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In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a callsign or call letters, or abbreviated as a call, or otherwise known as a handle) is a unique designation for a transmitting station. For the band see Broadcast (band Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or Video signals which transmit Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. In some countries they are used as names for broadcasting stations, but in many other countries they are not. A call sign can be formally assigned by a government agency, informally adopted by individuals or organizations, or even cryptographically encoded to disguise a station's identity. Cryptography (or cryptology; from Greek grc κρυπτός kryptos, "hidden secret" and grc γράφω gráphō, "I write"

International series

Main article: ITU prefix

International call signs are formal, semi-permanent, and issued by a nation's telecommunications agency. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU allocates call sign prefixes for radio and television stations of all types A government agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the Machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions They are used for amateur, broadcast, commercial, maritime and sometimes military radio use (including television in some countries). Amateur radio, often called ham radio, is both a Hobby and a service in which participants called "hams" use various types of Radio communications For the band see Broadcast (band Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or Video signals which transmit A military is an Organization authorized by its Nation to use force usually including use of Weapons in defending its Country (or by attacking Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic

Each country has a set of alphabetic or numeric International Telecommunication Union-designated prefixes with which their call signs must begin. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU allocates call sign prefixes for radio and television stations of all types For example:

The earliest allotment of call letters was made at the 1912 London International Radiotelegraphic Convention,[1] which provided that the call letters of stations in the international system must each be formed of a group of three letters, which shall be distinguishable from one another. Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting The Convention made a partial allotment of call letters among nations that signed the Convention, and the International Bureau at Berne, with the consent of such nations, modified and added to this assignment of call letters by circular of 23 April 1913. Events 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

Because these assignments were originally made in the second decade of the 20th century, they often reflect a former political structure that has long since ceased to exist. For example, the V series (as in Victoria) originally was reserved for the British Empire, though Great Britain itself was assigned all of B, G, and M; individual subseries of V were carved out and assigned to individual dominions and territories. Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands

The modern successor nations often (but not always) retain these series, in some cases supplemented by additional assignments. In 1927, the Soviet Union was assigned the entire U series; when the USSR broke up, several former Soviet republics received blocks of U call signs. Year 1927 ( MCMXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 (However, Russia was not a signatory to the 1912 convention, so, in 1912, UAA–UMZ were assigned to France and its colonies, and UNA–UZZ were assigned to Austria-Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Latin script: Bosna i Hercegovina, Cyrillic script: Босна и Херцеговина is a country on the Balkan )

The United States was represented by the military at the 1927 conference, which is why it received (or, in some cases, retained) A (for Army) and N (for Navy). The W and K for civilian stations followed as the simple addition of a dash to the Morse code letters A and N. Morse code is a Character encoding for transmitting telegraphic information using standardized sequences of short and long elements to represent the letters numerals (However, in 1912, KDA–KZZ, all of N, and all of W were assigned to the United States, but all of A was assigned to Germany and its protectorates. )

Aviation

Call signs in aviation are derived from several different policies, depending upon the type of flight operation and whether or not the caller is in an aircraft or at a ground facility. Aviation refers to activities involving man-made flying devices ( Aircraft) including the people organizations and regulatory bodies involved with them In most countries, unscheduled general aviation flights identify themselves using the call sign corresponding to the aircraft's registration number (also called N-number in the U. General aviation (abbr GA) is one of two categories of Civil aviation. An aircraft registration is a unique Alphanumeric string that identifies an Aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile S. , or tail number). In this case, the call sign is spoken using the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet. The International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO) an agency of the United Nations, codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation The NATO phonetic alphabet, more formally the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet, is the most widely used Spelling alphabet. Aircraft registration numbers internationally follow the pattern of a country prefix, followed by a unique identifier made up of letters and numbers. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU allocates call sign prefixes for radio and television stations of all types For example, an aircraft registered as N9876Q conducting a general aviation flight would use the call sign November-niner-eight-seven-six-Quebec. General aviation (abbr GA) is one of two categories of Civil aviation. (In mobile or amateur radio transmissioners "niner" is often used instead of nine so that there is less chance of confusion with "five. ")

In most countries, the aircraft call sign or "tail number" or registration marks are linked to the international radio call sign allocation table and follow a convention that aircraft radio stations (and, by extension, the aircraft itself) receive call signs consisting of five letters. For example, all British civil aircraft have a five-letter call sign beginning with G. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying representing all non- Military aviation, both private and commercial Canadian aircraft have a call sign beginning with C-F or C-G, such as C-FABC. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Wing In Ground-effect vehicles (hovercraft) in Canada are eligible to receive C-Hxxx call signs, and ultralight aircraft receive C-Ixxx call signs. In days gone by, even American aircraft used five letter call signs, such as KH-ABC, but they were replaced prior to World War II by the current American system of aircraft call signs (see below). World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

The - (dash) in the registration is only included on the fuselage of the airplane for readability. The fuselage (from the French fuselé "spindle-shaped" is an Aircraft 's main body section that holds crew and passengers or Cargo In air traffic management systems (ATC radar screen, flow management systems, etc. Air traffic control ( ATC) is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct Aircraft on the ground and in the air ) and on flight plan forms, the dash is not used (e. Flight plans are documents filed by pilots or a Flight Dispatcher with the local Civil Aviation Authority (e g. PHVHA, FABCD, CFABC).

