World Amateur Radio Prefixes

Radio callsigns for the world are set by the ITU – the UN Agency which coordinates all radio activity.

The ITU allocates a block or blocks of prefixes to each country, and all callsigns must begin with the specified prefix.

This applies to all radio amateurs, aircraft, ships, broadcast, commercial stations etc.

This must be the most comprehensive list I've ever seen in my 18yrs as a Radio Ham.

Many thanks to Rod Dinkins, AC6V, for taking the time to put this together.

Ham Radio World Prefix List

UK Amateur Radio Call Signs

There are a large number of different prefixes used for UK, British amateur radio callsigns or call signs. From a knowledge of these ham radio call signs it is possible to learn something about the licencee - the type of amateur radio or ham radio licence held and also when it was issued.

As the types of ham radio licence available have changed over the years, and different call sign series were issued for each one, it may be difficult to identify what the callsigns mean without a table and explanation.

Current UK amateur radio licences.

Within the UK, there are three types of amateur radio licence that can be obtained, namely the Foundation Licence, Intermediate Licence and the Full Licence. Each of these ham radio licences offers different privileges in a form of incentive amateur radio licence scheme through which all new UK radio hams must progress to achieve the full licence.

The different ham radio licences reflect the experience of the operators, the Foundation Licence offering entry level privileges while the Full licence offers the highest power levels and the greatest number of bands.

Ham Calls in The UK

Brazil Hams Help Atlantic Search

The radio amateur Andrew Sampaio, PY0FF helps in search for Air Airbus 330-200, the company Air France, which disappeared after from Rio de Janeiro, on Sunday at 19h (21). According to him, the aircraft had lost contact with control towers and radar in Brazil, about 270 km from the coast.

Also according Andre, this distance is relatively short and lies within the range of reach of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). He said he lives in Fernando de Noronha (PE) and the time was good, with clear skies throughout the morning in the region.

Andre said that, shortly after the time that contact with the plane was stopped, messages were sent via amateur radio to vessels sailing the region. The amateur radio, the message information on the disappearance of the aircraft and the crew asked to be on the lookout for any sign of the aircraft. So far, according to Andre, no information was passed by boats.

Full Story and video:
http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Mundo/0,,MUL1177952-5602,00-RADIOAMADOR+DE+FERNANDO+DE+NORONHA
+AUXILIA+NAS+BUSCAS+PELO+VOO+AF.html

Brazilian Amateurs Assist Search

25 Years of Amateur Radio in Space

Astronaut Own Garriott, W5LFL, during STS-9 training with ham radio.
[Image courtesy of NASA]

Twenty-five years ago this week, Owen Garriott, W5LFL, made history by being the first Amateur Radio operator to talk to hams from space. His historic flight on STS-9 on board the Space Shuttle Columbia was launched on November 28 and landed on December 8, 1983.

Garriott's ham radio adventure on that mission ushered in a host of what Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, called "outstanding outreach activities that continue today with the ARISS program."


Radio Hams celebrate Space Station contact

Radio Hams Get Younger

Six-year-old Cameron Hasson's world just got a little larger.

The amateur radio license he recently earned puts him in touch with folks from all over.

He's a bona fide “ham” – probably the youngest in North Carolina and maybe the U.S., according to his instructor, Joe Hullender with the Gastonia Area Amateur Radio Club.

All that talk going on out in radio land – endless conversations about the weather and gas prices and whatever – Cameron takes it all in.

A Boy's Passport To The World of Amateur Radio

Chinese Olympic Special Event Stations Get Ready

Special Event stations for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will begin operating on Sunday, May 18 through September 17.

Five special calls, representing the five rings of the Olympic flag, will be on the air: BT1OB, BT1OJ, BT1OH, BT1OY and BT1ON. The last letter of the call sign corresponds to the color of each of the rings of the Olympic flag -- Beibei (Blue), Jingjing (Black), Huanhuan (Red), Yingying (Yellow) and Nini (Green).

