Phil, K2ASP, wrote: I too received my first call (this one) in 1952 while I was in high school. My buddies got the last of the W2s and I had to settle for one from the first batch of the K2s. Boy, was I steamed !!
When, in '52 I got W6QAS... That is Wn6QAS... After an interminable wait of about 8 weeks after passing the Novice code and written test at the FCC offices, a buddy about a mile away got an unwelcome surprise. The FCC issued him a "K" call: Kn6ABD. Everyone knew that the "K" prefix was used *only* for Ham stations in the military. For example K6USA was the 6th ARMY Hq station at Fort Ord that I operated about ten years later. Anyway, he was crushed and waited until the next day to call the FCC to see what he should do. They explained that there was no mistake. The "6" region (California) had run out of W calls an the FCC was now issuing "K" prefixes to non-military licensees. All the guys I met who got their calls about the same time I did had assignments scattered all over the sequence, so it was pretty obvious they were reassigning old calls that were unused. But with the huge rush of Novice licensees in the early 50's they didn't last long in the more populated areas like 6-land and 2-land. Very soon only K calls were being issued. Of course there were no two-letter prefixes in use then. It was either a W or a K and a number. I looked forward to getting W6QA one day when I qualified. It used to be one had to be a Ham for a number of years before one could even apply for an Extra class license or a 1x2 call. By the time I qualified, they were no more. And then in the 1970s, it was a matter of taking deep breath and jumping in with an application for a new 2X1 calls the first day they were accepted in the 70's and I got AC6Y. Very nice CW call. The 76th 2X1 issued in California. Then, when I moved to Oregon in '98 I was faced with another issue. I had argued long and hard against allowing Hams to move out of a call district and keep their old call. How in the world will anyone know where the station is by their call if they do that, I asked. But expediency won over tradition and the requirement to have a call that matched the QTH was dropped. But, after spouting off so much about it, I just couldn't hang on to AC6Y while living in Oregon. It wasn't right. So when I submitted my change of address I checked "give me a new call" and waited to see what the FCC computer might spit out. It came back with AC7AC. Guess I was just fated to have some AC on my signal. Shoot, Phil lives only a few miles from me here and I every time I see his call I think he must be back east <G>. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
