Following a longtime request from the Norwegian contest community, the Norwegian Communication Authority (NCA) recently permitted the use of 2x1 contest call signs for individual radio amateurs. With few exceptions Norwegian 2x1 call signs have been reserved for club stations, which have also been permitted to use the LN prefix in contests. The new call signs will use the LC prefix and one letter suffixes. The 2x1 call signs are available for all radio amateurs with a Norwegian call sign. They are issued for contest use only and must be renewed every five years. The first issuance from the new call sign series took place on 15 April during Norsk Hammeting 2018, the biggest ham radio event in Norway. All applicants had to list five call signs in order of priority. Some call signs were applied for by several contesters, and those were allocated by random drawing among the applicants. All applicants received one of their listed call signs. 27 call signs were issued in the first issuance. The remaining call signs will be issued on a first come, first served basis. Norsk Radio Relae Liga (NRRL), the national ham radio organization of Norway, has been given the responsibility to administer the contest call sign scheme on behalf of NCA. NRRL charges an administrative fee of 1 000 NOK (approx. 125 USD, 103 EUR) on issuance and renewal, while NCA charges the same fee on issuance only. “We hope the shorter call signs will improve the QSO rates and the call sign readability and reduce the error rates for our contacts. With five and six characters call signs, Norwegian contesters may we have felt a little disadvantaged, but now we can be on equal terms with many contesters in other countries. Our only remaining issue now is our location way into the aurora belt, but that is a challenge we probably will have to live with”, says LB3RE Rag, leader of the NRRL Contest Committee, with a smile. “We are very pleased that the 2x1 call signs finally materialized, and hope this will inspire the Norwegian contesters to increased activity and recruit more contesters”, says LB1GB Bjorn, leader of LA Contest Club. We hope to see you in many contests. 73 Frode LA6VQ NRRL Contest Committee
We can only do so much. The Sun is somewhat beyond our reach, but I am sure it will cooperate within not too long. In the meanwhile, enjoy the added challenge. 73 Frode LA6VQ
There are ten new prefixes to work LC0 - LC9, so just jump into the contests. It is quite a while since LC were in use, so we are happy to present some more prefixes to chase. 73 Frode LA6VQ
I understand the question, but the LE prefix is used to designate stations involved in emergency communication, and LI is used for special events (together with LJ and LM). Since 2004, LA and LB are the normal prefixes for our only class, corresponding to the CEPT license class. LC was the next in line and available. The LC prefix was previously used for a former Class C, an entry level VHF/UHF class ("teknisk lisens"), but that disappeared in a clean up of the license structure. It might be that LC stands for "Love Contesting", but I don't think that was any part of the reasoning from NCA. 73 Frode LA6VQ
