Help wanted for IRTS VHF/UHF management team...

The Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) is the national association for radio amateurs in Ireland. They had this news item on the 12th of May 2024...

"The IRTS is currently looking for a person or perhaps a team of people to form a VHF/UHF management team. This team will look after all things VHF/UHF. Ideally people who do a lot of VHF/UHF radio work and know what's happening around the world in VHF/UHF would be ideal but not necessary. Anyone interested is asked to please contact IRTS Secretary, Owen EI4GGB at irts_secretary AT irts DOTie"

Amateur radio exams in Ireland to recommence on the 11th of Sept 2021

From the IRTS...

The IRTS Examination Board is pleased to advise that the next HAREC examination will be held in the Maldron Hotel, Tallaght, Dublin 24 on Saturday 11th September.  There will be two examinations held on that date, a morning sitting commencing 10.30am and an afternoon sitting commencing 2pm.  Each sitting will be two hours duration.

The fee for the examination is €50 and there is a concessionary rate of €25.  Full details can be found on the IRTS Website. Closing date for receipt of applications is Sunday 29th August.

All details are subject to Covid regulations in force on the published date of the examination.

7th August 2021

Exam website... https://www.irts.ie/exam

New National Shortwave Listeners Club in Ireland

A new National Shortwave Listeners Club has been established in Ireland to help those interested in going for their amateur radio licence.

The Irish Radio Transmitter Society (IRTS) is the national society representing radio amateurs in Ireland and they are currently running very successful online courses which have generated a lot of interest.

The IRTS carried this news item last Sunday the 11th of April 2021..

National Shortwave Listeners Club.

The inaugural weekly meeting of the newly formed National Shortwave Listeners Club was held on the Zoom platform last Sunday evening and attracted 60 attendees. Online classes continue on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings with over 100 students hoping to get licensed in the coming months. Club meetings are held on the Zoom platform every Sunday evening at 2000. Information about the new club is available on swl.ie.

There are currently about 2000 EI callsigns so having an additional 100 waiting to take the exam is very encouraging.

Like many other countries, the old model of holding physical exam classes is largely broken. By having classes online, most of the costs like room rental, insurance, printouts and traveling expenses disappear and the catchment area also changes from say a large city to the size of a country.

It's probably something that should have happened 20 years ago but the widespread acceptance of platforms like ZOOM now make it more feasible.

For more information on the new National Shortwave Listeners Club, go to https://swl.ie/

IRTS membership jumps 7.4% in 2020

The Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) is the national society for radio amateurs in Ireland and in the year 2020, they recorded an impressive 7.4% growth in membership. The IRTS membership numbers from the years 2000 to 2020 are shown above and as can be seen, the society is now just short of 1000 members.

The current surge in membership is attributed in no small part to the new IRTS initiative in holding free online training courses for IRTS members for the amateur radio examination. This has resulted in a large number of people joining the society and hopefully after lot of them pass the HAREC examination in the months ahead, we'll see plenty of new EI callsigns on the bands. 

The new IRTS online training courses are a welcome development and are long overdue. The old format of holding physical classes in one location with a very limited catchment area just wasn't working.

Applications are still being accepted for the next HAREC on-line course starting on March 30th 2021. The course will run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for 8 weeks. The course is free for IRTS members and intending members and the closing date for applications is March 20th. Send expressions of interest to harectraining /at/ gmail.com.

The IRTS website can be found at https://www.irts.ie/

Video: IRTS Contests and Licence Exams in EI ...by EI7GY

 

The Mid-Ulster Amateur Radio Club are holding a series of lectures online and their most recent one was from Joe, EI7GY.

While the full video is 1 hour 44 minutes long, it can be broken down as follows...

00 to 04 mins - Introduction

04 to 34 mins - EI7GY talks about the IRTS contests and how they are organised

34 to 49 mins - Q&A session on the contest presentation

49 to 68 mins - EI7GY talks about the licence situation in Ireland (EI) and how the exams for the licence are held. There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes that many people won't be aware of

68 to 104 mins - Q&A on the exam presentation. Other items like 5 MHz operation and how to reach out to more people are also discussed.

