| EI 4 Meter Beacon frequency | ||||||
| Name | Call-sign | QRG | Information | PWR | Locator | |
| EI4RF | 70.130Mhz | 2x5 element yagi, 45/135 seq. | 25w | IO63WD | ||
On the first Tuesday of every month, there is a 4 meter activity evening. It commences from 20.00hrs onwards. Monitor frequency is 70.2625Mhz. All legal modes of emmisions are allowed as is vertical or horizontal antenna polarization.
The whole purpose of this activity is to promote the band, over the past year or so, quite a number of new operators have discovered the band. The main activity seems to be in small pockets, ie: Tipperary, Mayo, Dublin & Cork.
There is also activity directly after the Spring & Autumn legs of the 2 meters County Contests. This starts from 16.00hrs onwards.
I.R.T.S. 4 Meter Shield
Annually there is an IRTS shield for the operator who amasses the most points through out a calander year. This trophey was sponsored by John Corless (EI7IQ) to promote acitvity on the band. The rules are the same as for the I.R.T.S. 6 Meter Shield. The event is held between, 01/01/2004 - 31/12/2004 (Both dates inclusive), You simply multiply the Maidenhead locator squares x unique Qso's x DXCC countries worked. Over the past three years Dave (EI3IO) has won the shield.
Completed log should be sent to the I.R.T.S Contest Manager [email protected] before the end of January 2005.
A brief overview of 4 meters in EI
All Radio Experimenters operators in EI, both CEPT class 1 & 2 can apply for permission to operate on the 4 meter band. Experimenters have to make a seperate application for this band to ComReg (The EI Radio Regulation body) detailing proposed experiments, equipment, antenna's etc. Recently ComReg have decided to issue 4 meter permits on a 12 month basis only. At the end of 12 month period, the experimenter in question has to re-apply for permission to use the band.
In EI the allocation is 70.125Mhz - 70.450Mhz, all modes permitted except FSTV. Experimenters in EI originally got the above allocation in the early 1970's on a secondary basis only. Unlike most other bands where the O/P pwr is 100watts, on 4 meters its only 50 watts, fixed or /P. Mobile operation used to be permitted, but over the past few years all new licencees are NOT allowed to operate 4 meters mobile. There are no restrictions on antenna height or antenna polarization.
In EI, we mainly use the UK bandplan as they are our nearest neighbours, and most EI operation would be with UK based stations during contests etc. The UK has a slightly wider allocation, 70.000Mhz - 70.500Mhz.
So what's on 4 meters ?, well ..... A 4 meter activity evening is held on the first Tuesday of every month. Starting from 20.00hrs onwards, monitor frequency 70.2625Mhz. All legal modes A1A, A3E, F3E & J3E etc. Antenna polarization can be either vertical or horizontal. Those using FM tend to use vertical, those using AM or SSB tend to use horizontal. However this rule is not cast in bronze!. Talkback frequency on 2 meters is 145.225Mhz.
There are also 2 periods of activity held directly after the Spring & Autumn legs of the 2 meters Counties Contests. The same monitor frequency, all modes, vertical or horizontal polarization etc.
An anual 4 Meter VHF Shiled, This is run over a calander year, 01/01/2004 - 31/12/2004, both dates inclusive. The points are scored as follows: The number of DXCC countries worked x the number of Maidenhead locator squares worked x the number of unique qso's. The points total when all 3 are multiplied is your claimed score.
These above 2 events have generated more interest in the band which is very important as the commercial PMR (Private Mobile Radio) section are putting considerable pressure on ComReg for some of the Amateur Radio allocation on 70Mhz.
I think its safe to assume the reason 4 meter operation may not be as popular as some of the other VHF bands is due to the lack of, off the shelf rigs. Amateur radio manafacturers do not include this band in any of their rigs, exception to this rule is the Yaesu FT847 (Multimode) & the AKD4001 (FM only). The 6 meter band was in a similar state of affairs until the first HF/6 meter rig appeared, and thats the main reason why that particular band has reached the popularity it enjoys today. Will rig manafacturers ever decide to include 4 meters in the new combo rigs ???. To be fair to the manafacturers it would possibly be un-economical to do so until more administrations allocates a 70Mhz segment to their Amateur Radio operators.
In conclusion: It's a "Use it or loose it band". My only hope for the future is that we can hold the allocation we have, we are very lucky to have it, especially with the pressure from commercial interests. I hope this explains and answers any questions regarding the band. One can only hope that Italy, Poland and the other big administrations can get an allocation on 4 meters like the Faroe Islands & Denmark did recently. This would make its case stronger in Region 1.