Church broadcasts hit amateur radio band

Last week we carried an item telling you that the Irish Radio Transmitters Society had been notified by the national coordinator for the IARU Intruder Watch for the German National Society DARC, that transmissions of church services, which seem to be coming from Ireland, have been taking place in the 28 MHz amateur band.

WAV files have been provided of such transmissions on 28.105 MHz FM. It has now been established that a Church broadcast is being transmitted on 28.105 MHz FM in the Dublin area. Some further work is required to identify the Church concerned. Mass is transmitted at 0900, 1000 and 1100 local on Sundays and at 1000 on weekdays.

The IRTS asks stations in the greater Dublin area to listen on this frequency at these times to see if the location can be
positively identified. The local Church notices can be of assistance here. If you cannot identify the station and you have a beam antenna you could take a bearing on the peak signal, which in conjunction with similar bearings taken by other stations could help identify the general area from which the transmission originates.

Stations located outside Dublin should listen on the lower end of the 28 MHz band generally to see if any unauthorised activity is taking place in the band in their areas.

If you hear anything worth reporting you should send a report to Thos Caffrey EI2JD the IRTS Intruder Watch coordinator at QTHR or to “thoscaffrey at hotmail dot com” with a copy to Sean Nolan EI7CD at QTHR or to ei7cd at “gofree dot indigo dot ie”.

The report should include date, time, frequency, possible
location of station if identified, beam heading in degrees from true north and other relevant information. If the station is identified from an announcement of local events, details should be given. Should you hear anything, no action should be taken other than forwarding a report as requested.

It is in our own interests to identify any unauthorised activity so as to preserve the exclusive nature of the
28 MHz allocation. The matter has already been reported
to ComReg who will act on the matter if we can provide
appropriate information.

Source: IRTS