Amateur Radio in Ireland

 Page Contents :

1. Some Facts
2. Types of Licence
3. Licence Statistics
4. Visitor Information




1. Some Facts :

A. At present, there are about 1,700 amateur radio licences in EI.

B. There are no regional call areas like in Italy, USA, Sweden, etc.

C. The "EJ" prefix is reserved for stations on offshore islands. For example, if I were to operate from one of the Irish offshore islands, I would just change my call from EI7GL to EJ7GL.

D. The national society for Radio Amateurs in Ireland is the Irish Radio Transmitters Society



2. Types of Licence :

There are 2 types of licence, Class A and Class B.

Class A calls can use the HF and the VHF bands. There are usually just 2 letters in the suffix of the callsign. Example = EI7GL.
Between about 1930 and about 1960, all EI calls issued had only one letter in the suffix. ie. From EI2A up to EI9Z.
In the 1960's, EI2AA to EI9ZZ was issued.
In the late 1960's to the mid 1970's, EI2BA to EI9BZ was issued.
In the mid 1970's to the late 1970's, EI0CA to EI9CZ was issued.
During the late 1970's and early 1980's, the boom in CB radio at that time resulted in a large influx into amateur radio.
Between the late 1970's and the mid 1980's, EI0DA to EI9DZ, EI1EA to EI9EZ and EI2FA to EI9FZ was issued.
Between the mid 1980's and about 1990, EI2GA to EI9GZ. (My call, EI7GL, was issued in Oct 1986).
Between about 1990 and 1995, EI2HA to EI9HZ was issued.
Between 1995 and 2000, EI2IA and EI9IZ was issued.
The present Class A callsigns being issued are in the range EI2JA to EI9JZ.

Class B calls can only be use the VHF bands. They have 3 letters in the suffix. Example = EI3EBB. The last letter in the Class B callsign is always "B". The first Class B callsigns were issued sometime around 1980 (EI2AAB to EI9AZB). At present, the range EI2FAB to EI9FZB is being issued.

Note that some of the dates above are approximate. If you have more accurate info, please let me know by sending an e-mail to me. My address is listed on the main index page of this website.



3. Licence Statistics:

County Licences % of Total
Dublin48930.9%
Cork24615.6%
Donegal966.1%
Galway784.9%
Limerick664.2%
Wicklow593.7%
Louth573.6%
Meath563.5%
Waterford543.4%
Kildare473.0%
Kerry382.4%
Tipperary382.4%
Mayo362.3%
Clare352.2%
Westmeath301.9%
Wexford251.6%
Kilkenny241.5%
Sligo211.3%
Roscommon181.1%
Carlow130.8%
Cavan120.8%
Monaghan110.7%
Longford100.6%
Laois70.4%
Leitrim70.4%
Offaly70.4%

Info from the Year 2000 IRTS Handbook


4. Visitor Information:

If you are visiting Ireland and you would like to operate here, then check the following links :

http://www.irts.ie/odtr.htm     and    http://www.irts.ie/cept.htm

Please note that you will need to apply for special permission to operate on 50 MHz (6 Metres), 70 MHz (4 Metres) and the microwave bands. These bands are NOT covered by the CEPT licence. Follow the links above for more information.

Back to the main index page

The URL of this page is http://www.qsl.net/ei7gl/licence.htm Last Modified : 20th May 2001