That's right. I was trying to remember the criteria. I got my Extra in 1971
so I fit under the #3 criteria.
Getting the Extra was a rather humorous event. I went to the Chicago FCC
office to take the exam(s). I had a General, so I had to take the Advanced
exam first. I passed it. I then passed the code test. The Examiner gave me
the Extra exam sheet and said "Here's another one for you to pass." (I
did.) That was about as funny as that guy ever got. He was sometimes
referred to as "Mr. Weasel," mainly because that's what he looked like. And
he never smiled.
:-)
73, Zack W9SZ
On Sun, Jan 8, 2017 at 11:01 AM, K8IA via CQ-Contest <
cq-contest@contesting.com> wrote:
> Great history, JIm! Thanks for sharing.
>
> Before they "opened the gate" in January 1977, several of us received our
> 1X2 callsigns. Mine (K8IA) was late 1976 via #2 below. The procedure was;
>
>
> 1) Effective July 1, 1976, any Extra class licensee who had been a licensed
> Amateur for 25 years or more could select one specific 1x2 call sign.
>
> 2) Effective October 1, 1976, anyone who had held an Amateur Extra class
> license prior to November 22, 1967, could select one specific 1x2 call
> sign.
>
> 3) Effective January 1, 1977, anyone who had held an Amateur Extra class
> license prior to July 2, 1974, could select one specific 1x2 call sign.
>
> 4) Effective April 1, 1977, anyone who held an Amateur Extra class license
> prior to July 1, 1976, could select one specific 1x2 call sign.
>
> 5) Effective July 1, 1977, any Amateur Extra class licensee could select
> one specific 1x2 call sign.
>
>
>
> 73, Bob K8IA
> Arizona Outlaws Contest Club
>
>
>
> In a message dated 1/8/2017 7:49:33 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
> jamesdavidcain@gmail.com writes:
>
> What's in a name?
>
> 40 years ago this week a very large group of us were applying to the FCC
> for the long-awaited "preferred Extra Class call signs." The FCC opened
> the
> gate on January 1, 1977. Decisions, decisions. You were told to list four
> desired call signs. That sent everybody to the latest Callbook to see what
> was available. It depended on what Call Area you lived in. 1X2 call signs
> starting with the letter K had never been issued in most Call Areas. Some
> had been issued in Call Areas 2, 4, and 6.
>
> Lots of call signs starting with the letter W were available but all would
> be "re-issues." I don't think a 1X2 call sign starting with the letter N
> had ever been issued.
>
> Some of us had waited many years to dump our 2X3 call signs. We had been
> Extras for nearly 10 years. The prospect of fewer characters was exciting.
> But choosing a new call sign was agonizing! A lot of us chose a new call
> sign that had some connection with our checkered past. For many, the
> choice
> was mode-oriented. If you liked phone, phonetics were a big consideration.
> For CW operators, bauds mattered. And, if you prefer CW, do you really
> want a
> call sign ending in K?
>
> A lot of us operated the first of two weekends of the 1977 ARRL DX CW
> Competition with our 2X3 call signs. What happens if our shiny new call
> sign
> arrives in the mail before the second weekend? (In those good old days,
> children, each mode of the contest was two weekends, a month apart.)
> Somebody I
> know really, really well, enquired about this, and the unofficial word
> from
> the FCC was if your new call sign/license arrives before the second
> weekend, just pretend it didn't.
>
> Jim Cain, K1TN (ex-WA1STN, WA9AUM)
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