[UK-CONTEST] RSGB 3 letter UK county codes

[Peter Bowyer]

On 16 August 2010 08:35, Dave Sergeant <dave at davesergeant.com> wrote:
> On 16 Aug 2010 at 9:47, Alan Jubb - 5B4AHJ wrote:
>
>> Hi all
>> Does anyone have a list of the RSGB 3 letter county codes that were used
>> in the period 1997-2003 (possibly before/after also). I found a list on
>> the web, but it seems incomplete as it doesn't include PEM or TAU.
>>
>> I assume that PEM is Pembrokeshire, can anyone confirm please?
>> I have no idea what TAU might be.
>
> Alan
>
> The original 3 letter codes first appeared during 1974 and were first
> listed in RadCom in the January 1975 issue. No sign of PEM or TAU
> there... I assume that list is what you already have. The January 1995
> issue, the last year which I have on CD, shows the same list. As Chris
> points out these later codes were probably related to when unitary
> authorities started to be created, but whether they were official ones
> or what people had made up I don't know. The September 95 issue with
> the contest pullout has the note: 'Entrants should use their current
> county code throughout 1996 irrespective of any boundary changes which
> may occur during the year'. So maybe new codes were indeed published in
> 1997?

That sounds about right - G8GSQ and I put the new list together and picked
the arbitrary second letters to level the playing field for Birmingham,
Manchester, Sheffield, W,E,N London.

Peter G4MJS