Amateur radio club highlights work of lifeboats
MEMBERS of Dundalk Amateur Radio Society organised a special event week to highlight the work of the RNLI lifeboat at Clogherhead and raised n250 for the crucial rescue service in the process.
The society, based at Castletown Road, ran the station beside the lifeboat station in Clogherhead from where they spent nine days making contacts all across the globe to raise awareness of the RNLI.
It was part of the 'SOS Radio Week' celebrations where amateur radio stations in different parts of Ireland and the UK set up special stations to raise funds for the lifeboat institute.
The Clogherhead event was manned by various volunteers of the Dundalk radio club, which has members all across County Louth and beyond.
"We were delighted with the success of our special event station in Clogherhead," said Thos Caffrey, Dundalk Amateur Radio Society Chairman. "It was an opportunity to highlight the crucial work of the lifeboat service while also raising some money for them."
"We worked 1,300 contacts during the nine days we were on air. While a lot of the contacts were European, we also made a lot of so-called 'DX' (long distance) contacts into the United States and Canada and even further afield," the chairman told the Dundalk Democrat.
"One of our members, Anthony Murphy, even made a contact into Australia on the Saturday afternoon. He had a nice conversation with another amateur radio operator in Perth, so we can truly say that the RNLI's great work was highlighted across the globe."
It's been a busy year for the Dundalk Amateur Radio Society, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009. And 2010 will be an equally busy year, according to Mr Caffrey.
"We have the Annual General Meeting of the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) taking place in the Fairways Hotel Dundalk on April 25th, which is a big event for us. In conjunction with that there will also be a radio rally on the same day," he explained.
"It will be a great weekend for radio enthusiasts and for the general public. As well as all the usual radio equipment traders, we will have a bring 'n' buy, a raffle, and stands by CTI and Astronomy Ireland," he said.
There will be a lot of attractions so it will be a great family day out. These attractions include De Lorean sports cars, the Coast Guard, the Fire Brigade, the Veteran Car Club, AREN (Amateur Radio Emergency Network), Dundalk FM and there will also be a display of communications by the Irish Army.
Dundalk Amateur Radio Society meets on the first Wednesday of the month at Marconi House, Castletown Road. For more information and for photos and videos from the RNLI event station, visit their website at www.ei7dar.com.
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Sunday 05 February 2012
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