My 15 minutes of fame

I received a call last Wednesday from one of NCRG sponsors indicating that they had been contacted by Newstalk, the national radio station. Newstalk had seen Blackrock Castle's advertisement of an NCRG event at their location and requested an interview on amateur radio by a member of the Group the following day.

I contacted the producer on the details he left, and after a phone call outlining what ham radio was, he asked me if I would attend at their studio on Opera Lane in Cork (which can be seen from the street through a glass window) on Thursday, 14th February (Valentines Day) to conduct the interview with none other than Sean Moncrieff (tv and radio presenter).

I have to say I was totes brickin it, with my stomach churning as the time grew closer, and I felt like I had a million butterflies floating around in there.

Right before I went on air (broadcast style) I discovered it was a live show which made it even more petrifying. I met Sean and had a brief chat before the beginning of the interview and then it was full steam ahead.

Those 12-15 minutes felt like a life time, and I tried to deal with the questions as best I could, although I did get a bit flustered what with my head reeling a 100 miles a minute with the information I wanted to include, dealing with the interview direction and just nerves in general but on listening back, I found it sounded okay.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see the SEARG lads had take the time to email in to the show to wish NCRG well (thx Sean), as well as all the nice messages received from everyone on Facebook.

All in all it was a good experience (after the fact) and I felt it created an awareness of the hobby for anyone who didn't know it was there. And you know what they say, all publicity is good publicity even if it is literally only 15 mins of fame

Ciao for now

Lisa EI9GSB

QSL cards

Couldn't believe it the other day when I came home from work and had received a major bundle of QSL cards in the post, which I have to say I was surprised at considering I had returned a number of them in September after our annual radio rally.

Some of the cards dated back to 2010, even some to the very first day I used my license on the 30th October 2010!

I was delighted to see the variations of Dxcc's worked, especially 2 lovely cards from amateurs in Japan.

I physically went through the log and confirmed the dates etc and set out returning cards to these operators who took the time to send cards to me. After about and hour & half, I was done and never so happy to see the end of the pile.

But they have all now been completed and will be winging their way to their new owners, I'm sure the bureau outgoing manager will be delighted with me !! ..... Once I sort them properly that is, ugh lol