DXCC Prefixes should be Honored!

[AL7GA]

I had an all too familiar experience during the WPX. "AL7GA 5/9 165. And, you are in Alaska, right. You guys move around a lot."

On a recent review of FCC issued calls, over 25% of those which SHOULD be in Alaska are in the lower 48, including club calls. This is just wrong! And these are just the honest ones who keep FCC informed or who do not get bogus KL7 addresses to get a callsign.

#1 - FCC should require that a US call with a DXCC prefix be relinquished upon relocation AND identified as /W? until changed.

#2 - An honest Ham would do it anyway, since it is the right thing to do.

I am sorry if you are an Alaskan wannabe, but save these calls for real Alaskans! (or Hawaii, US Virgins etc.)

[WA2ZDY]

ummmmm . . . yeah

[wg7x]

Ken,

I've been on both sides of that fence, having been portable 4 and 6 at one time or another. I am glad that uncle Sam let me keep my 7 call when I was moving around.

I feel sorry for the DX stations when they try to keep track of where a given stateside Amateur is! But on the other hand, one stateside amateur is the same as another, except, as you so rightly point out, those DXCC exceptions.

A good point, but nothing can or will be done. It's just not important to the FCC.

Sorry!

Gary WG7X

[KI6ADA]

Quote[/b] (wg7x @ Mar. 30 2006,16:42)]I feel sorry for the DX stations when they try to keep track of where a given stateside Amateur is!
A good point, but nothing can or will be done. It's just not important to the FCC.

Sorry!

Gary WG7X
I know a 5 ham who purchased and occupies a ham shack in 6, and is registered on QRZ as residing in 5. He told me nobody cares. I asked him about notifing the big guns at the FCC, he said he will decide what address to use when its time to renew. Sounds kind of suspicious or dishonest. The funny thing is when he is on the DX spotter he has tell everybody to point their antenna to 6. Oh well, I guess if you can't hear him you can't work him! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[WA2ZDY]

ADA it doesn't matter where he is relation to his FCC address. As long as he can receive mail from FCC at the mailing address on file, it's legal. There is no longer a requirement to tell FCC where your actual station location is like there was years ago.

Until probably about 12 or 13 years ago each license had space for two addresses: the legal mailing address and the physical station location. In 1993 my license for AB5IQ had an RFD address for the mail and the actual location was listed as "County Road 215 one mile north of FA 970." Years before that my station location was listed as "Corner of Hogback and Groveville Roads" in a totally different town than the mailing address.

So the ham you're talking about doesn't really have to decide anything. If he gets his mail, it's all good.

[AB0SI]

Quote[/b] (AL7GA @ Mar. 30 2006,16:25)]#1 - FCC should require that a US call with a DXCC prefix be relinquished upon relocation AND identified as /W? until changed.
DXCC has nothing to do with the FCC. The FCC has nothing to do with DXCC.

DXCC is a completely artifical creation of the ARRL. Why in the world should the FCC care anything about this?

Paul AB0SI (ya, I'm in zero-land)

[cu2jt]

My first KL7 as a CU2 was in the Commonwealth of Virginia and so was my first KH6.

I came back to ham radio in 2004 after a 25 years silence. In the old time, a W6 was in California, a KH6 was in Hawaii. And good old reliable KV4CI was in the US Virgin Islands.

It took some time to adjust to the new times, indeed.

//Gary - CU2JT

[WA9SVD]

Administering calls is the jurisdiction of the FCC, and they do as they wish, not what some DX station, or any contest/award entity (ARRL, CQ mag, or others) want.
The FCC years ago decided it was less paperwork (and hence less of their budgetary resources) to NOT require the issuance of a new call sign/number when a change of address occurs. There really isn't anything to be done about that at this late date. And some people (either by choice or job circumstance) move around so much that they would collect a dozen or more call signs in a year.
For better or worse, THAT is what the FCC has mandated. And their requirement is that an Amateur have on record a mailing address (physical or P.O. Box) where they receive snail-mail (from the FCC; not necessarily their regular address.)
Yes it IS confusing at times, not just for DX stations. But that is the FCC's decision.
And if necessary, there IS always the option of using a modifier for station ID to reflect a different location, just as used to be required for portable operation:

de WA9SVD/6

73

[AL7GA]

Yes, it is true that DXCC entities within an IARU assigned block are the decision of the country to which it is assigned, AND the FCC has decided not to enforce number area accuracy. And yet, when a new call is issued, it is assigned according to the area in which the addressee lives. So, they do recognize the principles involved. That certainly does not make it right. Perhaps a lawsuit or pressure on them might one day return us to the world-wide standards we have come to live by.

But that is still no excuse for real hams to ignore these same standards. If you are temporarily out of area (especially DXCC), then sign with a portable ID. If you have a new address, relinquish your call. It would seem to me that those who have once had the privilege of living in one of these specially recognized locations should have a higher standard of recognizing this issue.

[W3MIV]

Quote[/b] (AL7GA @ Mar. 31 2006,11:55)]Yes, it is true that DXCC entities within an IARU assigned block are the decision of the country to which it is assigned, AND the FCC has decided not to enforce number area accuracy. And yet, when a new call is issued, it is assigned according to the area in which the addressee lives. So, they do recognize the principles involved. That certainly does not make it right. Perhaps a lawsuit or pressure on them might one day return us to the world-wide standards we have come to live by.

But that is still no excuse for real hams to ignore these same standards. If you are temporarily out of area (especially DXCC), then sign with a portable ID. If you have a new address, relinquish your call. It would seem to me that those who have once had the privilege of living in one of these specially recognized locations should have a higher standard of recognizing this issue.
This thread is making less sense as it moves along.

