[Elecraft] RE: USA Ham Callsigns

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Not any longer. Over 50 years ago, the USA was divided up into 10 zones =
or
"inspection districts" corresponding to the Federal Communications
Commission's (FCCs) organization, with an FCC engineer responsible for =
the
activities in each districts. These districts were arranged so that they
covered areas defined roughly by population, not individual states. On =
the
east coast and in California in the west with more dense populations, =
these
zones covered only one or a few states. In other areas where the =
population
was much smaller, one district covers several states. The "7" zone, for
example, covers an area from Washington state in the northwest to =
Arizona in
the Southwest.=20

Originally, Hams moving from one district to another were assigned call
signs from the new zone by the FCC, so Hams got new calls when making =
such a
move.=20

Some years ago, the FCC dropped that requirement as the significance of =
the
districts identities became less important to enforcement activities. US
Hams may keep their original calls, they may ask for a new call sign =
when
changing districts or they are free to apply and pay for a "vanity" call
sign from an FCC list of available calls.

For example, when I moved from California to Oregon some years ago I  =
told
the FCC to have the computer give me a new call that matched my new QTH.
AC6Y then became AC7AC, but I could have kept AC6Y had I wanted to do =
so.

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289

-----Original Message-----
Please excuse my ignorance but you, american hams, must change your =
callsign
each time you move in another State ? 73
--
F8DQL - UFT 1116
K2/100 #3249