[MCARC] Mason Callsign

[Nate Bargmann]

I'm reasonably certain that Dennis was licensed in the early to mid
1950s.  I'd be curios to learn if he had a Novice callsign of KN0BYK.

Those years it was common to receive a "KN" 2x3 format call as a Novice
(the Novice was created in 1951) and upon upgrade to have the FCC drop
the "N" of the prefix.  Later they went to "WN" calls and would replace
the "N" with an "A" and later a "B".  At that time the Novice was valid
for one year and not renewable.  By the late '60s to early '70s the term
was extended to two years and not renewable.  Then around '75 or so they
scrapped that and made the Novice term five years and renewable and
dropped the special Novice callsigns.  At that point Novices got "WB"
and later "WD" prefixes until early '78 when that was tossed and the
"systematic callsign" system was put in place and Novices got "KA"
prefixes.

In the mid '80s all license terms were extended to ten years.

In the mid '90s the Vanity Callsign system was added.

The systematic callsign system remains in place and new Techs and
Generals get "KF" prefixed 2x3 callsigns and soon "KG" prefixes will
appear.  Of course, some already exist having been claimed through the
Vanity system so the systematic system has to avoid assigning those.

73, Nate

-- 
"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
possible worlds.  The pessimist fears this is true."
Web: https://www.n0nb.us
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