The FCC has NOT decided not to enforce "number area accuracy" because no rule or law is being broken. Get it? Numbers continue to be assigned by call area for the convenience of the Commission, not because of some arcane idea of somebody's valuation of an award structure.

Times have changed. Get over it.

[AL7GA]

I realize "Times have changed", like legalized Gay marriages, 5WPM Extras and eventual No-Code licenses. But that does not mean it is right or that otherwise good people should give up and "go with the flow".

[K0RGR]

Hey, I'm even more reactionary - I want all the U.S.-assigned prefixes back to what they were in the 60's. What the heck is a KP3, anyway? I am so glad I have a nice logging program that looks them up for me.

[KI6ADA]

Well with all this confusion, can somebody please tell me, why some NCT have call sign beginning with "K" and other NCT with "W"? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[AL7GA]

In the old broadcast radio days, K prefixes were issued for calls West of the Mississippi, W calls for East of the river.

[wg7x]

AL7GA sez:Quote[/b] ]n the old broadcast radio days, K prefixes were issued for calls West of the Mississippi, W calls for East of the river.

Which of course has nothing whatever to do with the Amateur call sign assignments.

Vanity calls are why some of our newer members are sporting (NOS) "W" calls. Retreading old calls for new folks just adds to the confusion, in my opinion. Some one with a 1X3 "W" call who has never qualified for HF operation just seem wrong to this OF.

Sorry, but thats the way I feel. You used to be able to tell a bit about a fellow Amateur by his call sign, but no longer. The FCC has made sure of that.

A bit before the post quoted, AL7GA mentioned pressure in the form of litigation or legislation to force FCC to see things his way. If you really have the resources, buy yourself an FCC comissioner or two. Maybe then they would do ask you ask, but then again maybe not.

Good Luck!

"sigh"

What is with this litigious society we live in today? Can everything be solved with a lawsuit?

OK, off the soapbox yet again.

AL7GA, good luck with your tilting at windmills.

73 Gary

[ae6yd]

I wish the FCC would assign calls appropriately, but if they did, they would have to recoup regulatory costs from the amateur service, and charge us fees or something. Personally, I'm shopping around for a vanity call and I won't use any non-6 call. K6 isn't exactly all that rare, but I'm still a proud Californian. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[k9cn]

Quote[/b] (wg7x @ Mar. 31 2006,15:49)]You used to be able to tell a bit about a fellow Amateur by his call sign, but no longer.
In the good old days, you could tell location, license class (to a point) and more-or-less how long someone's been a ham from his call alone. If you think there is a pecking order now among hams, you should have seen the "key fright" I'd get when some grizzled old timer with a 1x2 "W" call answered my CQ. It was like going to face the Principal or something.

Anyway, and in the spirit of offering gratuitous, narrow-minded, opinionated and unsubstantiatable commentary, the only proper call signs begin with "W" or "K." And they ALWAYS have more letters to the right of the number than to the left.

[wg7x]

K9CN sez:Quote[/b] ]Anyway, and in the spirit of offering gratuitous, narrow-minded, opinionated and unsubstantiatable commentary, the only proper call signs begin with "W" or "K." And they ALWAYS have more letters to the right of the number than to the left.

Thats tellin 'em by golly!

Oops!

I have the wrong disposition of letters/numbers...

Guess I'll just slink off now...

Gary

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[k9cn]

Quote[/b] (wg7x @ Mar. 31 2006,17:18)]Oops!

I have the wrong disposition of letters/numbers...

Guess I'll just slink off now...

Gary

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Well, at least you've got the proper "W"!

[W3MIV]

Quote[/b] (wg7x @ Mar. 31 2006,17:49)]You used to be able to tell a bit about a fellow Amateur by his call sign, but no longer.
You used to be able to tell a book by its cover, too, right?

[WA9SVD]

You USED to be able to tell a ham by his/her call.
But THAT is beyond our control; the FCC changed the rules, and like it or not, we ARE stuck with the change, and the Vanity call system as we know it.

But it is FAR too late to make any changes now; what is done is irrevocably done.

What would be the alternative? Would not the FCC have to go back at least 20 years and re-assign calls to the "appropriate" system? What about an operator licensed from the 60's who moved, and or upgraded? They would have had a Novice KN9 or WN9xxx call, later changed to a K9 or W9xxx or even later a WA9xxx call. What if THOSE calls were already in use? The WN9 holder would actually have had first priority! And if the W9xxx moved to 6 land, he/she would have usually been changed to a W6xxx. But what if that were already assigned? And a holder of an original W9 or WA9 call, moving to 6 land: would they not now get something like a WD6 or WG6 or whatever? And a relatively new operator could get (or request) a 1x2 call instead?
In the past, a callsign denoted not only geographical location, but ALSO, some idea of "length of service," or at least "length of licensure."

Now, a 1x2 or 2x2 (and 2x1 calls were unheard of!) is usually assumed to be a vanity call, and NOT a sign of long-time licensure, although SOME vanity call holders seem to think a 1x2 or 2x2 calls bestows upon them the "wisdom of the ages," and they know everything there is to know about everything, just because they have a vanity call.

No, once the FCC made the decision to NOT require callsign changes with (permanent or semi-permanent) address changes, and instituted a "free-for-all" vanity system, without reservation, there was NO turning back.
But of course, the Vanity system DOES generate a modicum of income, and even that doesn't go directly to FCC coffers.. But probably not enough to justify even the fee for those calls, since once established, there should be no expense for modification or renewal over that of a regular license.