There are two types of Callsigns common in the US; FCC assigned and self-derived. “Self-derived” are things like tactical callsigns used by the military or event handlers. “Maverick” is an example of this, I think it came from some movie about fighter pilots or something. Sounds more like a 1970’s midsize car to me though.
The callsigns I will talk about today are of the FCC assigned variety. These start with the letters A, K, N or W here in the US, other countries have different letters assigned to them by international agreements. In the US the makeup of the callsign can often tell you what type of license it applies to.
Callsigns are used to identify radio licensees and individual users. The FCC controls radio licensing in the USA and all users need to have a license in order to operate. This includes things like FRS, CB and other services that do not require one to obtain an individual FCC license, these are “Licensed by rule”, meaning as long as you follow the rules you are OK to use the radios. This way, if a CB’er is broadcasting at high power or some other offense occurs the FCC can step in and cite you for not having a license, even though none are issued for that service. In these “Licensed by rule” situations there are no assigned FCC callsigns. CB did require individual licensing decades ago, but the FCC dropped that requirement at the height of the CB craze in the 70’s or 80’s since so many people ignored the requirement. My CB callsign was KALK5934 back then.
The process of obtaining an FCC callsign is basically to get an FCC license for a station of some sort. Someone (a person or a company) determines it needs to have an FCC license for some sort of radio system, this could be walkies-talkie to walk around with, a high-powered TV or radio station or almost anything in between. The callsign is the evidence of the license issued and is used to identify the station.
To get a license one has to apply to the FCC for it, specifying what he wants to do, on what frequencies he intends to use, the location, power level and other technical data and more, depending on the type of license. Some licenses can be directly applied for with the FCC; these are usually simple ones like GMRS and others. Some require working thru a third-party coordinator. A Public Safety or Business Band users usually has to work with coordination agencies, like APCO, AASHTO, etc. in order to coordinate things like frequencies, antenna specs, power levels and locations to help minimize interference with other users. It can range from a fairly simple online application to a procedure requiring multiple lawyers and engineers. Some big companies have full time staffs doing nothing but making sure their FCC licenses are in order, some have a “Chet” or “Bill”. Commercial and government agencies can hire companies to file their applications for them, for a fee of course.
Once the application goes thru coordination (if so required) it is forwarded on to the FCC. If all goes well, they issue a license and a callsign to go with it. Other services have somewhat different methods. For example, most new and upgraded ham radio licenses are issued after being filtered thru third-party examiners, usually thru the Volunteer Examiner Coordinator system (VEC).
Regardless of the process, once the FCC gets the paperwork (usually done electronically these days) and everything is in order they will then issue the license and callsign. New licenses are, of course, issued new callsigns from whatever pool they draw from at the time of issuance for the radio service involved. Updated and renewed licenses retain the existing callsign. Sometimes a new callsign is requested for some reason, this is common in ham radio and for broadcast services as the callsign becomes a badge of recognition. Obtaining a new callsign in things like GMRS, Business or other services for no reason other than to change the callsign is rare at best as these usually do infer any special privilege or notoriety.
If a license is left to expire one usually has a set time frame in which to get it reinstated before a new application, license and callsign are required. If not done in time one has to go thru the entire process all over again just like a new licensee would have to. That has come back to haunt me twice.
So, now you have this freshly minted FCC Callsign. Now what? Well, that license is your authorization to operate on the assigned frequencies you are licensed on. Depending on the type of system it could be on a single discrete frequency, several or many specific frequencies or perhaps a wide range of them. I got a microwave license for our agency that allowed us to operate a point-to-point microwave system on a specific frequency band, the actual frequencies to be used were up to us, to be chosen so that we do not interfere with other users. GMRS licenses allow one to operate on all 8 repeater pairs as well as 14 simplex, low power channels. The last police license I obtained allowed operation on 2 discreet frequencies, one for the repeater and one for the mobiles and portables to talk into that repeater.
So now let’s talk about the callsign itself. Depending on the radio service can be from 3 characters and up. The actual length and arrangement depend on the radio service.