Winter 2019 - 2020 edition of ECHO IRELAND now available

The Winter 2019/2020 edition of ECHO IRELAND is now available for IRTS members to download in PDF format. Any member wishing to change from the print version to the electronic PDF format should contact the Membership Records Officer... www.irts.ie/officers

IARU adopt IRTS band plans for 40 MHz and 60 MHz

In April of 2018, the Irish regulator Comreg gave Irish radio amateurs access to most of the low VHF spectrum from 30 to 49 MHz.

In May of 2018, the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) published a provisional draft for two bands at 40 MHz and 60 MHz.

In July of 2018 after a period of consultation, the IRTS published a formal band plan for the new bands.

In February of 2019, the IRTS announced that they would be presenting a paper proposing that the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU - Region 1) adopt the new 40 MHz and 60 MHz bands.

On the 5th of May 2019, the IARU published the minutes of the meeting in April. See newsletter HERE.

With respect to the new 8-metre and 5-metre bands, it says the following...

5.3 40 MHz / 60 MHz (C5_02):

Background:
• IRTS (Ireland) has now access to those two bands.
• There are also beacons in other countries

 Proposal:
• Incorporate the proposed 40 MHz and 60 MHz Bandplan in the VHF Handbook

Recommendation: 
VIE19_C5_Rec_05: To add the 40 MHz and the 60 MHz Bandplan in the VHF Handbook in a separate dedicated section.
17 in favour, 1 Abstention (RSGB)

While it is a small step, it does give the new 40 MHz and 60 MHz bands formal status within the IARU. It will hopefully raise the awareness of the bands with other national societies who may well in turn try to get small allocations.

1978 Television coverage of an Irish amateur radio special event station

In 1978, Irish radio amateurs set up a special event station using the callsign EI0MFT in Clifden, Co.Galway to commemorate the first two way radio message across the Atlantic back in 1903.

"To mark this historic event, members of the Irish Radio Transmitters Society are operating a special amateur radio station from Clifden in County Galway over a two day period.

Clifden was considered an appropriate place to hold the celebration as it was the site for an early Marconi station, operational from 1907 to 1922. Marconi himself chose Clifden as the site for a radio station because, among other things, it gave the shortest wireless link with the Marconi station at Glace Bay on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada."

The Irish National Broadcaster RTE now have a short video from their archives up on their website.

It can be seen at this link... https://www.rte.ie/archives/2018/0108/931738-celebrating-marconi-achievement/

IRTS release updated band plans for 40 MHz and 60 MHz...

Back in April of 2018, the Irish Radio Transmiters Society (IRTS) announced that Irish radio amateurs had gain access to a huge swathe of the VHF spectrum from 30 to 70 MHz.

In May, they released a proposed band plan with an invitation for comments.

Based on the feedback received, the IRTS have further refined the band plan and it can be seen HERE

While the band plan covers quiet a lot of spectrum, the IRTS considers the key areas to be 40-42 MHz for the 8-metre band and 58-60 MHz for the 5-metre band.

From the document....."IRTS considers that the band most likely to be transverted to an IF of 28 – 30 MHz might be 40 – 42 MHz." ... "Similarly to 40 MHz the band most likely to be transverted to an IF of 28 – 30 MHz is considered to be 58 – 60 MHz."

They are inviting comments before the end of July 2018.

Links...
1) New proposed band plan (v6) ...link may break in time
2) Copy of new proposed band plan (V6)
3) My 40 MHz page where I keep some information

IRTS release proposed band plans for 40MHz and 60MHz

The Irish Radio Transmitters Society have just released their proposed band plans for the new VHF bands around 40 and 60 MHz. The following item was in the IRTS news on Sunday the 20th of May 2018....

*****

Spectrum News
Following a spectrum award by ComReg the entire 4m band (69.9 - 70.5 MHz) is now available to Irish licensees.

At the last IRTS Committee Meeting a sub-committee was convened to develop band plans and propagation beacons for additional spectrum included in the spectrum award.

