Callsigns

[sherratt at vnet.IBM.COM]

How long does WxOF (old far*) have to be deceased before his callsign
can be re-issued ?  Scott, N6VB  (anyone want a few dits ?)



>From oo7 at astro.as.utexas.edu (Derek Wills)  Wed Dec 15 21:37:14 1993
From: oo7 at astro.as.utexas.edu (Derek Wills) (Derek Wills)
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 15:37:14 CST
Subject: Desired calls
Message-ID: <9312152137.AA09211 at astro.as.utexas.edu>

	You know, wouldn't it be neat if the FCC *did* decide to 
	special-issue the 1x1's and give them out for large contest
	stations (ala R6L)? 

	Len KB2R

Of course, HG73DX does OK with a long call, and G3FXB is quite a
mouthful on CW and he did OK, and W9KNI has worked every country
on CW even with an I at the end of his call.

I do occasionally get mixed up with Bruce AA5B - now and again
someone insists that I'm a dupe, and I know Bruce must be in the
same contest.  I'd rather have BS or BF than BT (I don't care what
phonetics it might suggest on phone..), but I really doubt that I 
would change at this stage.

Derek AA5BT

>From Bruce Walker <bruce at Think.COM>  Wed Dec 15 22:08:59 1993
From: Bruce Walker <bruce at Think.COM> (Bruce Walker)
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 17:08:59 EST
Subject: Optimum call sign for CW?
Message-ID: <9312152208.AA10220 at zarathustra>

This is a fun thread.  I'm not a very experienced contester, but I
actually like my call (WT1M) a lot for contesting.  On CW, it's quite
dah-heavy, but it has a good rhythm.  The only common mixup is to copy
WE1M.  As others have said, E vs T can be a problem, and once they
have heard it one way, they can miss it again on repeat.  A couple of
times I've had to manually send a two-second dah for the T to get it
through.

On phone, my call is the same number of syllables phonetically as not.
For some reason, "whiskey-tango" stands out well; if they don't get my
full call, they always come back "whiskey-tango go ahead", almost
never "one mike" or "ending in mike".  Sometimes "Mexico" gets through
pileups better.  Ironically, Echo vs. Tango is also an occasional
mistake on weak phone (two syllables ending in "o").

Problem calls to me are ones that have a V4 or 4V, 6B or B6, or other
confusing pattern.  I'm not normally dyslexic, but some fast-sent
patterns like that force me to replay in my head a few times.

I think A and N are great CW letters, short and not ambiguous because
of the dit and dah.  I believe AA1AA is still on this list; not the
shortest CW call (50 dit-times with standard weighting), but very easy
to parse.  I would think it would be clumsy on phone, though.

Quickest legal (i.e., no 1x1) current call, N5EE (25 dit-times), is
available.

--bruce WT1M

>From William Ralston" <William_Ralston at iegate.mitre.org  Wed Dec 15 17:05:54 1993
From: William Ralston" <William_Ralston at iegate.mitre.org (William Ralston)
Date: 15 Dec 1993 17:05:54 U
Subject: Custom Callsigns
Message-ID: <9312152208.AA24225 at mbunix.mitre.org>

Custom Callsigns

Well, although I have a short one (AI6E), I'll be dumping this sucker if I
can pick my own.  Between a mouthfull of vowels on SSB and that hanging last
dit on CW, I have had to give a lot of repeats (although I've detected some
recognition factor in the last couple of years).  I also get confused with
celebrity AI6V alot.

Funniest (frequent) occurance is in SSB contests when folks come back with
"Alpha one six Echo...wait a minute, what's your call again?"

As for call signs ending in K causing confusion, I wouldn't think it would be
that bad (certainly no problem on phone).  Since in most contests, folks
never send K (meaning over) anyway, I would expect most folks automatically
copy call signs correctly (provided good code is being sent).  I do know I
have been confused by folks who were sending their call followed by K, where
the gap between their call and the procedural signal was significantly less
than the normal work space.

Just my $0.02.  Hope that doesn't leave me a few cents short when it comes
time to buy that new callsign.  Maybe the FCC will try auctioning off call
signs... :-)

73 de Bill  AI6E





>From oo7 at astro.as.utexas.edu (Derek Wills)  Wed Dec 15 22:18:00 1993
From: oo7 at astro.as.utexas.edu (Derek Wills) (Derek Wills)
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 16:18:00 CST
Subject: Callsigns
Message-ID: <9312152218.AA10700 at astro.as.utexas.edu>

	How long does WxOF (old far*) have to be deceased before his callsign
	can be re-issued ?  Scott, N6VB  (anyone want a few dits ?)

I can just see an Agatha Christie type novel, with someone meeting 
their fate at the hands of someone who wanted to get their hands 
on his callsign.  People have killed for less.

Derek AA5BT (anyone want to swap the T?)

>From mraz at maverick.aud.alcatel.com (Kris I. Mraz)  Wed Dec 15 22:20:26 1993
From: mraz at maverick.aud.alcatel.com (Kris I. Mraz) (Kris I. Mraz)
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 16:20:26 CST
Subject: Optimum Callsigns
Message-ID: <9312152220.AA24954 at maverick.aud.alcatel.com>

[I'm reposting this since I had some system problems this morning. Hope it
doesn't appear twice.]

My only desire is that when the vanity callsign program is implemented
they allow people who want to regain a previously held callsign to have
first dibs on it. For example, people who had to change callsigns because
they changed call districts, people who dropped out of HR for whatever
reason and now would like to get their old callsign back, or people like me
who plain forgot to renew and had a new callsign assigned (amazing how
fast 7 years pass!) 

There are also hams who would like to get the callsign of a deceased relative,
such as a father, to keep the callsign in the family.

I will be writing to my ARRL rep to make sure this thought is included
in any comments on the NPRM. May I suggest that each of you do the same thing?

The callsign I lost was N5KM. Now, that was a good one for both CW and fone.
High average power on CW and only three syllables on fone: Kilo Mike.

73
Kris AA5UO

>From George Cutsogeorge <0006354141 at mcimail.com>  Wed Dec 15 23:31:00 1993
From: George Cutsogeorge <0006354141 at mcimail.com> (George Cutsogeorge)
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 18:31 EST
Subject: "Rules for callsign party?"
Message-ID: <12931215233121/0006354141PK4EM at mcimail.com>

I vote for seniority.
George, W2VJN