[NCC] WN8R is now K8AAV

[Jon Kovacs]

Hey Rod.... great on the new call!     Well I can feel your pain as my very
first call was KB8FLY, now that was a vanity call without knowing it.
More people remembered me as the FLY.....  Wasn't so bad during ssb
contest, but was real handful on cw.   Granted I got used to it over the
years, but got to be real load.  Tim told me about the vanity calls and
maybe I may want to change..... so back in 1998 I changed to K8LY.   Even
after I changed calls,  I often found myself giving out my old call.....
Good luck with your new call..

Jon  K8LY

On Sat, Oct 24, 2015 at 5:26 PM, Rod via NCC <ncc at contesting.com> wrote:

> FYI ALL! K8AAV is now my call sign, as of today, October 24, 2015. Having
> moved to a new residence, it was time for me to make the change. I was
> searching for a decent 1x3 and found K8AAV with help and encouragement from
> Bob Naumann, W5OV, so I applied and with no competition it was granted.
> K8AAV is fast and unmistakable on CW, and it hasn’t been used since the
> 1990’s. The original holder of K8AAV, Gail Franklin Divan, renewed in 1995
> and then was a SK in 1999 at age 94! I hope I last that long! I was
> originally licensed in 1974 as WN8RQX and was WB8RQX for 24 years, so it
> seemed to be pretty cool to obtain WN8R after upgrading to Extra class in
> 1999. However, over the years WN8R was constantly miscopied and repeated as
> W8NR in casual operating and it has resulted W? or N? and  “not in log” too
> many times in contests and DXing, much more so in recent years. I should
> have snagged a better 1x2 call sign back when or long since, but for most
> of us changing our call sign is like changing our name! Some hams NEVER do
> it. Over the past year I had six failed attempts at the “lottery” method of
> obtaining an Extra Class only 1x2 call sign in FCC application competitions
> with about a dozen other hams each time. As “luck” would have it, all but
> one of those 1x2s including excellent calls such as K8MD, K8DC and W8XM
> went to incredibly lucky, brand new hams who had earned Extra class weeks
> earlier. It seems like that FCC computer randomizer is broken but I suppose
> it was very odd chance. Someday I will try again for a really great 1x2
> call sign (preferably from “8” call area) whenever one becomes available in
> the coming years. For those who have them it must have seemed easy, but 1x2
> call signs with good letters are very rare, are highly sought after and
> seem to me to be nearly impossible to obtain. So, for now, 73 de
> Kilo-Eight-Alpha-Alpha-Victor Rod Ehrhart – K8AAV (ex-WN8R)
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