IRTS is now consulting amateur licensees on two band plans covering 40 - 44 MHz and 54 - 69.9 MHz. More details including draft band plans can be downloaded from the IRTS website, www.irts.ie/downloads

Please send any comments as soon as possible to “newspectrum /at/ irts /dot/ ie” to arrive not later than 30th June 2018.

*****

At present, there is a Danish beacon on 40 MHz while the UK one is non-operational. Slovenia has an allocation for a beacon band at 40 MHz but have no beacon on this band. South Africa is the only country outside of Ireland to have a allocation for users at 40 MHz.

There is currently no active beacon on 60 MHz as the UK one is non-operational.

A copy of the proposed band plan is shown below...

Presentation on the DMR network in Ireland... by EI7IG & EI8JA

At the recent AGM of the Irish Radio Transmitters Society, John Ronan EI7IG and John McCarthy EI8JA made a presentation on the current state of the DMR digital radio network in Ireland and its brief history to date.

The slide show can be seen HERE. Use the Up & Down arrows to change the page and the Left & Right arrows to change the chapter.

Irish radio amateurs gain access to huge swathes of the VHF spectrum

The Irish Radio Transmitters Society announced today in their weekly news that Irish radio amateurs are to gain access to a huge part of the low band VHF spectrum.

EI stations will now have access to 30 to 49 MHz...all 19 MHz!!! The spectrum from 54 to 69.9 MHz has also been allocated... another 16 MHz! All of this is on a secondary basis and a 50 watt power limit.

Over the years, it's usual for the IRTS to lobby the licensing authority to get access to a small band here and there but not on this scale. I'm still assuming it isn't a mistake as the information on the Comreg website has been verified in the IRTS news. It may well be possible that it may in time become more defined as two distinct bands in the 40 MHz and 60 MHz region but for now, you can see the allocation as per the Comreg website shown above.

IRTS News...
Additional Frequencies
In December 2015 ComReg published a Draft Radio spectrum Management Strategy 2016-2018. The Society responded with a comprehensive submission to this draft and a summary of this was published in the March 2016 edition of Echo Ireland.

In June 2016 ComReg published its final Radio Spectrum Management Strategy 2016-2018 and indicated its intention to grant some additional spectrum to the amateur service. This has now been done and is in line with some of the requests made in the Society’s submission.

The 70 MHz band has been extended to 69.9 MHz to 70.5 MHz. This is an increase of 275kHz over the existing band of 70.125 to 70.450 MHz and is the full band that may be allocated to the amateur service under the European Common Allocations table.

Further spectrum covering all modes including digimodes has been granted on a secondary basis at 30 to 49 MHz and 54 to 69.9 MHz. The latter band also includes digital television in addition to all other modes. These new frequency bands are listed among the bands available generally to radio amateurs in Annex 1 of a recently revised version of the Amateur Station Licence Guidelines document ComReg 09/45 R4 which is available on the ComReg website.

The new bands in the 40 MHz and 60 MHz regions will, among other things, facilitate modern type beacons in the region of these frequencies as well as moving the existing 70MHz beacon on 70.130 MHz to the section of the band designated for beacons.

IRTS will be producing a local band plans for these two bands in consultation with countries that have allocations at these frequencies and IARU.

The Society would like to express its appreciation to ComReg for the release of this extensive spectrum to the amateur service on a secondary basis.

Source : IRTS News - 29th April 2018

Subsequent news item from the Royal Society of Great Britain (RSGB)..."In a landmark step, the Irish regulator Comreg has agreed to amateur access, on a secondary basis, to an extensive amount of VHF spectrum including 30-49MHz and 54-69.9MHz. In addition, their existing 4m band has been widened to the full 69.9-70.5 MHz CEPT range. It is expected that this will facilitate a number of innovative developments, including digital amateur television and new or realigned VHF propagation beacons. The RSGB congratulates its IRTS colleagues on their success, which dates back to a 2016 consultation input."

IRTS Membership Stats...End of Dec 2017

In the most recent newsletter from the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS), they stated that there was 927 members in the society at the end of 2017. I had a look at the previous membership levels and I put together this chart...

