Islands on the Air. ( Stub )
This year a group from SDR will be going to Inisheer ( Inis Óirr) , the smallest of the Aran islands.
IslandsOnTheAir2007
We had the use of the school again this year.
IslandsOnTheAir2006
Our annual pilgrimage to Inish Oir took place again this year for the IOTA Contest at the end of July. We go not to pray, but to offer sacrifices to the Gods of the Sea to grant us (and our equipment) a safe journey across the treacherous waters and to the Gods of Propagation to aid our search for multipliers!
Seriously though, a group of eighteen hardy souls set off for Inish Oir (EU-006) on the Wednesday and Thursday before the contest weekend carrying the bulk of the equipment and antennas. The group was made up of a majority of South Dublin Radio Club members and four stalwarts from GI land and our “secret weapons” Brendan EI0CZ and Gerry G0RTN.
On the outward journey to the Island Kyle EI2JO arrived on the quayside only to find that the ferry had already sailed. What to do? Pray to the Gods? Which Gods? Believe it or not the ferry developed engine trouble and was forced to return to port! We never found out which God Kyle had invoked!
Everything went to plan otherwise and at 12.00 UTC on Saturday the little classroom in the Island’s schoolhouse burst into a frenzy of activity- strange words and sounds for such a place of erudition.
Conditions overall were not great so it was decided to run with CW as much as possible. This is where Brendan and Gerry shone maintaining good rates and long hours and ably assisted by Nicky EI9JF and Dave EI3IO. On their shift the SSB crew of Mark EI6JK, Jim EI4HH, Dave GI8SKN and Kyle EI2JO scoured the bands for points and multipliers. Dan LY3MM paid a flying visit and operated for as long as he could giving the operators a welcome rest. Meanwhile “Rear Admiral” Davy GI3OBO regaled us with jokes and good humoured banter that kept everybody’s spirits up.
Special thanks must go again this year to Alan GI0PCU who does a tremendous job every year on the antennas (especially when one of the verticals snapped in the high winds this year) and to Dan EI9FHB for the huge effort he puts into the computer network and logging software setup. He was woken up several times through out the night to sort out problems!
All our efforts would have been in vain without the help of all the other members of the team (Tony EI7JN, Jim EI8JR, Tony EI6JT, Paul EI2GSB, Mike EI3DY and Billy GI???) who put their shoulders to the wheel especially Tom EI7HT who co-ordinated the antenna erection.
Despite relatively poor conditions we managed to exceed last year’s score by a substantial margin. Thanks to all the team who made the contest so enjoyable and successful. The Gods were with us after all!
. de EI4HH