This recently appeared on the ARRL website:
FCC Dismisses Radio Amateur’s Petition to Revise Call Sign Rules
The FCC has dismissed a rule making petition filed last May by Thomas J. Alessi, K1TA, of Stamford, Connecticut, that sought to amend the Part 97 rules regarding Amateur Radio Service call signs. The Commission action came in a November 28 letter from Scot Stone, Deputy Chief of the FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Mobility Division. Alessi had asked the FCC to make call signs consisting of one letter, followed by two digits, followed by one letter (1 ×× 1 format) available to Amateur Extra Class licensees. Alessi asserted that the number of Amateur Extra Class licensees who desire short call signs exceeds the available supply of 1 × 2 and 2 × 1 call signs, and that his plan would make available an additional 7,800 four-character call signs.
“Approximately fifteen million call signs are presently available in the sequential call sign system, but it does not include every amateur call sign that has been allocated to the United States,” Stone wrote in denying Alessi’s petition. He also pointed out that the FCC had rejected a similar suggestion in 2010 that would have made certain additional call signs, including 1 ×× 1 call signs, available to Amateur Extra Class licensees, but concluded at the time that enough call signs already were available for every Amateur Radio licensee to obtain an acceptable call sign. In addition, the FCC said in 2010 that it had no plans to revisit the issue.
“You have not demonstrated any changed circumstances or other reason that would warrant revisiting this decision,” Stone’s letter concluded.
This amused me because it’s another example of how amateur radio operators seem so concerned about the meta-aspects of amateur radio. If it’s not the dumbing down of the tests, then it’s an obsession with short call signs.
I actually find our call sign system amusing. It’s a real mishmash, and unless someone’s an Extra—and has a callsign that’s been reserved for Extra Class licensees—you can’t tell what class someone is from his or her callsign.
What I would like to see is more variety in special event callsigns. 1x1s are OK, but i’d like the FCC to allow up 2xxxx4 callsigns. So, for example, to celebrate the University of Michigan’s 200th anniversary, the radio club should be able to get and use W200UM.
Maybe I’ll have a go at writing a petition. I’m sure that it would be amusing as well as educational. What do you guys think? Should we be allowed more special event callsign combinations? Will you support my petition?
Joshua | DC7IA | KK4RVI says
Short call signs are great to have, of course.
But why does a call sign have to indicate the license class?
Austria does not have call signs, which indicate the class and there are many countries which don’t do this.
Iceland, as an example, currently plans to end call sign discrimination: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2017/november/iceland-plans-to-end-ham-radio-call-sign-discrimination.htm
BTW: I have got Extra Class, but I don’t have a short call sign simply because I don’t need it.
The_Oracle says
Different people have differing priorities, which is the answer to your question “why do call signs have to indicate the license class?”
When I was first licensed, the licensing system was structured such that not only could we tell what class license it was, but also what part of the US the operator lived in. Some of us still find such a system useful – one didn’t have to go to a computer to look all that up – in fact, in those days, we didn’t even HAVE computers to do that with. And guess what? The system worked fine.
Now, most call signs contain no useful information at all, and I don’t consider that progress.
Chuck K4RGN says
I’m an Extra but I’m happy with my 1×3, which reflects my novice call in 1970. The only 1×2 I’d chase is dropping the last character from my 1×3. I’ve never gotten used to 2×1’s and 2×2’s, and I don’t care for any further permutations.
Rob W4ZNG says
I kind of like your idea of extra-long numbers to commemorate dates and anniversaries. Beyond that, it’s all pretty silly. And yeah, that especially includes my fairly new 1×3.
Don Keith says
Dan, I’d absolutely support your petition! Special event stations are a way to get exposure for the hobby to the general public as well as call attention to the event on the air. Being better able to reflect the nature of the event in a limited-time call sign would help to do both.
Also, as someone who has used the current 1X1 special event call signs before, I can verify that it can get to be a problem when someone else chooses the same one from the very limited universe of possibilities. I soon start getting QSLs for that operation and I’m sure the other guys do for mine, too. Your plan would create an almost infinite number of variations, yet still immediately show on the air that the operation was a special event.
Should the FCC actually do as you ask, we might also ask QRZ.com to handle these call signs differently than they do the current ones to minimize confusion. I could scarf up N9N and keep the QRZ page locked up forever if I wanted to. I happily relinquished that one after a year and a half when another op politely requested that I do so. Frankly, I had forgotten about it until I got that request since I had not gotten a QSL request for months.
It’s all fun.
73,
Don N4KC
http://www.n4kc.com http://www.donkeith.com
Sterling, N0SSC says
I’m a fan of long form special event callsigns, like GB17YOTA. I wish we could update ours to match that so we don’t have to rely on 1×1’s that just keep getting recycled, and have callsigns that have a meaning.
We’ve had a few long form special event calls in the US, but only ones backed by the ARRL (I think). What gives?
Dan KB6NU says
Wow….An old guy and a millennial actually agree on something!
Todd KD0TLS says
Petitions have an extremely lousy track record of success.
I think that you’ve noted this previously.
WRT “light” callsigns, I’m sceptical of their value in the current context. The idea of giving an Extra a shorter callsign is valuable primarily for CW. There’s little advantage in this for SSB or digital modes, and digital modes such as FT8 seem to get more use than CW.
I suppose I should note that CW is still used, to avoid several responses imagining that saying “FT8 gets more use than CW” *really means* that “CW has been abandoned”. Certainly, Extra Class does not necessarily translate to an increased propensity to use CW.
I’d agree that callsigns should be Class-agnostic. I’m unaware of any premium being placed for DX contacts made with higher-Class stations, but this same goal could be accomplished by working the exclusive Extra Class frequencies. And if such a premium existed, it would be an incentive to upgrade. The reality is, however, that most Extras make the vast majority of their contacts *outside* of their exclusive domain.
Steve C - KE8HXM says
I’m a new amateur operator, and I will support your petition. The federal government regulatory agencies, (and for that matter all levels of government), all seem to have a proclivity to complicate things beyond rationality. It is my opinion that these agencies and their hierarchy have a real love of power and will impose their imperial dictates at will without regard for the difficulties or preferences of the regulated. I’m a pretty conservative guy, but rules for rules sake only that only serve the purpose of demonstrating control are an annoying habit of bureaucrats, not to mention an aggravation of the people subject to those rules, and that I think we could all live without.
I am in favor of imposing rules in cases where it promotes order and preserves good will between the citizens involved in regulated activities, like amateur radio, but when you have to ask permission to do something seemingly as harmless selecting call signs of their own choosing – within limitations like it has to be unique, and must not be profane. Other than that, why should anyone – including FCC bureaucrats – care what you want to have for your call sign?
Perhaps it is my inexperience in this area, but sometimes rules seem arbitrary and only serve the rule makers with little or no other reason. The whole idea of this country was that the rulers only rule with the consent of the ruled. What happened to that idea? Of course there are good reasons for regulations and rules and I don’t dispute that – many times the reasons for them are readily apparent, but sometimes the regulations exist to justify certain people’s jobs. I certainly hope that this is not the case with call signs and the FCC’s rules, but that isn’t how it looks to me. What reasonable purpose beyond organizing the system so there are not multiple persons holding the same call sign? It makes perfect sense to me that each level of license has a specific format indicative of the specific class of license, but that isn’t really the way FCC regulations are set up.
73
tom AJ4UQ says
The only “long” call I’ve seen in the US was W100AW, which as Sterling noted, was ARRL’s. I’d support long calls for special event stations, but I don’t think I’d make a heroic effort. And would these calls be temporary, like 1x1s, or permanent/ten-year assignments?
My 2×2 is one of the last extra-only sequentials in 4-land, and I have no interest in a vanity call. I largely work digital modes so it doesn’t really matter how long it is, but I run into some tongue-twisters on the repeaters.