Zheng Feng, BA4EG, will be the QSL manager for all stations. QSLs can be sent either direct or via the bureau and will begin to be answered in October.

Chinese Hams start before The Games

May Day, May Day, May Day........

Mystery, intrigue as well as misinformation surrounds the origin and use of maritime distress calls.

The general populace believes that "SOS" signifies "Save Our Ship." Casual students of radio history are aware that "CQD" preceded the use of "SOS." Why were these signals adopted? When were they used? Why did one replace the other? What is one likely to find by digging a little deeper?

The practical use of wireless telegraphy was made possible by Guglielmo Marconi in the closing years of the 19th century. Until then, ships at sea out of visual range were very much isolated from shore and other ships. A ship could vanish from the high seas, and no one would know until that vessel failed to make a port connection.

Marconi, seeing that wireless would not compete with wire telegraphy for land based communication, concentrated his efforts on ship to shore communications. Ships equipped with wireless were no longer isolated.

The first use of wireless in communicating the need for assistance came in March of 1899. The East Goodwin Lightship, marking the southeastern English coast, was rammed in a fog in the early morning hours by the SS R. F. Matthews. A distress call was transmitted to a shore station at South Foreland and help was dispatched.

CQ...SOS...CQD. CQ used by Hams

Welsh Amateur In Space?

Ken Eaton GW1FKY had always dreamed of one day flying in space, now, thanks to the Technical University of Delft, GW1FKY is orbiting the earth.

When the team building the Delfi-C3 satellite, attended the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium they made a very generous offer to help boost AMSAT-UK’s satellite building fund.

They decided to allow one Amateur's callsign to fly in space onboard their satellite. This chance to have your call sign fly on the satellite was auctioned at the Annual AMSAT-UK Dinner and there was fierce bidding to win this privilege.

Ken Eaton GW1FKY was the winner with a bid that will greatly boost the satellite building fund and his call sign was put into Delfi-C3 and has now been launched into Earth orbit.

Amateur Radio 'Around' The World

Hams Of All Ages Are Licenced

ANOTHER dozen people have gained examination qualifications as a result of the latest course run by the Scarborough Amateur Radio Training Group.

They ranged in age from school-age to the retired and the exam was for the UK intermediate transmitting licence. It was taken at Crossgates Community Centre, which is where the training group also holds its periodic training courses for the three grades of UK licence exam now on offer.

The training group – which is affiliated to Scarborough Amateur Radio Society – is to break new ground with its next course.Morse code has now largely disappeared from the airwaves, but amateur radio remains a last bastion of it – some hams still finding it useful, especially when communication conditions are poor. Morse can still get through when static defeats the human voice.

Scarborough Hams On The Air

New RSGB Qsl Bureau Sub-Manager

As from October 2007 there is a new Qsl Sub-Manager for the group of call-signs M1EAA - M1EZZ. That Sub-Manager is myself. The following message has been sent out to as many in that Group as possible:

"My name is Chris, G7NRO. I've been licensed since 1992, and former RLO (Regional Liaison Officer) for the RSGB for Cleveland until its demise in 1996.

The Bureau address is:

RSGB QSL Bureau
PO Box 5
Halifax
HX1 9JR
England

Any Radio Ham can use the incoming mail facility at The QSL Bureau. So if you know of anyone in the M1E Group who DX-es or just chats around the UK or mainland Europe who thinks they may have had cards sent to them, ask them to get in touch.

I am an avid DX-er myself, a member of the WAB, WAI and IOTA Groups, and a collector of SOTA locations.

Finally, although I have been involved with The RSGB before, I have never been a QSL Manager. So if I drop a clanger, get it wrong, apologies now. Let me know, though, and it will be right next time around.

Thanks for reading this. I look forward to hearing from you and getting cards away ASAP.
73, de Chris, G7NRO."