Call signs in the United States used to be very easy for a ham radio operator to say.
What area of the US was the radio ham they were talking to from! A call 6 was from
California or some state near, or a call 0 was New York or a state near New York,
They didn’t even need to look at the call map! Today a Radio Amateur
can move from North Carolina where it is a 4 call to Texas where it is a 5 call and
hold your call 4.
Call signs (in the United States) consist of one or two letters, a number, and a
three more letters. The first part of the call sign indicates which country they are from
of, US being A, AA – AK K, KA – KK, KM – KW, KX – KZ, N, NA – NK,
NM-NW, NM-NW, NX-NZ, WA-WK, WM-WO, WQ-WW, and WX-WZ.
Also in the US, AA – AK aired for Amateur Extras only.
Each country has been assigned a country designation by a governing body.
This group is made up of representatives from around the world and is
It deals not only with amateur radio communication, but with all communication. I am not
Let’s get into the country designations. There are several graphics
available showing the different denominations and the country to which it refers.
The number on the call sign indicates where in the US they reside.
0 (zero) said they reside in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota.
1 in the call sign Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island, Vermont.
2 is New Jersey, New York.
3 is Delaware, DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania.
4 is Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia.
5 is Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas.
6 is California.
7 is Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Wyoming.
8 is Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia.
9 is Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin.
Hawaii and Alaska have a slightly different scheme on their call sign.
AL0-7, KL0-7, NL0-7, WL0-7 is Alaska.
AH6-7, KH6-7, NH6-7, WH6-7 is Hawaii.
The first part of the call sign said which country the Ham Call was from and the
number said in which area, the last one to three letters of the call sign are never issued
to another Ham on a call sign that has the same first letters and area number.
This makes a call sign unique in the world.
A valid call sign could consist of 1 letter, a number, and 1 more letter. In alaska
or Hawaii, a valid callout could be two letters, a number, and a letter.
As stated before, it WAS very easy to learn about the Hobbyist Trader that you are.
speaking to! Now there is also a call sign that we call Vanity Call here is USA.
The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) allows radio amateurs to request a call
that means something to them. If your dad, aunt, or someone you knew had a
call sign at a time you want, you can request that call sign (for a small
rate) as long as no one else has that sign. If your name was Joe, you might have those
letters for your last three in your call sign (if no one else had them with the rest of
letters and number) under the Vanity Call system.
When applying for open Vanity call signs that may be available to you,
you should note that it depends on your license class. extra class
licenses can choose virtually any vacant US call sign. advanced class
licensees may not search for the 1×2, 2×1 or 2×2 beginning with the letter “A” as it
they are call signs of type extra class. What that means is that you can’t search for a
call sign that is above your current license authority, but can take a call
sign that is equal to or less than the authority you currently have!
As of April 2000, Morse code was no longer required for any
of the Radio Amateur tests, and there are only three levels
(Technical, General and Extra Class) licensing.
Exams after that date will only be given for Technical, General and
Extra class. The licensed hams under the categories that cease to be licensed will be
“grandfathered” so that they can operate as long as the previous license is maintained
indeed. This could be around 10 years, since that is the duration of
is licensed
So during that time or maybe never at all, can you say something about
the Ham operator you or another Ham is talking to other than what you
country where they are from Guess the best thing to do is ask them where they are located!