"Chuck Reti" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Doug Smith W9WI wrote:


Didn't the early radio letter prefixes follow international Aircraft
identifier prefixes in use at the time?

Hi,

I didn't checked all texts, but it seems that all users were assigned a call
under the responsibility of ITC (ITU) and national authority, including
ships, coastal stations, amateurs, and military, thus the air force too (if
I remember well what I read) in publications released in 1905-1912 (see
maybe be the Radio act 1912).

Thierry, ON4SKY
http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry


--
Chuck Reti
WV8A
Detroit MI

"Chuck Reti" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Doug Smith W9WI wrote:


Didn't the early radio letter prefixes follow international Aircraft
identifier prefixes in use at the time?

Hi,

I didn't checked all texts, but it seems that all users were assigned a call
under the responsibility of ITC (ITU) and national authority, including
ships, coastal stations, amateurs, and military, thus the air force too (if
I remember well what I read) in publications released in 1905-1912 (see
maybe be the Radio act 1912).

Thierry, ON4SKY
http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry


--
Chuck Reti
WV8A
Detroit MI

Thanks.
Rest the question (theoretical) to know where 'd begin K and W, on the
Mississippi or not... I think that I could find the info somewhere on the
web.

73
Thierry, ON4SKY

"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
...
Thierry wrote:
I am currently writing a long article about the history of ham radio for
my
website (growing...).
Can someone tell me who :
- What committee or association assigned the first prefix to callsigns
in
the middle of 1920's, ITC (future ITU) ?

International Amateur Radio Union (which still exists today). See
http://lists.contesting.com/archives.../msg00111.html
. (scroll down) Actually, prefixes had been assigned informally and
without official coordination even before that.

- On what base (I suppose location) US stations were assigned A, K, N or
W
letters and who decided for the other countries ?

Until the end of World War 2, all USA stations were assigned W prefixes.
K prefixes were used in U.S. possessions (Puerto Rico, Guam, Alaska,
Hawaii, etc.). (remember that Alaska and Hawaii were not yet states
until 1959) K prefixes were assigned to U.S. amateurs when the W calls
ran out in the 1950s. I *believe* A and N were made available when
"vanity calls" were first allowed in 1976.

I have never seen a good explanation of why the USA received the letters
A, K, N, and W.

- Who currently manage these prefixes at a worldwide scale ? ITU-R (ex
CCIR)

ITU apportions prefixes among countries; each country's administration
decides which ITU-provided prefixes to use for amateurs and how to
assign them.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

In article ,
Doug Smith W9WI wrote:

Thierry wrote:
I am currently writing a long article about the history of ham radio for my
website (growing...).
Can someone tell me who :
- What committee or association assigned the first prefix to callsigns in
the middle of 1920's, ITC (future ITU) ?

International Amateur Radio Union (which still exists today). See
http://lists.contesting.com/archives.../msg00111.html
. (scroll down) Actually, prefixes had been assigned informally and
without official coordination even before that.

- On what base (I suppose location) US stations were assigned A, K, N or W
letters and who decided for the other countries ?

Until the end of World War 2, all USA stations were assigned W prefixes.
K prefixes were used in U.S. possessions (Puerto Rico, Guam, Alaska,
Hawaii, etc.). (remember that Alaska and Hawaii were not yet states
until 1959) K prefixes were assigned to U.S. amateurs when the W calls
ran out in the 1950s. I *believe* A and N were made available when
"vanity calls" were first allowed in 1976.

I have never seen a good explanation of why the USA received the letters
A, K, N, and W.

- Who currently manage these prefixes at a worldwide scale ? ITU-R (ex CCIR)

ITU apportions prefixes among countries; each country's administration
decides which ITU-provided prefixes to use for amateurs and how to
assign them.

Didn't the early radio letter prefixes follow international Aircraft
identifier prefixes in use at the time?
--
Chuck Reti
WV8A
Detroit MI

You will notice in the first assigned prefixes, the letter tended to be the
first letter of that countries name, although this was not an absolute
policy.

i.e.
f- france
i- Italy
D- Germany (Duetschland)
G-Great Britain
E-Eire (Ireland)
J-Japan
R-Russia
etc.....

