"Dan/W4NTI" wrote in message
ink.net...

"KC8GXW" wrote in message
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Dan/W4NTI wrote:
"KC8GXW" wrote in message
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[snip]


But there are too many no code tech's that get a vanity call now adays.

Which totally sucks. The FCC at ONE TIME wanted distintive callsigns for
class of license. Now it is too much work to bother with. What a joke
they are.


They are still limited to getting a call that is limited by their license
class. Technicians were assigned 1x3 calls until the sequentially available
1x3 calls ran out. That some now choose to get a 1x3 vanity only means that
they are getting a call that they are entitled to by license class.


As a matter of fact the FCC once considered the W/K prefix "prefered
calls". And at one time the FCC required you to change your call if you
permanetly moved to another district. And in deference to the W/K....if
you had one they would issue another from the prefered block.

Which is how I got my present call (W4NTI) because I used to have K8BHH.
Course that all went to crap with the alphabet soup system of today.

There's an Extra near here that still has his K8*** call, he was a tech
until the early nineties and upgraded to Extra when it was still 20 wpm.

So what? having a old K8 means he has a original issue K8 call. You
don't seem to comprehend that what was this and what is now ain't no where
near the same. All there was back then was W and K calls, followed by
WA, WB, WD, then a re-issue for a while, then the alphabet soup we have
today.


The FCC could have issued N calls back then if they had wanted to. The
block was assigned to the US.

There's no "alphabet soup" crap today. The call sign eligibility is the
same as it has been since they initiated the 5 level license class decades
ago. We have the same call sign eligibility today as then. The problem is
that a lot of call signs have been "used" and so they went to the next
available block. Ws were used first, then Ks, and then Ns and then As.

Today no call district has 1x3s available for sequential issue (except
perhaps for some of the special territories). In addition 1x2s and 2x1s are
no long available for sequential issue. Why? They have all been issued.
The only available ones are those that have been returned to the pool by
lack of renewal by the licensee for whatever reason. It will not be long
now before the last block of Extra class call signs (2x2 beginning with AA -
AL) is used up in the sequential system. The only reason it hasn't is that
a lot of people are keeping their old call signs instead of getting new ones
when they upgrade.

If someone comes into a license session today with no license and passes the
code, Tech written and General written all in one sitting, he/she will
receive a 2x3 call. Yes even a General will receive a 2x3 if it is a new
issue. To get a call "reflecting his class", means that the new General has
to search for vacated calls and find one available and get it as a vanity.

I kept my original call sign when I upgraded to advanced and then extra as
there were no 1x2s left in my call district. I didn't like the 2x1s or the
2x2s.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE