Courtesy of ARRL Letter Vol. 26 No. 46 (Nov 16, 2007)
Irish Amateurs Now Able to Apply for Permission to Operate on 5 MHz: Four 3 kHz channels at 5 MHz are being granted to Irish amateurs, according to the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS), Ireland's IARU Member-Society. These frequencies are centered on 5.280, 5.290, 5.400 and 5.405 MHz (the suppressed-carrier frequency for USB is 1.5 kHz lower). This follows extensive contacts with the military authorities
and with the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg -- Ireland's equivalent of the FCC) by the IRTS. The facility will be available for an initial trial period of a year and individual application is required. The power allowed will be 23 dBW (200 W) to an antenna with not more than 0 dBd gain (e.g. a dipole). Some or all of these channels are also in use in the UK, Iceland, Finland, Norway,
Canada and the US. Some administrative details remain to be attended to by ComReg but it is anticipated that the first variations of licenses could be issued at the end of November or early December. The IRTS stresses that individuals must apply to operate at these 5 MHz frequencies. Permission for a 5 MHz beacon has been granted; a call sign and frequency are in the works.