Once an aircraft has made contact with a particular air traffic control facility the call sign may be abbreviated. Air traffic control ( ATC) is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct Aircraft on the ground and in the air Sometimes the aircraft make or model is used in front of the full or abbreviated call sign, for instance, the American aircraft mentioned above might then use Cessna Seven-Six-Quebec. Alternatively, the initial letter of the call sign can be concatenated with the final two or three characters, for instance a British aircraft registered GBFRM may identify as Golf-Romeo-Mike while the American aircraft might use November-Seven-Six-Quebec. The use of abbreviated call signs has its dangers, in the case when aircraft with similar call signs are in the same vicinity. Therefore abbreviated signs are used only so long as it is unambiguous. [2]

The United States does not follow the five-letter call sign convention, and in that country the registration number begins with the letter N followed by up to five digits and/or letters in one of these schemes: one to five numbers (N12345), one to four numbers and one suffix letter (N1234Z), or one to three numbers and two suffix letters (N123AZ). The numeric part of the registration never starts with zero. To avoid confusion with the digits 1 (one) and 0 (zero), the alphabetic letters I (india) and O (oscar) are not used in registration numbers.

Commercial operators, including scheduled airline, air cargo and air taxi operators, will usually use an ICAO or FAA-registered call sign for their company. An airline provides air transport services for Passengers or Freight, generally with a recognized operating certificate or license Cargo airlines (or airfreight carriers, and derivatives of these names are Airlines dedicated to the Transport of Cargo. An air taxi is a for-hire passenger or cargo aircraft which operates on an on-demand basis The International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO) an agency of the United Nations, codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation The Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA) is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of By ICAO Annex 10 Chapter 5. 2. 1. 7. 2. 1 - Full call signs type c, a call sign consists out of the telephony designator of the aircraft operating agency, followed by the flight identification. In Telecommunication, telephony (təˈlɛfəni or teh-LEH-fuh-nee encompasses the general use of equipment to provide voice communication over distances specifically The flight identification is very often the same as the flight number, but could be different due to call sign confusion, if two or more flight close to each other have similar flight numbers (i. A flight number, when combined with the name of the Airline and the date identifies a particular flight e. KL649 and KL645). For example, British Airways flight 75 would use the call sign Speedbird Seven-Five (with the last word properly pronounced fife), since Speedbird is the telephony designator for British Airways and 75 would be the flight identification. British Airways plc ( is the national Airline and Flag carrier of the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe Speedbird is a Callsign used by British Airways during Air traffic control procedures as well as the name for the famous stylized British Overseas Please note that the telephony designator alone is not the entire call sign, despite its often being thought of as such.

For these call signs, proper usage varies by country. In some countries, such as the United States, numbers are spoken normally (for the example above, Speedbird Seventy-five) instead of being spelled out digit by digit, leading to the possibility of confusion. In most other countries, including the United Kingdom, they are spelled out. [3] Air taxi operators in the United States sometimes do not have a registered call sign, in which case the prefix T is used, followed by the aircraft registration number (e. g. Tango- November-Niner-Eight-Seven-Six-Quebec).

Some variations of call signs exist to express safety concerns to all operators and controllers monitoring the transmissions. Aircraft call signs will use the suffix "heavy" for large aircraft, to indicate an aircraft that is going to cause significant wake turbulence, e. Wake turbulence is Turbulence that forms behind an aircraft as it passes through the air g. United Two-Five Heavy; All aircraft capable of operating with a gross take-off weight of more than 255,000 lbs. The Maximum Takeoff Weight or Maximum Takeoff Mass of an Aircraft is the maximum weight at which the pilot of the aircraft is allowed to attempt to take off must use this suffix whether or not they are operating at this weight during a particular phase of flight. These are typically Boeing 747, some models of the 757, 777, or 767, Airbus A340, A330 and A300, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 or MD-11, or Lockheed L-1011 aircraft. The Boeing Company is a major Aerospace and defense corporation originally founded by William E WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Airbus SAS (ˈɛərbʌs in English, Airbus2ogg|/ɛʁbys/]] in French, and /ˈɛːɐbʊs/ in German) is an aircraft manufacturing WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout McDonnell Douglas was a major American Aerospace manufacturer and Defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Lockheed Corporation (originally Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company was an American aerospace company founded in 1912 which merged with Martin Marietta WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout For air ambulance services or other flights involving the safety of life (such as aircraft carrying a person who has suffered a heart attack), "lifeguard" is added to the call sign. An air ambulance is an Aircraft used for emergency medical assistance in situations where either a traditional Ambulance cannot easily or quickly reach For flights in which life is not in direct danger (such as transporting organs for transplant), the call sign prefix "Pan-Pan-Medical" is used before the normal call sign, e. g. Pan-Pan-Medical Three-Three-Alpha or Pan-Pan-Medical Northwest Four-Five-Eight. The word may be omitted for air ambulance services with assigned call signs, especially when they have notified air traffic control operators that they are on an air ambulance mission at the beginning of their flight and do not change from one controller to another. The Life Flight air ambulance service, for example, might simply identify as Life-Flight Three. Memorial Hermann Life Flight is an air medical transport service based in Houston, Texas. An aircraft that has declared an in-flight emergency will sometimes prefix the word Mayday to its call sign. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU allocates call sign prefixes for radio and television stations of all types Mayday is an emergency Code word used internationally as a Distress signal in Voice procedure radio communications [1]