Broadcast:
Letter only callsigns are usually for TV or radio broadcasters. These days most 3-letter callsigns are for radio and TV broadcast stations, like WGN or KOW, that have been around for a century or so. Newer broadcast stations usually have 4 letters (WJEZ, KATZ). For the most part, radio and TV calls from east of the Mississippi River start with W and west start with K, but there are many exceptions.
There might be up to 3 broadcast stations that share the same callsign. Most (if not all) started out with an AM station, then added an FM station and/or a TV station owned by the same company. The original AM station would have just the callsign, the FM station would have an “-FM” appendix and the TV station would have “-TV”, thus there would be WBBM, WBBM-FM and WBBM-TV. Sometimes the AM station will show “-AM” in its ads and literature to more readily differentiate it from the others.
Ham Radio:
Ham Radio gets a letter-number-letter type callsign. The first letter will be A, K, N or W. The number identifies the nominal area of the country the license originated from and is 0 thru 9, but that really doesn’t always apply these days as licensees may have moved and they can request calls from different “Call Areas” than they reside in. The other letters before or after the number serve to help identify the licensee. They range from 4 to 6 characters, depending on the level of the license. The highest class (Extra) qualifies for a 4-character call sign, with the number in either the 2nd or 3rd position (W9XX, AB9C). Lower class licensees get longer callsigns. Technician and General are the other type of ham radio licenses available these days, both share from the same pool of Letter-Number-3 letters (N9JIG, W9WSS etc.) There are some formerly available license classes that had different pools; the former Advanced class had 2 letters, a number and 2 more letters (AB2CD). Novices had a different pool. While one cannot get a Novice or Advanced license these days those that had them can retain their callsign (as well as the license class) indefinitely as long as they renew it on time. There are also Special Event callsigns that are issued from time to time that might have only 3 characters.
If a ham radio callsign pool is all used up, then a new licensee is issued a callsign from the next pool down with available calls. Calls that have been cancelled or expired for more than 2 years can be reissued by request. This can happen sooner for relatives requesting their departed relative’s callsign.
Police and Fire
When I first started out as a dispatcher back in the 1970’s most existing police and fire callsigns were from the “3x3” pool. We used KBW819 for our fire channel and KSB359 for our VHF police channels. These had been issued in the late 1940’s and these type callsigns were common all over the area.
Our newer UHF police callsign was of a newer series, this was KNCC471, a 4x3 callsign. By the late 70’s the FCC moved on to these longer calls as more and more callsigns were needed.
By the time I was applying for “Part 90” (Business and public safety land mobile radio) FCC licenses myself in the 1990’s for the agency I worked with, the new callsigns were still 4x3 but then started with a W. WNIV313 was the first of these I dealt with, doing renewals and modifications. I then obtained WPYF781 and others as new callsigns. At some point they merged GMRS into the same pool, see below for more info on that.
As far as I know the FCC is still using that same 4x3 pool for most new licenses, in the Public Safety and Business series as well as things like GMRS. The FCC seems to be up to the “WSMB” series as of when I write this. Each letter rotation is good for another 1000 licenses, once WSMB is complete they will start on WSMC and so on.
GMRS:
GMRS is another service with an interesting history of callsigns. In the late 1960’s GMRS callsigns were in the KAAxxxx series, I had KAE4216. I stupidly let that lapse after I stepped away from GMRS and did more ham radio stuff, but when I later decided to get back into GMRS I could no longer renew my old license, it was too late. So, then I got my new second callsign for GMRS, WQDZ664. I even had license plates for my care with each of these callsigns. Sometime during the KAFxxxx series is when they merged GMRS into the same callsign pool for business and public safety callsigns.
Fast forward another 10 years and this idiot again forgot to renew his GMRS callsign. At the time I was president of the largest GMRS organization in Arizona, and that was certainly embarrassing. I then had to get a 3rd GMRS callsign, my current one, WRKJ772. Thankfully I have not had that issue with my ham radio callsign, it has been renewed on a timely basis for over 3 decades.
Eventually the FCC will run out of the current call sign series that is used for business, public safety, GMRS and other services. What will they do after they issue WZZZ999? Start over with 3x5 calls (WAA12345)? Maybe swap from 3x4 to 4x3 (WAAA123)? Go 4x4 (WABC1234) moved from “W” to “K” as the first letter? Who knows? I think we still have another 10 or 15 years before we hit WZZZ999 but it will be interesting to see.
