New FCC Call Sign

[hotdjdave]

I got my new FCC call sign. I applied for a vanity call sign and got my first choice. Now I have K9DJW (meaning: my former occupation and my initials).

K9DJW

 

[landonjensen]

Do you get to pick any callsign you want, or are you assigned one?

 

[hotdjdave]

Do you get to pick any callsign you want, or are you assigned one?

You give them a list of the top 25 ones you want (you don't have to use all 25).

You have to do a little research if you want your request to be approved. You need to find out what call signs are or will be available at the time of your request. If none of your call signs are available, you request will not be approved and you will forfeit your fee; then you must reapply if you still want a new call sign and pay the fee again.

One good thing is that the region is not an issue when getting a vanity. Normally, the FCC assigns you a call sign based on your location at the time of issue. For example, using K9DJW, the 9 is not my region. I am in region 6, so my previous call sign had a 6. The only other requirement is that the format (how many letters and numbers) is the correct one for your class of license..0

You also must pay a fee (I think it was $20.80).

 

[OpSec]

Thanks for stealing a Nine-land call...guess we need to take one of yours now

 

[hotdjdave]

Thanks for stealing a Nine-land call...guess we need to take one of yours now

Oh, there's plenty. :lol:

 

[kingpin]

I got my vanity W4IRQ back in Jan. IRQ is a computer term and it's easier to hear on HF than KE4KZY.

Still working on my own phonetics:
Whiskey
4
Improved
Radio
Quality

About the best I can come up with .... Radio does get more interesting as people drink....

 

[iMONITOR]

I got my new FCC call sign. I applied for a vanity call sign and got my first choice. Now I have K9DJW (meaning: my former occupation and my initials).

K9DJW

You Dog!

 

[k8tmk]

My wife got her license in March. She was issued KD8CZO. We immediatley applied for a callsign with her initials as the suffix. So, now she is W8ALK. I tried to get her to use the phonetics "watching 8 aborigines leaping kangaroos," but she didn't like that idea. LOL

 

[hotdjdave]

Personally, I like the 1x3 much better than the 2x3 format; however, there are few available.

 

[Llwellyn]

Thanks for stealing a Nine-land call...guess we need to take one of yours now

They let you keep them if you move (see sig) and you get to keep it when you renew if you stay the same class... I don't think you'll run out of 9-calls anytime soon

 

[hotdjdave]

I got my ticket at the Los Angles County Fair. There was an Amateur Radio section (many booths, displays, vehicles, rigs, etc.). I had been procrastinating to take the the test for over 20 years, so I decided to just go for it.

One of my VECs was the well-known Gordon West (WB6NOA). He was the one who encouraged me to just take the test. He gave me one of his books and signed it for me. It seemed somewhat sentimental to me, being that I had been hearing about "Gordo" since I was a kid (when I got into communications) and had been studying his books all these years.

 

[K5MAR]

Here is a handy site for amateurs looking for a vanity callsign: RadioQTH The available callsigns are sorted in several different ways making it fairly easy to see what's available.

BTW, mine is a vanity call: K5MAR - K5 MAR - MAR K5 - MARK5 - MARK S
Easy to remember! And I do live in the 5 district.

Mark S.

 

[N4DES]

Keep
Searching
4
Vacuum
Tubes

 

[hotdjdave]

Vanity Call Sign Help Sites

Here are some more vanity call sign sites:

http://www.vanityhq.com/
http://www.qrz.com/
http://www.w5yi.org/page.php?id=269
http://www.ae7q.com/
http://www.wm7d.net/fcc_uls/
http://www.amateur-radio.org/vanity.htm
http://www.hamdata.com/
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/vanity.html

http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index.htm?job=call_signs_3&id=amateur&page=1
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index.htm?job=call_signs_3&id=amateur&page=2

 

[Yokoshibu]

eh I've decided to keep my original.... had it for almost 9 years... dont have a need for nothing fancy!

 

[N1SQB]

I love Mine! Since 1994....

Thats how I feel about mine! Its cool though if you dont like it and decide to change it. At least there is an option!

Manny

 

[zz0468]

Back in the day, having a 1X3 call meant something... You could tell who the old timers are. Not so, anymore. Now it's the guys with the WA and WB calls. I've had my WA6 call for 32 years. I'll never change it.

 

[bezking]

K
1
You
Stupid
Whacker

Not My Callsign.

 

[N8DV]

In the old days of amateur radio, an op could actually recognize what part of the country a person was from by their call sign. Not any longer with vanity calls. I had to buy a vanity call just to drop one letter of my general call when I upgraded to extra. Now I don't know if a 4 call is really from 4 land or somewhere else!

 

[eorange]

I moved from Pa (3 land) to OH (8 land) and didn't change my non-vanity call. So this problem still exists to some degree.