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HomeTopicsShortwave BasicsShortwave Call Signs
Shortwave Call SignsRadio stations repeat their names on-air quite a bit. While many people may mistakenly believe that this is simply a clever marketing scheme, radio stations are actually required by law to state their call signs at least once an hour. By repeating their shortwave call signs, radio stations make it easier for people to identify the origin of broadcasting, as well as the type of use.
Shortwave Radio Station Call SignsA shortwave radio station call sign is a series of numbers and letters used to identify a radio station. The series represents an individual destination for transmitting a station. A government agency licenses or authorizes shortwave radio station call signs in the United States. Internationally, shortwave call signs use a system of prefixes that denote the country from which the station is being broadcast.
Within each country, the shortwave call letters can also signify from which area of the country the signal is being transmitted. Shortwave call letters can also indicate the type of organization using the signal, such as the military or a commercial company.
To further enhance your comprehension, consider shortwave radio station call signs like the numbers on license plates. While each number is unique to each car, the prefixes in the number also signify the origin of the car's licensing. Certain prefixes can also signify the type of car registered, such as a bus or motorcycle.
Using Shortwave Radio Call SignsAs mentioned above, an assortment of organizations use shortwave radio call signs. Some of these organizations are:
Aviation follows a different set of policies than other organizations. A government agency does not assign a call sign to the aircraft; instead, the aircraft is identified by its registration number, also called its tail number.
International Shortwave Call SignsShortwave call signs are assigned to an organization by a nation's telecommunications agency. However, each nation's telecommunications agency must assign shortwave call signs according to the appropriate prefixes determined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU has made some prefixes unavailable to be assigned, such as:
Banning these prefixes will prevent any confusion with Q-codes or the letters I and O.
Below is a list of popular shortwave radio station call sign prefixes for different countries and organizations.
Using the ITU-assigned prefixes, countries can also denote the origins of the signals. Within the United States, the signals are divided by the Mississippi River. Although it seems counterintuitive, all signals west of the Mississippi River start with the letter K and all signals east of the Mississippi River start with the letter W. However, there are two exceptions: KDKA in Pittsburgh and WFAA in Dallas.
The United States military designates itself with the prefixes of the letter W for the Army, the letter A for the Air Force and the letter N for the Navy and Coast Guard. The British Army does not assign a certain letter to its military, but rather, it assigns the pattern: letter-number-number. |
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