[UK-CONTEST] Three character calls

[Clive Whelan]

I think you may have been away too long Roger! You are right however in 
everything you suggest.

Succinctly

1. Ofcom is a massive bureaucracy which is commercially driven, i.e. it 
concentrates on matters where it can obtain revenue, viz. spectrum 
auctioning, and since we are freebies, we can go and whistle in the wind.


2. RSGB has  been insufficiently robust in countering the 
aforementioned. imo We must- in this century- behave more like a 
militant trade union, and less like  the vicar's wife. The days of being 
good boys and being patted on the head are long gone.

73


Clive
GW3NJW

On 02/02/2011 15:07, Roger Parsons wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
>
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