The callsigns I will talk about today are of the FCC assigned variety. These start with the letters A, K, N or W here in the US, other countries have different letters assigned to them by international agreements. In the US the makeup of the callsign can often tell you what type of license it applies to.
Callsigns are used to identify radio licensees and individual users. The FCC controls radio licensing in the USA and all users need to have a license in order to operate. This includes things like FRS, CB and other services that do not require one to obtain an individual FCC license, these are “Licensed by rule”, meaning as long as you follow the rules you are OK to use the radios. This way, if a CB’er is broadcasting at high power or some other offense occurs the FCC can step in and cite you for not having a license, even though none are issued for that service. In these “Licensed by rule” situations there are no assigned FCC callsigns. CB did require individual licensing decades ago, but the FCC dropped that requirement at the height of the CB craze in the 70’s or 80’s since so many people ignored the requirement. My CB callsign was KALK5934 back then.
The process of obtaining an FCC callsign is basically to get an FCC license for a station of some sort. Someone (a person or a company) determines it needs to have an FCC license for some sort of radio system, this could be walkies-talkie to walk around with, a high-powered TV or radio station or almost anything in between. The callsign is the evidence of the license issued and is used to identify the station.
To get a license one has to apply to the FCC for it, specifying what he wants to do, on what frequencies he intends to use, the location, power level and other technical data and more, depending on the type of license. Some licenses can be directly applied for with the FCC; these are usually simple ones like GMRS and others. Some require working thru a third-party coordinator. A Public Safety or Business Band users usually has to work with coordination agencies, like APCO, AASHTO, etc. in order to coordinate things like frequencies, antenna specs, power levels and locations to help minimize interference with other users. It can range from a fairly simple online application to a procedure requiring multiple lawyers and engineers. Some big companies have full time staffs doing nothing but making sure their FCC licenses are in order, some have a “Chet” or “Bill”. Commercial and government agencies can hire companies to file their applications for them, for a fee of course.
Once the application goes thru coordination (if so required) it is forwarded on to the FCC. If all goes well, they issue a license and a callsign to go with it. Other services have somewhat different methods. For example, most new and upgraded ham radio licenses are issued after being filtered thru third-party examiners, usually thru the Volunteer Examiner Coordinator system (VEC).
Regardless of the process, once the FCC gets the paperwork (usually done electronically these days) and everything is in order they will then issue the license and callsign. New licenses are, of course, issued new callsigns from whatever pool they draw from at the time of issuance for the radio service involved. Updated and renewed licenses retain the existing callsign. Sometimes a new callsign is requested for some reason, this is common in ham radio and for broadcast services as the callsign becomes a badge of recognition. Obtaining a new callsign in things like GMRS, Business or other services for no reason other than to change the callsign is rare at best as these usually do infer any special privilege or notoriety.
If a license is left to expire one usually has a set time frame in which to get it reinstated before a new application, license and callsign are required. If not done in time one has to go thru the entire process all over again just like a new licensee would have to. That has come back to haunt me twice.
So, now you have this freshly minted FCC Callsign. Now what? Well, that license is your authorization to operate on the assigned frequencies you are licensed on. Depending on the type of system it could be on a single discrete frequency, several or many specific frequencies or perhaps a wide range of them. I got a microwave license for our agency that allowed us to operate a point-to-point microwave system on a specific frequency band, the actual frequencies to be used were up to us, to be chosen so that we do not interfere with other users. GMRS licenses allow one to operate on all 8 repeater pairs as well as 14 simplex, low power channels. The last police license I obtained allowed operation on 2 discreet frequencies, one for the repeater and one for the mobiles and portables to talk into that repeater.
So now let’s talk about the callsign itself. Depending on the radio service can be from 3 characters and up. The actual length and arrangement depend on the radio service.
Broadcast:
Letter only callsigns are usually for TV or radio broadcasters. These days most 3-letter callsigns are for radio and TV broadcast stations, like WGN or KOW, that have been around for a century or so. Newer broadcast stations usually have 4 letters (WJEZ, KATZ). For the most part, radio and TV calls from east of the Mississippi River start with W and west start with K, but there are many exceptions.
