Irish Islands

Ding ding. We have another winner…. :man_shrugging:t2:

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In the Irish licence guide and the Irish licence regulations are what you follow if you have an EI call or are operating under CEPT TR61/01 in EI.

Amateur Station Licence Guidelines

Amateur Station Licence Guidelines

Posted:29th May 2023

Reference Number:0945 R6

4.2 ‘EI’ call-signs are used for Amateur Stations located on Ireland’s mainland while ‘EJ’ call-
signs are used for Amateur Stations located on any of the islands. The call-sign format for
each licence type is described further below.

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That information states it was posted 29th May 2023? Does that mean it was only just published, therefore all logs uploaded upto that date will be fine :slight_smile:

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Ben some of us have been licenced for a long time unlike your good self. We have known EJ is the prefix used on the islands of EI because it is a huge DX magnet. It was always good to see how big the pileups would be because someone was going to Rathlin and would EJxxxx. It’s been like this for the last 33 years I know of.

The document was update the other day but it’s been EJ for a long time. The oldest version I can see is from 2018 and guess what… The section on EJ is still the same.

I look forward to the acknowledgement of their error over this from all the people with English as their first language telling me, Jimmy and Ed we were wrong. I’ll find some remedial English reading and comprehension websites for them to work through :rofl:

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Hi Andy,

If ‘EJ’ is to be used, please could SOTA MT consider changing the association to reflect that, so the offshore islands fall under ‘EJ’ or maybe ‘EI/EJ-xxx’ as is the case with ‘GM/SI-xxx’, or ‘GU/GU-xxx’?

It would make it clear to folk then that if they are planning to activate as EI/xxxxx they should re-consider using EJ/xxxxx. It would make it easier for activators who perhaps are not adept at studying the rules, or for those that have issues with accessibility, reading, etc. The easier the scheme can make it for people to comply with any rules (be that ComReg, SOTA, CEPT), the better, I would suggest.

Thanks & 73, Simon.

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It’s not a bad idea. ISTR the EI summits were split into their associations because we used an existing list of summits (with permission) because the list was split this way. The list of summits wasn’t concerned with ham prefixes so it didn’t split off the islands. It’s similar to when people find there are 2 or 3 GM summits on islands that are in GM/SS not GM/SI, that was how they were categorised in the original Marilyn listings.

And no, I wont be making work finding and deleting summits with the incorrect CEPT prefix etc. though technically an incorrect callsign would make the radio operation illegal under various country’s laws. But the threat has hopefully made people just stop and think. It’s very easy to miss rules even if you do bother to check. Even someone as perfect as me ( :rofl: ) has been known to say MM0 when it should be MW0 or worse sign as HB/M0FMF/P when in Switzerland instead of HB9/M0FMF/P as the Swiss SOTA prefix is HB.

Using the wrong prefix doesn’t stop the Earth’s rotation or increase pestilence and world pain. But it’s nice to be as correct as possible. I’m off to HB9, F and DL in a few weeks… you watch me make a total mess of my call now.

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Thanks Andy @MM0FMF - you kept me entertained while being in a boring meeting :rofl: Simon has a good point.

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We also have an overly sarcastic SOTA lead who can’t read the room.

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Out of order Andy. It’s because I can read and comprehend that I am seeing only that EJ can be used from the islands, and nothing explicit that EJ always must be used from the islands. Additionally there is no accompanying definition as to what constitutes an island. We know that things like bridges and tidal causeways etc exist, so these things need to be defined objectively and unambiguously - as we know from running SOTA.

Furthermore it’s because I can read and comprehend that I am aware of an official document that advises visitors to use EI/homecall without accompanying reference to the island situation.

So fine - have a difference of opinion - but please, don’t insult those that have another (valid and explained) interpretation by implying that we’re thick or illiterate.

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Just to clarify the island Rathlin (located off the North Coast of GI) which doesn’t have a SOTA on it, is part of the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom and doesn’t fall under the Comm Reg requirements of having EJ allocated to amateur callsigns transmitting from it afaik. The usual rules for call signs under Ofcom would apply for Rathlin.

Many thanks.

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Somewhat off topic, but browsing the Comreg site I noticed that for a selection of designated contests the power limit is temporarily raised from 400W to 1500W !

Rick

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You are right Ian. Rathlin has been in my mind the last few weeks as a possible contesting location. Not IOTA as there will be a gazillion people wanting to operate from there but some other HF contests. It was probably Inishmore I was actually thinking off.

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The summit references on the islands are EI, not EJ. No records should be deleted when the SOTA administrators are such “big criminals”. This can be compared with Svalbard where all summits are JW, not the norwegian LA. From LA6FTA (JW6FTA during visit to Svalbard).

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Yes indeed Andy, I suspected it was perhaps one of the other EJ/EI Islands that you had in mind.
Rathlin is indeed a beautiful spot for using as a contest base. We have been over to do the IOTA events, also the Worked All Britain squares as well as activating the Lights, WWFF and some other award schemes.

We actually hit it lucky with our trip to Arranmore this week, so much to do here and see as well.

It’s been a great break for Esther and myself and we have further plans for several more of the EJ Islands over the summer :crossed_fingers::pray:

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Keep it simple and have FUN!

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Having lived and worked for ten years in Eire, I’d suggest the authorities aren’t going to loose any sleep over the matter.

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FYI, When I contacted COMREG about using QO-100 they would do it as a special event at 30€ per location so to activate all the EI grids would cost a few 100s of €. So we have not gone to Ireland ! So it is a few French summits for QO-100 where we currenty are at the moment.

30€ per summit would be eye watering numbers of €. Plus all the form filling.

73 de

Andrew F/G4VFL/P

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Can you not operate via QO-100 using a CEPT format EI/G4VFL/P call? Trying to find the rules on this but drawing a blank so far.

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The uplink frequencies are not part of the standard licence. An individual application must be submitted to use any of the additional bands … which are for special events or for temporary experimental purposes.

See https://www.comreg.ie/media/2023/05/ComReg-0945R6.pdf

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So - thinking about a possible EI/EJ trip in future, I contacted Comreg for their interpretation
I received a prompt response, not sure if it really helps :slight_smile:

I am considering a visit to ROI soon and a question has arisen in relation to the use of the EJ prefix on offshore islands. I have some questions :

1 - is this prefix compulsory or optional ?
2 - Does it also apply to visitors under CEPT arrangements ?
3 - Are islands connected by road (example Acaill) included ?


Thank you for your query below.

If you will be operating exclusively on-shore then the EI prefix is applicable.
If however you will be operating exclusively off-shore i.e. the islands, then the EJ prefix should be used.
For both, then EI would be the recommended prefix.

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