The ARRL sections are used in other contests as well such as the November Sweepstakes. 73 Allen N5XZ Sent from my Galaxy -------- Original message --------From: Chris Medlin via BVARC <[email protected]> Date: 10/24/26 10:56 AM (GMT-06:00) To: BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB <[email protected]> Cc: Chris Medlin <[email protected]> Subject: [BVARC] Callsign districts
I was talking to some ham friends about this Worked All Stated map and learned that they had never seen one before, so I thought maybe others had also not seen it before, and I wanted to share with the overall group with some history of call districts. When a new callsign is issued, it is based on your QTH for what call group the license comes from. Texas is in district 5. Florida is in 4, Maine is in group 1. Prior to 1978, when you moved your permanent QTH from one call district to another, you were required to get a new call in that district. When you heard a 9 call, you automatically knew this guy was likely in IL, IN, or WI unless he was mobile, etc. It also gave you an idea which direction to swing your beam. Or how your signal was propagating if you were using a vertical or wire. In 1978, that rule was dropped and they let you keep your original callsign as you moved around the country., I believe the districts were divided by population density. As the decades have passed, the 4 district has pulled ahead of the 5 because of the big cities like Atlanta, DC, and Miami. I believe we are currently in the later end of KJ5 today, but the 4 call district is now in KR4.. They have already been through all the KJs and the KQs, which indicates that when we get through the KJ5s, we will move to KQ5. The modern vanity call sign program started in 1996 and allows anyone to get any callsign in their license callsign classification not in use and not inside the 2-year expired grace period, from anywhere in the country. I encourage you to make your own decision on that. Some people get vanity calls for various reasons, and some keep their original callsign for the nostalgia or because everyone already knows them by that callsign so why change… Although you may be a native of Texas and decide to get a 6 call because it’s the only one that has your initials available, but then you may also get a lot of questions on the air asking when you moved here from California. I believe Blake, one of our BVARC Board Members, had this problem when he was first licensed and immediately applied for a 6 vanity call. You will also see that KP4 is reserved for Puerto Rico, KP2 is reserved for the USVI, KL7 is only issued to Alaska and KH6 is Hawaii. Also as an added bonus on this map are the Field Day sections, like Western PA, North TX, and South FL. I hope you learned something new today. The map is printable and suitable for framing and could make a beautiful addition to your shack. 73 Chris AC5CM
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