Silent Key's Call is No Op--Why?

[K0FK]

I'm not sure how to ask this question exactly.

The older brother of my best friend in the world was WA8DBJ, and his call is kind of a no-op when I search for it. It has no status at all, and I wonder how this happens. Why doesn't this call at least show up as an available one? WA8DBJ is unfortunately an sk many years back. I just wonder why his call doesn't show up as available, or as any thing else.

[W0LPQ]

No idea ... but you might visit AE7Q's site and ask Dean...

http://www.ae7q.net/

[WB4FDT]

I suspect the answer is that the silent key's callsign is a 2x3 non-preferred callsign. The FCC doesn't publish lists of non-preferred calls available, since there are several hundred thousand of them. Besides, if no one currently has the call, its available for one to request if they qualify. WB4FDT