As the chart shows, there was four years of decline from 2009 to 2013 but it has leveled out since then. While the chart may look pretty dramatic, the range from the highest to lowest point is in the region of 8.5% so it's not huge. In the last decade (2008 to 2017), the IRTS membership has declined by 5.8%.

Another interesting stat from the newsletter is that there was 1729 EI call signs at the end of 2017. Back at the end of the year 2000, it was 1726...almost identical. I suspect that a lot of people would have expected the number of EI call signs to have dropped since the start of the new millennium but that doesn't seem to be the case.

One worrying aspect is that the number of EI calls that are members of the IRTS is dropping. The chart below shows that 44.9% of all EI callsigns are members of the IRTS as of the end of 2017.

Considering that the IRTS membership has dropped since the year 2000 and the number of licences is largely the same, the overall percentage of EI calls who are members must have dropped.

As it says on the IRTS website..."IRTS is the national society for radio amateurs and experimenters in Ireland.  Its purpose is to promote the study of radio communications, to encourage radio experimentation and to provide services to its members."

It would be nice if more people with licences supported what is an organisation run by volunteers on behalf of its member. €30 per annum is a very modest fee.

Links...
1) IRTS website

Results of the IRTS 80m Evening Counties Contest...Feb 2017

The IRTS 80 Metres Evening Counties contest was held on Tuesday the 21st of February. It was only one hour long and ran from 8pm to 9pm (20:00-21:00 UTC).

The results have just been published....click HERE

A total of 35 station logs were submitted which accounted for 781 QSOs.

I stayed on cw for the duration of the contest and this was my result...

Results:  80 Metres Evening Counties Contest, 21st February 2017
Total Score calculation: Entrant in EI/GI
Total Valid QSOs: 16
CW QSOs with EI/GI stations: 10*8=80
CW QSOs with stations outside EI/GI: 6*2=12
QSO Points: 92, Multipliers: 6
Total Score: 552

Out of the 32 counties in Ireland, 11 were not in anyone's log...
Missing Counties (11)... CARLOW, CAVAN, GALWAY, LEITRIM, LIMERICK, LONGFORD, OFFALY, ROSCOMMON, SLIGO, TYRONE, WICKLOW

Some are small counties and might be expected to be missing. But Galway and Limerick???

Results of the 2017 IRTS 80m Counties Contest on New Year's Day

The annual IRTS 80 metre contest was held on the 1st of January 2017 and the full results are now available HERE

The chart above shows how the number of entries have changed over the years. While they are down on the initial years, they have  increased since 2014. It's good to see that the entries for the SSB/CW section have reached an all time high and now make up roughly half of all entries.

Old IRTS Newsletters now available...

The Irish Radio Transmitters Society is the national body representing radio amateurs in Ireland and they produce several newsletters for members throughout the year. While the newsletter isn't in the same league as say Radcom or QST, it is in many ways more relevant locally as it relates to Irish issues.

The IRTS have now put up an archive of old newsletters from 1988 to 2000 on their website.

Just go to their website... http://www.irts.ie/ ... and look for the Publications Library.

Members of the IRTS also have access to all the IRTS newsletters from 2001 to the most current one as well. Taken together, the newsletters represent almost 30 years of the history of amateur radio in Ireland from the late 1980's.

The quality of the IRTS newsletter has changed greatly over the years. Before the late 80's, it was little more than some copies of typed text. With the advent of proper desk top publishing software, it improved hugely in the 90's before colour was finally introduced in mid 2008.

As of the end of 2016, some 27% of IRTS members opt for the PDF version which is available from the IRTS website. This does of course mean that fewer physical copies must be printed and posted out which results in a saving for the Society.

For me, I just prefer the digital version as it means I don't have a physical copy that I need to store or dispose of. I can also zoom in on diagrams and photos on the PDF document allowing me to see things in more detail, something which is of course impossible in the printed version.

I just upload the PDF version to my own private online Google Drive account where they are all available for easy access. This is a screenshot from that site...

Looking at the annual financial statements for the IRTS, roughly half of the Society's annual expenditure is spent on the publishing and posting of the newsletters to members. In an age of high speed broadband and smart phones, perhaps more IRTS members should consider opting for the electronic PDF version?

