Main Hobby Radio Categories

1. Broadcast long Distance Reception (DXing) Regular radio stations, but listener is well outside official coverage area. Can be TV or Radio and LW, MW, VHF or UHF.
2. Short Wave Listening Not so popular as many Foreign English speaking stations are available on a Motorised Satellite Dish. Some SW services have cut back or closed for this reason. SW or HF Broadcasting is moving from Analogue AM to Digital (DRM).
3. Scanners Basically VHF/UHF AM/FM analogue receivers that can scan or "hunt" for any transmission. 110MHz to 137MHz is AM (Aircraft/Airports). Some have gaps in coverage. Some don't receive regular VHF-FM Radio (87Mhz to 108MHz). Often 25MHz to 1300MHz is covered. Deliberately listening to Official Services, especially repeating what is heard is Criminal. Garda and other official services are changing to Secured Digital Radio (Tetra).
4. Motorised Dish with Blind Search
5. A specialised Satellite receiver is used with a 1.1m to 4.8m dish. The receiver as a minimum needs "Blind Search", the ability to find stations without knowing any settings. Also useful is DVB-S2 and 4.2.2 Mode encoding. C-Band reception may need special receiver features and typically a 3.7m mesh dish. Larger dishes need an Elevation motor, also an elevation motor is required for older satellites no longer used DTH as the inclination is too large.
6. PMR446 0.5W built in aerial 8 channel FM Walkie Talkies. Licence Free. It's illegal to use one without a CE mark, add or modify aerial or power or electronics. US FRS (Family Radio) are similar but illegal as they are on the wrong channels. Icom Digital PMR446 are not legal in Ireland, these have poorer range than FM in any case due using same obsolete AMBE codec as D-Star and poor modulation scheme with low power. There is marginal difference between a €29.95 pair from Lidl, Argos or Maplin and a so called "professional" version at €230 each.
7. CB 4w SSB/FM and 1W AM. on designated Comreg/ETSI channels. UK or USA models may be illegal. Must have a CE mark. Any non-Directional aerial may be added. Increasing power or Modifications is illegal. Also called 27MHz and 11m Licence Free.
8. Community Radio Similar to CB, but on 1 licensed channel (annual fee) for Transmit, only live content (i.e. Local sports Match or Church Service). The one out of 80 channels you can choose are basically in the space of the old UK 40 channel FM CB band just below 28MHz.
9. iTrip / personal FM Transmitters Local in house or in Car VHF/FM transmission at very low power in Stereo to a regular Radio. Must have CE mark and may not be boosted or connected to an Aerial. Licence Free
10. Video Senders, Digisenders These use FM analogue Video and two separate FM audio subcarriers on 2.4GHz WiFi band. They suffer badly from WiFi and disrupt WiFi. Only the 2.4Ghz version with CE mark is legal in Ireland. The 5.8Ghz version is illegal here because as well as WiFi, registered Licence Free Wireless Broadband uses this band.
11. Short Range Devices Only legal with a CE mark. They can be in 27MHz, 49MHz, 433MHz, 864MHz or 2.4MHz bands. Include Wireless keyboards/Mice, Radio Control Models, Weather Station (433MHz), Toy Walkie Talkies (49MHz), Key lock fobs, Door Open devices, BlueTooth, Wireless Microphones, Headphones. US gadgets are mostly illegal as they of
12. WiFi Must be CE approved. 2.4Ghz and/or 5.8Ghz bands. Licence Free
13. Marine Radio VHF-FM and HF SSB versions need different licences and approved equipment.
14. Aeronautical Radio VHF-AM and HF SSB need different licences and approved equipment.
15. Amateur Radio / Wireless Experimentation Covers from 0.137MHz to 22GHz in different bands and occasionally channels. Power from 1W (0dBW) ERP to 800W RF to aerial of any gain depending on band. Any kind of Aerials allowed. Any kind of equipment, Commercial, Amateur, Marine, Aeronautical, Military or HomeBrew as long as Emissions and Transmissions meet Licence Conditions and you have the Equipment to verify this. Requires passing an Exam (not hard), €100 once off fee lifetime Licence. Additional "outside-of-licence" experiments/modes etc may be permitted at €30 per item per year. With Licence, TV, Voice(Radio) or Data can be transmitted.
16. Freebanding, Widebanding, Pirates Not illegal to listen to, but Transmission is illegal. May be heard on 5Mhz to 6Mhz Marine/Aeronautical HF band, 26MHz (12m) near CB, 146MHz to 148MHz, 450 to 470MHz and 1.4Ghz, 28MHz, 27MHz and even VHF-FM band II (87..108MHz) This is a criminal Activity. There are many creative uses of the Licence Free equipment. Getting an Amateur licence isn't difficult. Discussion of illegal activity is banned.