The International Repeater Group held its annual general meeting in Doaktown on Sunday, April 27.  In addition to discussing repeater updates, regular nets and other items, election was held for officers.

The IRG Weather Net held its last daily net for the 2021-2022 season on Friday, April 11.  Since November 4,  observers contributed an estimated 23,000 items of data to help Environment Canada, N.B. River Watch, and other agencies in their forecasting. 

Friends of Murry Brown (VE9MB) are saddened by his recent passing on March 2, 2025. 

Murry was instrumental in his role at Radio Branch of the N.B. Department of Transportation (now RadComm at NB-DTI) in working with the IRG to establish the linked radio system now used by radio amateurs.  

The annual SMART (Symposium for Maritime Amateur Radio Technology) is scheduled for Saturday May 10th, 2025 at the Dr. Carson & Marion Murray Community Centre in Springhill NS.

There will be 10 classes beginning at 9am. Lunch will be served from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. Door prizes will be awarded to those who register before the event. Grand Prizes and 50/50 tickets will be sold throughout the day and all the prizes will take place after the last classes are out at 4pm.

Hey, weather watchers! Dust off those snow boards, metre sticks and thermometers, because the IRG Weather Net will start for the 2024-2025 season on Monday, November 4, 2024 and run every morning at 7:30 a.m. Atlantic Time. Net control will be shared by Rick VE9MTB and Scott VE1CSA. They will gather your local observations and send them off to Environment and Climate Change Canada. ECCC uses the reports to fine tune their predictions and issue alerts in severe weather conditions. The reports are also used by other agencies such as River Watch and news media.

New network diagrams are available with all new repeaters and zones indicated, available at the “Network” tab.  Members can access the same map, but including current linking codes on the “Linking” tab which only appears when logged-in.

Effective July 12, changes to IRG repeater Zones have been made as part of the upgrade of equipment.  Significant changes include:

When hurricanes or tropical storms threaten, the Hurricane Watch Net activates on 14.325 MHz and 7.268 MHz, and will use either or both of these frequencies as propagation allows.

If conditions require, a CANWARN Net may be activated on all or part of the IRG system.  Be sure to listen to and follow the instructions of the net control station in giving any reports - report only what is asked --and remember the important ABC's: Accuracy, Brevity & Clarity.

With the Doaktown VE1XI repeater being the final one updated, all IRG repeaters are now tone-enabled.  Users are required to program a sub-audible tone with their transmission to activate a repeater.  For more information, see our Revamp page.

All  IRG VHF repeaters use a CTCSS (or PL tone) of 151.4 Hz, while IRG UHF repeaters use 141.3 Hz.  You can check the complete updated repeater listing by clicking on the “Revamp” tab at the top of any page.