Another funny fact which may or may not have any bearing on this subject. In
high speed morse there is a premium on reducing "code weight" ( less dit and
dahs mean more through-put on the circuit). Letters that partly sound alike
would be easier for an operator to recognize and allow him to pay more
attention or disregard the following traffic as appropriate.( pay atention
to any callsign that starts with dit-dah or dah-dit).
In the US prefixes the letters are subsets of each other in Morse Code:

A-W dit-Dah dit-dah-dah
N-K Dah-dit Dah-dit-dah

73
Dan Yemiola
AI8O

Thierry To answer me in private use
http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry/post.htm wrote in message
...
Hi,

I am currently writing a long article about the history of ham radio for
my
website (growing...).
Can someone tell me who :
- What committee or association assigned the first prefix to callsigns in
the middle of 1920's, ITC (future ITU) ?
- On what base (I suppose location) US stations were assigned A, K, N or W
letters and who decided for the other countries ?
- Who currently manage these prefixes at a worldwide scale ? ITU-R (ex
CCIR)
?

Thanks in advance

Thierry, ON4SKY
http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry

W and K prefixes.

I'll stand to corrected but my recollection is that a further partition
existed within the USA in the 50s and earlier.

W was issued to stations, at least commercial stations, East of the
Mississippi and K was issued to station west of the Mississippi!!

Any confirmation????

DD

Thierry wrote:

Hi,

I am currently writing a long article about the history of ham radio for my
website (growing...).
Can someone tell me who :
- What committee or association assigned the first prefix to callsigns in
the middle of 1920's, ITC (future ITU) ?
- On what base (I suppose location) US stations were assigned A, K, N or W
letters and who decided for the other countries ?
- Who currently manage these prefixes at a worldwide scale ? ITU-R (ex CCIR)
?

Thanks in advance

Thierry, ON4SKY
http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry

K-W : see end of page at http://earlyradiohistory.us/recap.htm
All is explained.

I didn't read read this page...

Thierry


"Dave Shrader" wrote in message
...
W and K prefixes.

I'll stand to corrected but my recollection is that a further partition
existed within the USA in the 50s and earlier.

W was issued to stations, at least commercial stations, East of the
Mississippi and K was issued to station west of the Mississippi!!

Any confirmation????

DD

Thierry wrote:

Hi,

I am currently writing a long article about the history of ham radio for
my
website (growing...).
Can someone tell me who :
- What committee or association assigned the first prefix to callsigns
in
the middle of 1920's, ITC (future ITU) ?
- On what base (I suppose location) US stations were assigned A, K, N or
W
letters and who decided for the other countries ?
- Who currently manage these prefixes at a worldwide scale ? ITU-R (ex
CCIR)
?

Thanks in advance

Thierry, ON4SKY
http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry

Dave Shrader wrote:
I'll stand to corrected but my recollection is that a further partition
existed within the USA in the 50s and earlier.

W was issued to stations, at least commercial stations, East of the
Mississippi and K was issued to station west of the Mississippi!!

For broadcast stations only.

In the very earliest days of radio, the dividing line was the eastern
borders of New Mexico/Colorado/Wyoming/Montana. They switched to the
Mississippi River in the 1920s.

http://www.earlyradiohistory.us/kwtrivia.htm
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

There was one exception to the W - East K - West rule.
KDKA

73, Dick, W1KSZ

On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 22:42:27 GMT, Dave Shrader
wrote:

W and K prefixes.

I'll stand to corrected but my recollection is that a further partition
existed within the USA in the 50s and earlier.

W was issued to stations, at least commercial stations, East of the
Mississippi and K was issued to station west of the Mississippi!!

Any confirmation????

DD

Thierry wrote:

Hi,

I am currently writing a long article about the history of ham radio for my
website (growing...).
Can someone tell me who :
- What committee or association assigned the first prefix to callsigns in
the middle of 1920's, ITC (future ITU) ?
- On what base (I suppose location) US stations were assigned A, K, N or W
letters and who decided for the other countries ?
- Who currently manage these prefixes at a worldwide scale ? ITU-R (ex CCIR)
?

Thanks in advance

Thierry, ON4SKY
http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry

Richard W. Solomon, W1KSZ wrote:
There was one exception to the W - East K - West rule.
KDKA

KDKA wasn't the only exception.

Indeed, there's another K-station in Pittsburgh, KQV. Some other
examples include KFIZ in Fond du Lac, Wis. and KTGG in Spring Arbor,
Mich.. (the latter only a few years old; reportedly a FCC clerk thought
"MI" stood for "Missouri") There was a WPXJ-TV in Minden, Louisiana
(near Shreveport) for awhile, but when the error was caught it got
changed to KPXJ.

I can't think of any W-stations in the West, unless you count those
located between the old and new dividing lines that were compliant the
old way but aren't now.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com