SB QST @ ARL $ARLB055
ARLB055 FCC issues Gate 3 call signs!
ZCZC AG55
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 55 ARLB055
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT September 18, 1997
To all radio amateurs
SB QST ARL ARLB055
ARLB055 FCC issues Gate 3 call signs.
Get ready to remember another batch of new call signs. Six weeks to
the day after the opening of Gate 3, the FCC began processing vanity
call sign applications. FCC personnel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,
had spent much of the intervening time clearing out a backlog of
vanity applications filed prior to the Gate 3 opening and matching
up payments with electronic applications. On Wednesday, September
17, the FCC issued some 600 vanity call signs to those who had filed
applications on August 6, the opening day.
Applicants can check for new call signs at
http://www.arrl.org/fcc/fccld.html or by using one of the other
popular call sign databases.
Judging from the call signs turning up on the FCC database, some
Advanced class hams took advantage of Gate 3 to obtain Group C (1x3)
call signs where the suffix comprised either a first name (we
spotted a Joe, a Don, a Ken, a Bob and a Gay, for example) or a set
of initials. Perhaps apropos of his QTH, Gene Uliasz of Gun Barrel
City, Texas, used Gate 3 to turn KC4WA into K5TNT. Formerly KF6CG,
Georgia A. Lawrence of Manhattan Beach, California, obtained K6GAL.
Other applicants obtained new Group B call signs, sometimes trading
one 2x2 in for another. For example, Karl Mortensen of Wakefield,
Rhode Island, swapped KE1FK for KA1RL. Still others went for the
snappy suffix. Charles Pharis of Kagel Cyn, California, turned in
KK6NE for KA6USA. Michael Amaral of Walpole, Massachusetts, gave up
W1IDP to obtain WA1AW. Along the same lines, Michael Esposito of
Germantown, Tennessee, swapped WA2VXV for WA2AW. Yvonne Lane of
Kingwood, Texas, gave up KF5MY for W5XYL.
A few, like ARRL West Gulf Director Jim Haynie, just shortened the
prefix. Haynie went from WB5JBP to W5JBP. Others went for one
appropriate for their QTH. Teriann Miner of Palmer, Alaska, turned
in her lower-48 call sign, KG0OY, for KL7AT.
The Iowa DX and Contest Club got WI0WA.
In all, it appears that the FCC received more than 1000 vanity call
sign applications on August 6. Because earlier gates remain open,
it's impossible to get an accurate count of applications filed
solely under Gate 3, however. The FCC still has not indicated when
it plans to open Gate 4, which will make the vanity call sign
program available to General, Tech Plus, Technician and Novice
licensees.
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/EX