It seems to me an obvious way to help the IRTS to reduce its costs and help maintain the current membership fee.

UK Radio Spectrum Review Shows Increased Noise on VHF Bands

Ofcom is the organisation that is responsible for radio regulation in the UK and they have just released a document for a review of the UHF spectrum from 410 to 470 MHz. While most of the report covers the UHF spectrum as expected, they do make a reference to the increase noise levels on the lower VHF bands.

In the chart below, 'Band 1' covers 55 to 68 MHz while 'VHF Low' covers 68 to 87.5 MHz.

In the past, the assumed noise floor for radios was -116dBm and the planned coverage area of a radio system was -104dBm, i.e. 12 dB over the noise floor.

What Ofcom have found is that the actual noise floor is currently 12dB higher than previously thought. As a result, the planned service signal level must now be -92dBm.

This higher noise level is likely due to a variety of sources. Just think of the extra electrical power lines, increased use of switch mode power supplies in electrical equipment and the vast multitude of computer and IT systems. Taken all together, they result in a large increase in electrical noise especially in urban areas.

What this means for amateur radio is that bands like 4 metres (70 MHz) and 6 metres (50 MHz) are likely to be much noisier than they used to be in the past. Higher VHF and UHF bands are not effected as badly. It's likely that the extra noise levels also extend down to the higher HF frequencies like 14 to 28 MHz as well.

This higher noise floor as announced by Ofcom is in contrast to what was said by Comreg, the Irish licensing authority. In response to a submission by the Irish Radio Transmitters Society, they said the following in a report published in mid-2016....

2:17 ComReg notes that no evidence was provided by the IRTS to support its assertion that the noise floor is increasing and, further, ComReg observes that its monitoring activities do not indicate a significant increase in the noise floor on the whole;

Perhaps the noise levels in the Ofcom report are based on the very large urban areas in the UK but it's hard to imagine that the noise levels haven't increased substantially in the various Irish cities and towns in the last 20 years.

Links...
1) Ofcom Strategic Reeview of UHF Band 1 and 2 410 to 470 MHz
2) Comreg Radio Spectrum Management Strategy 2016 to 2018

Getting back on the radio after 4 years

Four years....Yes, four long years since I posted anything on this blog let alone turn on the radio.

It's hard to exactly why I was off the air for so long but the main reason is that there are so many other things happening. In a world of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TV and all the other stuff, there seems to be less time for things like radio. I guess the biggest single reason is that I just got out of the habit of turning on the radio and using it.

In the last two weeks, I had to do some paperwork for something else and this get me to sort out all my Comreg and IRTS paperwork and notices. That single act alone got me thinking about the radio again.

On the Comreg front, I managed to find my PIN number and I was glad to see that I still had a licence when I logged onto their site! :o)) I wasn't sure if it had lapsed or not but the renewal is still a few years off.

With the IRTS, I rejoin every year but I'm always late. It was always a case of rejoining...looking back through a years worth of newsletters online...and then forgetting about it again. Looking back through the newsletters this time, one thing that struck me was the number of people who had passed away.

Antennas.......On the antenna front, the four years have taken their toll. I no longer have any external antennas as they have been damaged in various storms and I've taken them down. The only antennas I have are the two in the attic of the house....a 2 element beam for 50 MHz and a vertical half-wave for 144 MHz. The next step will probably be to get a vertical up again for 28 MHz.

Long distance Sporadic-E on 144 MHz...

This is something I meant to post a while back but never got around to it unil now.

Back on the 3rd of July, there was some excellent Sporadic-E propogation over Europe with some very impressive distances. One of those contacts was between Tom, EI4DQ (IO51wu) and SV9CVY (KM25ka) on the island of Crete, a distance of about 3,213 kms. Anyone that knows about Sporadic-E will know that the usual maximum distance for 1 hop is around 2,300 kms so the above distance is unusual. (On the map above, 2300 kms would be roughly from EI4DQ to roughly the heel of Italy).

Now, there are probably 3 possible explanations for this type of contact...

