RA Introduction to Icelandic Radio Amateurs

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ÍRA Introduction to Icelandic Radio Amateurs

• Introduction made at the NRAU meeting in
  Karlsborg, Sweden, 1012 October 2008

Halli Tordarson, TF3HP ÍRA Reserve Board Member
former ÍRA Chairman hartor_at_hi.is
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ÍRA From the Beginning

• ÍRA (Íslenskir radíóamatörar / Icelandic Radio
  Amateurs) was founded in 1946, the same year
  that Icelandic Post- and Telecommunications
  authorities had revoked the suspension of radio
  amateur activities.
• ÍRA is the Icelandic national association of
  radio amateurs, with an official role assisting
  the Post and Telecoms Administration (PTA) in
  matters relating to radio amateurs.

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ÍRA Current Board of Directors

• The 2008-2009 board of ÍRA comprises
• Hrafnkell Eiriksson, chairman TF3HR
• Gudmundur Sveinsson, vice chairman TF3SG
• Arsaell (Seli) Oskarsson, treasurer TF3AO
• Gudmundur Loeve, secretary TF3GL
• Sveinn Bragi Sveinsson, board member TF3SNN
• Jon Gunnar Hardarson, reserve member TF3PPN
• Haraldur (Halli) Tordarson, reserve member TF3HP

TF3HP
TF3HR
TF3GL
TF3AO
TF3SG
TF3SNN
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ÍRA Club Operations

• ÍRA rents its facilities from Reykjavik city
• Club meetings are held every Thursday evening at
  20.00 lectures on special topics are held once a
  month during the wintertime special activities
  are organized during the summertime.
• The club house is located at Skeljanes in
  Reykjavík position 64 07' 33" N and 21 56'
  58" W locator HP94AD.

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ÍRA Radio Activities

• Main organized activities are
• Icelandic Field Day (first weekend in August)
• International Lighthouse Weekend

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Website and Bulletin Board

• Brand new wiki-based web page at www.ira.is
• All ÍRA members can log in to edit all pages and
  add content
• A group of editors monitors overall structure and
  content guidelines
• Main features
• Personal space (i.e. website) for each member
• No web editing softwarerequired done
  straightin the browser
• Gentle learning-curve
• Full version control andback-track capability
• Very interactive andsuitable for working
  onjoint projects
• PHPBB bulletin board

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New Members

• ÍRA manages the radio amateur courses and
  conducts the examinations on behalf of the
  Icelandic Post and Telecoms Administration.
• The PTA is more and more trusting ÍRA to conduct
  the entire examination and validation process
• All teaching is volunteered from amongst ÍRA
  members
• The courses are organized over 15 weeks, 3 hours
  twice a week, typically with a lecture on
  Tuesdays and solving problems on Thursdays
• There is a separate exam for the radio theory and
  the regulations parts
• Study materials include various handouts, old
  exams and additional material from the ÍRA study
  materials website
• ÍRA have also videotaped the entire series of
  lectures, and made this available on our website
  as well
• New amateurs are encouraged to apply for a call
  sign, and are offered a one-year free ÍRA
  membership, although without voting rights
• There is increased use of the /Qx option to
  allow apprentices to get on the air this only
  needs to be reported to the PTA but not applied
  for

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Spectrum Usage

• The Icelandic PTA have been very forthcoming in
  granting Icelandic amateurs use of the
  frequencies that we have asked for, on par with
  the neighbouring countries

• On 60 metres, Icelandic amateurs currently have
  2nd access to the following spot frequencies
  (kHz)5280, 5290, 5332, 5348, 5368, 5373,
  5400, 5405.3 MHz maximum bandwidth, with 200 W
  maximum PEP, and permitted modulation CW or USB
• On 160 m, Icelandic amateurs can apply for access
  to the 18501900 kHz portion for contesting only,
  by special application to the PTA each time
• On 70 MHz, there is currently interest in
  acquiring similar rights as Scandinavian radio
  amateurs (activity managed by vice chairman
  Gudmundur Sveinsson TF3SG, dn_at_hive.is)

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Import of non CE-marked equipment

• Import of radio equipment that does not bear the
  CE mark is prohibited to the general public.
• Annex 1 of the EC directive on Radio
  Telecommunications Terminal Equipment makes an
  exemption for radio amateurs.
• The PTA were concerned that this might be misused
  to import non-CE equipment and resell it to the
  general public. Some misunderstanding of what
  rules applied in Iceland vs. European Union were
  also a part of it.
• The matter took well over a year to resolve,
  whereby amateurs can import non-CE marked
  equipment for amateur use but must sign a
  document with a gentlemans agreement that they
  will not resell it or misuse.
• This only applies to non CE-marked equipment that
  can be used outside the amateur radio spectrum
  (e.g. a Chinese VHF handheld radio that works
  from 130 MHz 174 MHz). Normal amateur equipment
  from the USA is no problem.

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QRM Issues

• Broadband over Power Lines (BoPL)
• BoPL was offered commercially by Reykjavik Energy
  in the early 2000s
• Technological hurdles and problems with the
  vendor resulted in the project being abandoned
• Recently, however, Iceland Telecom (Síminn) have
  commenced offering in-house Ethernet over Power
  Lines to connect Set Top Boxes for digital TV
• There have been no reports of interference
  because of this, but the exposure is still limited

(no, luckily its not this bad in TF land!)
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Emergency Communications

• Icelanders are fortunate enough to have a large
  corps of volunteer rescue associations,
  organized nationwide by ICE-SAR (www.icesar.com)
• ICE-SAR owns and operates an extensive VHF
  repeater infrastructure, and are currently moving
  into a TETRA-based nationwide communications
  system to be run in parallel with the VHF system
• Consequently, the role of Icelandic radio
  amateurs is not as great as it would be otherwise
• There is nonetheless interestamong Icelandic
  amateurs tosomehow make their mark inEmComm,
  but it is up to ourselves to define that role.
• Any ideas?

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ÍRA Introduction to Icelandic Radio Amateurs

• Introduction made at the NRAU meeting in
  Karlsborg, Sweden, 1012 October 2008

Halli Tordarson, TF3HP ÍRA Reserve Board Member
former ÍRA Chairman hartor_at_hi.is