Do call signs get recycled?

[dwarven1]

I was on the ARRL site and noticed a search box for call signs. For some reason I can still remember the call sign for the ham who ran the radio shack when I was in summer camp - back in '73! So I looked it up.

Urg... Just looked again and saw that what was labeled "issue date" was actually the date when "license renewed".

Well, anyway, would this guy still be the same one? Honestly, I don't remember his name, just the call sign. I'm thinking I'll try to get in touch with him once I get my license.

(Yeah, I'm reading the book now... - Dad & I studied code in the '70s but never got our licenses. I'm thinking it's time now. Since I have some spare time, and all.)

 

[jar]

They do get re-used, at least as vanity calls. I don't think they've looped around on sequential calls. If you look up the call on QRZ and click on details, what does it say under codes? If there's no V in it, it's almost definitely the same guy. If there is a V it's less likely, but it still could be. There's some places you can look up history also. If you post or PM me the call, I can do some digging.

 

[matt]

yes, they do get recycled 2years after they were let go. Go here: http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp and pop in the call. You can get a history of that call.

 

[dwarven1]

If you look up the call on QRZ and click on details, what does it say under codes? If there's no V in it, it's almost definitely the same guy. If there is a V it's less likely, but it still could be.

I don't even know what that first sentence means - when I say I'm still reading the book, I'm not kidding. Starting from scratch, as it were.

The call is WA2IZQ. As I said, I'm just wondering if it's the same guy 37 years later.

 

[jar]

qrz.com is the most popular callsign lookup site. If you go there and put in a call, it'll give you info, and then if you click on details, it gives you some more. There's a field in there marked codes. http://www.qrz.com/i/codes.html says what they mean. If there's no V in the code, that means it's not a vanity call. (Just like a license plate, the vanity call program lets you pick a callsign. Old calls go back in the pool 2 years after the holder lets them expire or passes away. If you are the former holder of a call, you can get it back before the two years are up. Also, if you're a close relative you can get your deceased family member's call before the two years. A friend of mine got his grandfather's old callsign this way.) I don't think calls that show as non-vanity have been reissued at all.

The same name has been on that callsign since at least 1981, so it's almost definitely the same guy. If you look up calls at http://vanityhq.com/, they give as much history as they have available. Vanity-hq is a great way to figure out what calls are available if you want a specific one.

 

[C-pher]

I was going to say. My current call is a vanity call that was someones call back in the 70s. I hasn't been used since around the 80s I think...so I was able to use it.

Everyone already told you how to look it up, so no point in doing it again. But that's what I did...look it up and found that it hasn't been issued in the past two years...so I put in for the call. Got it 20 days later.

 

[Zappa]

I was on the ARRL site and noticed a search box for call signs. For some reason I can still remember the call sign for the ham who ran the radio shack when I was in summer camp - back in '73! So I looked it up.

Would that have possibly been a Summer Camp in New Milford CT. ?

 

[dwarven1]

Would that have possibly been a Summer Camp in New Milford CT. ?

Actually, the more I think about this, the more I think that it was in '71 in Milford, PA. I mean, it was nearly 40 years ago! But as I dig deeper into the memory banks, I seem to remember that the hamshack was in a small trailer parked on the camp grounds... and my mental pictures aren't of the camp I went to in 73 but the one in 71.

 

[newenglandshooter]

I'm a noob (as in, just passed tech, don't have a radio, never been on the air), so forgive the dumb question, but why do people change call signs? Seems like obliterating a piece of your own history!

 

[Zappa]

I'm a noob (as in, just passed tech, don't have a radio, never been on the air), so forgive the dumb question, but why do people change call signs? Seems like obliterating a piece of your own history!

Lot's of reasons.
Suppose you got a call that's awkward to say? Or something that's tough to tap out in CW? Maybe you upgraded to Extra and want a 1x2, 2x1 or 2x2 call.
Maybe you have a Silent Key in the family and want that call as a legacy.
Or maybe you want a vanity call with your initials or something else with special significance.

 

[Realtor MA]

I'm a noob (as in, just passed tech, don't have a radio, never been on the air), so forgive the dumb question, but why do people change call signs? Seems like obliterating a piece of your own history!

were you in Brookline Monday night? I was there with my son.

 

[newenglandshooter]

were you in Brookline Monday night? I was there with my son.

Nope, I took the exam in Framingham. If anyone here is in FARA, you'll likely be meeting me soon .

 

[Zappa]

I just found a pair of husband/wife Extras in Maine.

K1/FQ and W1/FQ