1) Double hop Sporadic-E as shown above...using clouds #2 and #3

2) Chordal hop where the Sporadic-E clouds may be slightly tilted and the signal goes from cloud to cloud rather than bouncing off the ground in the middle.......i.e. the signal goes directly from cloud #2 to cloud #3.

3) There was an extension at either end or both ends due to tropospheric propogation.

Considering that the MUF does not reach as high as 144 MHz that often, it's remarkable that it should happen in 2 spots at once. Hence, that's why these type of contacts are pretty rare.

Now for a bit of fun ;o)......what happens if we take that 3,213 km contact and plot it from EI4DQ's location in the opposite direction...

In fact, if EI4DQ managed to get a signal to travel that far to the west, it would end up in Newfoundland! To date, no-one has managed to make a contact accross the Atlantic on 144 MHz and it remains the 'holy grail' of VHF propogation. In fact, the IRTS have a special trophy called the Brendan Trophies for the first 2 stations to achieve this special contact.

Now, there's a big difference between the path from EI to SV9 compared to the path from EI to VO (Newfoundland). For one thing, EI to VO is a lot further North and Newfoundland is a lot closer to the magnetic North pole, all factors which seem to reduce the chances of there being suitable Sporadic-E.

It does however raise the question of whether it is possible? Europe to North America direct on 144 MHz.......can it be done???

IRTS 80 Metres Counties Contest...1st Jan 2009

This was my first time trying out this contest as I had been off the air for the first 3 (2006-2008). I repaired my HF doublet antenna on the 31st of Dec so that I would be ready for the contest on the 1st. I had no real intention in taking part in the contest as such, more just to get on and give away a few points.

My contest...

The contest started at 14:00 and lasted until 17:00.

14:00 to 15:00...I spent the first hour on CW calling CQ Test, worked 19 stations and gave away a few points.

15:00....Time for coffee!! ;o) I spent about 15 minutes listening around. Going from CW to SSB was like changing to a completely different band. On CW, there was hardly any contest activity at this stage. Just some G and European staions in qso mode. On SSB, the contest segment was hopping and all of the EI stations seemed very busy.

15:15 to 16:00....Back on CW calling CQ Test. Worked just 6 stations in 45 minutes with most of my CQ calls going unanswered. By 16:00, the CW part of the contest was well and truely over.

16:00....More coffee!! This CW is thirsty work ;o) The SSB section was still hopping at this stage. I was half thinking about calling it a day but seeing as how busy the band was, I decided to give away a few more points. Time to get the microphone out of the drawer ;o)

16:15 to 16:48...Tuned up and down the SSB part of the band giving away a few points.

16:48 to 17:00...Found a clear frequency and called CQ Contest so that anyone tuning around the band would find me. Worked about 16 stations in the last 12 minutes.

Totals......61 contacts, 25 on CW and 36 on SSB. 18 counties worked.

Overall Impression and thoughts.....

1) An excellent contest. 3 hours is just the right lenght, 80 metres is the right band and it was great to see so many EI stations on the band.

2) Good to see that the IRTS have not introduced that 'Sprint'/ 'QSY' rule like they did for the 2 metre counties contest.

3) After the first hour, the CW section of the contest was more or less over. If anyone is going to try CW, then the first hour is the time to be on that mode.

4) It seems a pity that for those in the Mixed contest, CW contacts only have the same value as SSB. If someone was going to try and win the mixed section, there would be a case for just working 2 to 3 CW contacts and then spend the rest of the contest on SSB to maximize the points. Perhaps if CW contacts had double or triple value, it might make things more interesting. i.e. Do you stay on CW with a lower qso rate but higher value points or do you try SSB with a higher qso rate but lower value points.

5) Looking at the results for the last 3 years, these were the entries...

Section......2006........2007.........2008

SSB............29..............45.............47

Mixed........11...............20............7

It will be interesting to see what the entries for 2009 will be like. Listening to the serial numbers given in the contest, I'm guessing that the SSB numbers will be up while the Mixed entries will be low again.

So overall, a good fun event. I might try and make a serious effort at it next year.