[SJRA-Members] SJRA and yourcall/100

[w2mc at comcast.net]

Hello everyone! 


W e're off to a GREAT start with celebrating the 100th anniversary of our club. Here's a few "firsts": 



- K5RKN Ron first confirmed QSL Card with /100 (centennial member in Texas) 

- KD2DPW Mark first documented /100 contact of any kind (via repeater) 

- W2JAZ Rich and K5RKN Ron had the first /100 contact via satellite 



There have, however; been a number of questions and concerns raised about the use of '/100' to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the South Jersey Radio Association. 


First, we have heard from several SJRA'ers that they have been questioned about the legality of using "/100" appended to your callsign . There is NOTHING wrong with this prac tice, and it is within FCC rules. See 97.119 (c) (copied below): 
§ 97.119 Station Identification. 


    1. 

One or more indicators may be included with the call sign. Each indicator must be separated from the call sign by the slant mark (/) or by any suitable word that denotes the slant mark. If an indicator is self-assigned, it must be included before, after, or both before and after, the call sign. No self-assigned indicator may conflict with any other indicator specified by the FCC Rules or with any prefix assigned to another country. 
A link to the the Part 97 rules is below: 

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=1fd042880fafafd63f70c7382a7efee2&rgn=div5&view=text&node=47:5.0.1.1.6&idno=47#se47.5.97_1119 


Also, there have been questions about using Logbook of the World (LoTW) and eQSL with the "/100". These are correct; LoTW and eQSL do not know what to do with "/100" appended to a call, and either deletes the "/100" or treats it as a different callsign altogether. This is true; logging a contact via LoTW or eQSL is going to have difficulties, but this is an SJRA event, not an ARRL or eQSL event. None of the planned events for SJRA this year will be "run" via LoTW or eQSL. W hile we understand it would be *nice* if eQSL and LOTW worked with our /100, they have little impact on what we're really trying to do with sending '/100'; which is raise awareness of our centennial year. For K2AA/100, we already plan to send special commemorative QSLs, and we want their QSLs in return, too! We're planning one (or several) books consisting of photos, logs, and descriptions from all the different K2AA/100 activities from this year (including the ones, such as contests, where we don't use the '/100' to avoid confusion); and the QSLs received from the stations worked are going to be a big part of those books. 

Thanks for all of your support; and its going to be a great 100th year for SJRA! 


Jon W2MC 
Vice President, SJRA