[UK-CONTEST] Vanity Calls

[John Crowder]

The application by the Orkney Radio Club seems to have attracted much attention on the contest reflector.  It has been stated that GS8R is for a special event station. Srictly speaking GS8R is not a normal special event callsign and would fall into the special special event station category, the application for which needs to satisfy specific requirements laid down by OfCom. If this is a call sign specifically for a special event station then I fail to see why there is so much reference being made to special contest callsigns.
 
The specification for a special contest callsign requires that it starts with a G or M followed by the normal regional letter. Since S is the regional letter specific to a Scottish Club stations then it does not fulfil the requirements for a special contest callsign. Neither does it a appear to satisfy the requirements for a special event callsign which should start with GB and normally followed by 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 or 8, and 2 or 3 letters.
 
In terms of special contest callsigns there would appear have been a precedent set in IOTA 2007 when GZ0F was used for the Shetland Fair Isle expedition. I wonder how much comment occurred when this call was announced as surely Z is not a valid regional locator.
 
In terms of special event calls there have been examples where a non-standard numbers and single letter calls have been allowed as in the case of GB98RH in 1998 and GB100J last year by way of special special event calls.
 
Since the RSGB contest rule Rule 7 states that UK stations may not use special (eg GB, GX) callsigns, will any IOTA entry be allowed from GS8R as this is clearly not a normal station call nor a special contest call. 
 
In respect of rule 7 I also find it difficult to understand why the RSGB have for the last two years used GB7HQ in respect of a contest operation, especially when the GB7 series of calls are supposedly reserved for Data Communications (Node and Mailbox) applications. I wonder if the application for GB7HQ was vetted and approved by the Data Communications Committee as per the rules laid down by the RSGB and the DCC.
 
All callsigns are owned by OfCom and it is obviously for them to decide which calls are allocated. It would seem that we are getting to a stage where operators think they should be able to choose and use any callsign for whatever purpose they want. 
 
John G0GDU / G6NUM
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