[UK-CONTEST] Three character calls

[Roger Parsons]

You've woken my hobby horse again....

I find it faintly ridiculous that the UK does not allow 'vanity' calls when we have more call sign blocks than just about any other country. For example, ZQ5A would be a valid UK amateur call, and there are in fact enough possibilities that everyone who wanted could get either a 1x2 or 2x1 call.

Here in Canada, 2 letter calls are available to all who have held a licence for 5 years or more. Any call may be reissued immediately to a close family member or after one year becomes available to all qualified operators. (There is considerable demand for some sequences, particularly VE3xx, and these are usually taken within a few seconds after midnight on the day of their availability.)

On the negative side, short contest calls are not officially available as they have to be tied into some special event or anniversary.

I can see no valid reason whatsoever why all the available UK blocks should not be used and why lapsed callsigns should not be reissued. The present system whereby some tenuous link to a pre-war callsign holder has to be shown is both inefficient and grossly unfair. Incidentally, callsigns _were_ commonly reissued prior to WW2.

73 Roger
VE3ZI/G3RBP