Germany had the entire D block until 1947, when they were left with DA-DR. DS-DT are assigned to South Korea, and DU-DZ belong to the Philippines.Ture, but I was just thinking that Spanish speaking countries might have wanted to avoid using K and W as they were not "part of the proper Spanish alphabet."
Also true, but I guess N was already taken.
Note that Germany has the "D" series (Deutschland).
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K, W, X, C starting call letters
- Thread starter kfbkfb
- Start date
Haiti has the 4V and HH blocks.
Portugal, Uruguay ...And Chile. And Cuba. And Morocco...whoops, never mind.
Originally, Australian broadcast stations had a VL prefix, followed by the number and letters, similar to ham calls (which use VK). Maybe VL is still printed on the licenses, but it isn't announced on-air. Not sure if it ever was.
CA-CE: Chile (CBxx calls loaned to Canada)
CF-CK: Canada
CL-CM: Cuba
CN: Morocco
CO: Cuba
CP: Bolivia
CQ-CU: Portugal
CV-CX: Uruguay
CY-CZ: Canada
Here's the entire list, in alphanumeric order: Table of International Call Sign Series (Appendix 42 to the RR)
On shortwave, the ABC's Northern Territory Service stations (which launched in the early 1980s and closed in 2017) had the calls of VL8A (Alice Springs), VL8T (Tennant Creek) and VL8K (Katherine).
Decades earlier, the ABC domestic shortwave stations in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth had VL then another letter, then a number. The last of those stations closed in 1993. The number referred to the frequency band, not the state. VLX9 (on 9610 kHz) from Perth was the most distant shortwave station in the world for many U.S. SWLs. I recall it had a comfortably listenable signal into Texas in the 1960s-70s.
Didn't the W originally stand for Wireless?
I think that this was an "after the fact" decoration of the meaning... just like WSB in Atlanta became "Welcome South, Brother".
K and W are used in Spanish for words of foreign derivation even though they aren't officially part of the alphabet.Ture, but I was just thinking that Spanish speaking countries might have wanted to avoid using K and W as they were not "part of the proper Spanish alphabet."
Also true, but I guess N was already taken.
Note that Germany has the "D" series (Deutschland).
A supposedly proposed US shortwave station claimed it was going to be NDXE. It seemed to b e a scam to sell Tshirts and coffee mugs to SWLs
HCJB being a notable exception?
Australian stations still do have them. They just don't use them. Station NBN is actually VLNBN. The VL is not used except for international and legal purposes.
K & W does have good food. K&W Cafeterias - Wikipedia
The W calls were used for ships on the America's west coast. The K calls were used for ships on the East and Gulf coasts.
When commercial stations started they were flipped around so commercial stations on the east used W calls and those out west used K calls.
Later N were used for the navy and AAA-ALZ, were used for Army. This designatin is not followed anymore. I read (but can't find a source) that the rest of the A group was assigned to Germany and then taken from and reassigned to the US after WWI.
Amature call signs can start with K,W,N or A and I they used to use X for experimental stations.
When commercial stations started they were flipped around so commercial stations on the east used W calls and those out west used K calls.
Later N were used for the navy and AAA-ALZ, were used for Army. This designatin is not followed anymore. I read (but can't find a source) that the rest of the A group was assigned to Germany and then taken from and reassigned to the US after WWI.
Amature call signs can start with K,W,N or A and I they used to use X for experimental stations.
But not right away, since KDKA, KQV and KYW were in Pennsylvania and WBAP was in Texas.
They predated the more recent regulations, and used the excuse that "HCJB" was just the abbreviation of the station name, "Heralding Christ Jesus' Blessings".
HCJB dates back, IIRC, to 1932.
For a while, the "W" prefix extended across the Great Plains, but was then pulled back to the Mississippi River as the demarcation point. In much of Minnesota, they could not quite make up their mind, of course!
Three-letter calls, KDA-KZZ were assigned to coastal stations on the west coast, to avoid confusion with ship stations with 4-letter calls in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The east/Gulf coast coastal stations were assigned WAA-WZZ for the same reason. This was before 1927, when KAA-KCZ were still assigned to Germany.
Commercial and early broadcasting stations were considered the same as coastal stations early-on. There was no permanent assignment policy for broadcasters until 1922.
The AA-AL block was taken from Germany and assigned to the United States by the ITU at the 1947 WARC. Germany had the entire A-block at one time, but I don't know if the whole thing was taken and split in 1947, or if some of that block had been reassigned at earlier Conferences (1927 or 1938).
The reassignment of German prefixes after both World Wars could be considered "spoils of war," I guess.
Experimental stations are only assigned 2x3 calls, with the first letter after the digit being X. KB2XYZ would be an experimental license. KB2X and KB2XY are ham calls.
Any other call with X can be used by hams. For example, my ham callsign is W7XTV, which would have been an experimental station prior to about 1948, but has been OK as a ham call since 1978. In fact, pioneer experimental TV stations W2XBS (NBC) and W2XAB (CBS) are now being used by hams. There are probably others as well.