Charles said: I'm trying to "nosh" this out. I believe that FCC, through NTIA, assigns "blocks" of callsigns, and the agencies assign their own callsign from each block. ///// This is true from my experiences working for several Federal agencies, especially on the HF frequencies. But most of the VHF/UHF operations that I have been involved with have only used tactical call signs. That may be due to the temporary nature of them. I do know that even the temporary setups without call letters must be coordinated with the NTIA since the frequencies we use are all shared with other Federal agencies.
In 1997 I installed three repeaters in the Denver area to support the G-8 Summitt Conference. In 1998 I installed a repeater atop the hospital in Key West FL in support of the Hurricane Georges relief efforts. And in 1999 I installed a repeater atop the hospital at Fort Dix NJ in support of Operation Provide Refuge (the Kosovo relief effort). These were all 406 MHz Federal band repeaters and all were temporary installations. Much of the communications on them was encrypted. They were all NTIA frequency coordinated. But even though they all had wide coverage none were assigned call letters. Most were only operational for three months or less. One of the Denver installations was on a tower supporting direction finding antennas for the FCC Denver field office! I found it amusing to have an FCC field agent helping me install an unlicensed repeater on an FCC tower! On the other hand, almost every HF operation I have been involved with, even temporary installations, have been assigned call letters from the NTIA pool. Perhaps this has something to do with the International treaties and the long distance nature of HF. The only exception to this that I can recall was several HF exchanges on the SHARES network from a USCG C-130 over the Atlantic during Hurricane Georges. In that case the aircraft's tactical identifier was used which was probably appropriate for the situation. Patrick Griffith, Westminster CO Broadcast Technician NRC Broadcasting - Denver http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/ http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/ _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
