Thanks that’s what I thought.Congratulations and welcome to amateur radio.
What you were told is not true. You hold a Technician license that was issued very recently. The FCC assigned you KN6KPV and they expect you to identify with it.
Many years ago, the FCC issued 2x3 callsigns with N as the second letter, i.e. WN9CIF. Those callsigns were only issued to Novice license holders and you had 1 year to upgrade your license. When you upgraded, the N would be changed to another letter, i.e. WB9CIF.
But, that's all ancient history. Until the FCC assigns you a new callsign, keep signing with KN6KPV and politely ignore the folks who tell you different.
I wouldn't say "hubristic". I have no qualms with changing a call sign as soon as what you want is available, given the length of current call signs. My wife's call was long and had a weird flow, so we got one she liked as soon as it was open.Thank you everyone for your help. I just read that the FCC is considering charging $50 to apply for a vanity call. Since I am brand new I was going to wait to apply for one as it seemed a little hubristic to do it immediately. But to avoid the possIbility of a fee I applied for one today. Getting off subject so I’ll quit here.
Welcome! I think what the other station might be referring to is the callsigns that, several decades ago, were issued to novice class operators where the second letter was "N". Since the FCC stopped having novice-specific callsigns, it doesn't really matter if you've got that letter in the callsign or not.I just received my Tech license KN6KPV and made my first contact over a repeater. One of the operators told me I could drop the N in the callsign. I don’t remember hearing anything like that. Is it true?
Thanks,
Jim
And it's now a moot point as he was issued K6JGA (his initials) as of September 19.My guess would be that the person was referring to getting a vanity call sign to "drop the N." That's all the rage now. You get a 6 letter call from the FCC and immediately "drop the N" by making it K6KPV with a vanity call. It's shorter, but you keep the same suffix. I see that all the time. So I'm almost 100% sure that's what they were referring to.
Ah, well there you have it. The N is dropped.And it's now a moot point as he was issued K6JGA (his initials) as of September 19.