The Brendan Awards

In 1995 the Irish Radio Transmitters Society announced that they would award a pair of Challenge Trophies to the first amateur stations to establish two way communications across the Atlantic on the 144MHz band.

The Trophies, two inscribed cut glass vases, were kindly presented by Waterford Crystal and are known as the 'Brendan Trophies'.

Brendan the Navigator was a 5th century explorer whose exploits are well documented in early Irish and Scottish literature. Brendan and his monks certainly left Ireland and are known to have reached Iceland and probably Greenland, while some accounts mention a 'further place', possibly present-day Nova Scotia or Newfoundland.

As was announced earlier in the year, the committee of the Society decided to broaden the original challenge and to rebrand them as the Brendan Awards.

While the 'Brendan Trophies' will continue as the premier award, there will also be a pair of 'Brendan Shields' awarded for the first digital mode QSO and the 'Brendan Plate' will be awarded for the first verified reception of a trans Atlantic signal.

In addition, the 'Brendan Medal', a triennial Silver Medal, will be awarded to the group or individual who has contributed most to the promotion of propagation studies on the North Atlantic 2m path.

The Brendan Awards are designed to give new impetus to
the challenge of the Atlantic at VHF, to rekindle the spirit of experimentation which drove those early enthusiasts in the new science of radio, and to encourage dedicated expeditions, breathtaking antennas or serious propagation studies in an attempt to claim that elusive 'First across the Atlantic'.

A full set of the detailed rules is available on the IRTS website.