutes on a Boeing 737 Simulator, donated by Atlantic AirAdventure, Shannon along with two tickets to the IRTS AGM Dinner (donated by LRC) and also items of equipment.

March

At the March club meeting preparations were discussed and a strategy agreed for the LRC Rally on the 25th March. John Power SWL gave a very interesting insight into the use of the Marconi Salvita Marine Emergency Transmitter. Cousins of John, who had possession of the Salvita for a number of years, have donated it to the Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire.

The 2018 LRC Rally was another success with the attendance similar to last year. There were some nice raffle prizes on offer including 60 minutes on a Boeing 737 Simulator, which was donated by Atlantic Air Adventures.

February

There was a good turnout for the Limerick Radio Club AGM which was held on the Thursday 9th February. Simon EI7ALB and Alan EI8EM did not go forward for re-election. Tom EI3​AL and John EI5HDB ended their terms as Trustees. Gerry EI8CC will replace John and Simon EI7ALB will take Tom's place while Dermot EI2GT continues his tenure.

The following were elected to the various club Committee positions:

  • Chairman: Harry O'Loughlin EI2KL
  • Hon. Secretary: Michael Kirwan EI3KO
  • Hon. Treasurer: Tony Condon E12AW
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  • Committee Members:
  • Michael Kingston EI2IX
  • Liam Mangan EI4GB
  • Liam Rainford EI7DSB
  • Albert Price EI5HXB
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  • Trustees:
  • Dermot Gleeson EI2GT
  • Gerry Gervin EI8CC
  • Simon Kenny EI7ALB
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  • QSL Manager:
  • Albert Price EI5HXB