There might be up to 3 broadcast stations that share the same callsign. Most (if not all) started out with an AM station, then added an FM station and/or a TV station owned by the same company. The original AM station would have just the callsign, the FM station would have an “-FM” appendix and the TV station would have “-TV”, thus there would be WBBM, WBBM-FM and WBBM-TV. Sometimes the AM station will show “-AM” in its ads and literature to more readily differentiate it from the others.
Ham Radio:
Ham Radio gets a letter-number-letter type callsign. The first letter will be A, K, N or W. The number identifies the nominal area of the country the license originated from and is 0 thru 9, but that really doesn’t always apply these days as licensees may have moved and they can request calls from different “Call Areas” than they reside in. The other letters before or after the number serve to help identify the licensee. They range from 4 to 6 characters, depending on the level of the license. The highest class (Extra) qualifies for a 4-character call sign, with the number in either the 2nd or 3rd position (W9XX, AB9C). Lower class licensees get longer callsigns. Technician and General are the other type of ham radio licenses available these days, both share from the same pool of Letter-Number-3 letters (N9JIG, W9WSS etc.) There are some formerly available license classes that had different pools; the former Advanced class had 2 letters, a number and 2 more letters (AB2CD). Novices had a different pool. While one cannot get a Novice or Advanced license these days those that had them can retain their callsign (as well as the license class) indefinitely as long as they renew it on time. There are also Special Event callsigns that are issued from time to time that might have only 3 characters.
If a ham radio callsign pool is all used up, then a new licensee is issued a callsign from the next pool down with available calls. Calls that have been cancelled or expired for more than 2 years can be reissued by request. This can happen sooner for relatives requesting their departed relative’s callsign.
Police and Fire
When I first started out as a dispatcher back in the 1970’s most existing police and fire callsigns were from the “3x3” pool. We used KBW819 for our fire channel and KSB359 for our VHF police channels. These had been issued in the late 1940’s and these type callsigns were common all over the area.
Our newer UHF police callsign was of a newer series, this was KNCC471, a 4x3 callsign. By the late 70’s the FCC moved on to these longer calls as more and more callsigns were needed.
By the time I was applying for “Part 90” (Business and public safety land mobile radio) FCC licenses myself in the 1990’s for the agency I worked with, the new callsigns were still 4x3 but then started with a W. WNIV313 was the first of these I dealt with, doing renewals and modifications. I then obtained WPYF781 and others as new callsigns. At some point they merged GMRS into the same pool, see below for more info on that.
As far as I know the FCC is still using that same 4x3 pool for most new licenses, in the Public Safety and Business series as well as things like GMRS. The FCC seems to be up to the “WSMB” series as of when I write this. Each letter rotation is good for another 1000 licenses, once WSMB is complete they will start on WSMC and so on.
GMRS:
GMRS is another service with an interesting history of callsigns. In the late 1960’s GMRS callsigns were in the KAAxxxx series, I had KAE4216. I stupidly let that lapse after I stepped away from GMRS and did more ham radio stuff, but when I later decided to get back into GMRS I could no longer renew my old license, it was too late. So, then I got my new second callsign for GMRS, WQDZ664. I even had license plates for my care with each of these callsigns. Sometime during the KAFxxxx series is when they merged GMRS into the same callsign pool for business and public safety callsigns.
Fast forward another 10 years and this idiot again forgot to renew his GMRS callsign. At the time I was president of the largest GMRS organization in Arizona, and that was certainly embarrassing. I then had to get a 3rd GMRS callsign, my current one, WRKJ772. Thankfully I have not had that issue with my ham radio callsign, it has been renewed on a timely basis for over 3 decades.
Eventually the FCC will run out of the current call sign series that is used for business, public safety, GMRS and other services. What will they do after they issue WZZZ999? Start over with 3x5 calls (WAA12345)? Maybe swap from 3x4 to 4x3 (WAAA123)? Go 4x4 (WABC1234) moved from “W” to “K” as the first letter? Who knows? I think we still have another 10 or 15 years before we hit WZZZ999 but it will be interesting to see.
but KPx### not posting it all but the lower x is a wildcard