Formerly one of the rarest call signs, "Concorde", was once used to identify British Airways Concorde aircraft. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The intent of this call sign was to raise the air traffic control operators' awareness of the unique performance of the aircraft and the special attention it required. The call sign was appended to British Airways' normal radio call sign, e. British Airways plc ( is the national Airline and Flag carrier of the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe g. "Speedbird-Concorde One"[4]. In normal service, Air France did not use it at all; its Concorde flights simply used the standard Airfrans call sign. Air France (formally Société Air France) is one of the world's largest Airlines Air France is based in Paris, France, and is a subsidiary of

Glider pilots often use a supplementary number (the competition number) in their call signs. Terminology A "glider" is an unpowered Aircraft. The most common types of glider are today used for sporting purposes (When transmitting, glider pilots often add their category of aircraft after the call sign, thus alterting the pilots of nearby powered aircraft that a small, slower-moving aircraft with limited mobility is in the vicinity. )

Military flights use a variety of registered call signs with flight numbers, similar to those of commercial operators. A military is an Organization authorized by its Nation to use force usually including use of Weapons in defending its Country (or by attacking e. g. Navy Golf-Alpha-Kilo-Twenty-One, Reach-Three-One-Seven-Niner Two.

Ground facilities identify themselves by the name and function of the facility: e. g. Seattle Tower for the tower air traffic control operators' position, SoCal Approach for a TRACON, or Boston Center for an Area Control Center. A Terminal Radar Approach Control (or FAA TRACON in the United States is an Air Traffic Control facility usually located within the vicinity of a large In Air traffic control, an Area Control Center ( ACC) also known as a Center, is a facility responsible for controlling Instrument flight rules All other ICAO countries around the world, for example the European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), use 'Control or Radar instead of Center in their airspace. The Joint Aviation Authorities, or JAA, is an associated body of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC representing the Civil aviation regulatory (Langen Radar, Brussels Control, Paris Control, . . . ).

Ships and boats

Merchant vessels are assigned call signs by their national licensing authorities. In the case of states such as Liberia or Panama, which are flags of convenience for ship registration, call signs for larger vessels consist of the national prefix plus three letters (for example, 3LXY, and sometimes followed by a number, i. Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire Panama, officially the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá) is the southernmost country of Central America. A flag of convenience (FOC vessel or ship is one where the nationality of the owner is different from the country of registration e. 3Lxy2). United States civilian vessels are given call signs beginning with the letters "W" or "K". Originally both ships and broadcast stations were given call signs in this series consisting of three or four letters, but gradually American-flagged vessels were given call signs with mixed letters and numbers. Some 4-letter call signs are again assigned to broadcast stations after the ships to which those call signs were assigned are removed from U. S. registry, an example is WEZU which was the international radio call sign of the ship SS Lash Atlantico but is now assigned to a broadcast station.

Leisure craft with VHF radios may not be assigned call signs, in which case the name of the vessel is used instead. Ships wishing to have a radio license anyway are under F. C. C. class SA: "Ship recreational or voluntarily equipped. " Those calls follow the land mobile format of the initial letter K or W followed by 1 or 2 letters followed by 3 or 4 numbers (such as KX0983 or WXX0029).

Amateur radio

Amateur radio call signs are in the international series and normally consist of a one, two or three character prefix, a number (which may be used to denote a geographical area, identify the callsign as belonging to the amateur service, or identify a licensee as a visitor or temporary resident), and a 1, 2, or 3 character suffix. Amateur radio, often called ham radio, is both a Hobby and a service in which participants called "hams" use various types of Radio communications In Australia callsigns are structed with a two letter prefix, a number (which identifies geographical area), and a 2, 3 or 4 letter suffix. This suffix may be followed by a further suffix, such as /P (portable), /M (mobile), or /MM (maritime mobile). The number following the prefix is normally a single number (0 to 9). Some prefixes, such as Djibouti's (J2), consist of a letter followed by a number. Djibouti ( جيبوتي Jībūtī, Somali: Jabuuti) officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Hence, in the hypothetical Djibouti call sign, J29DBA, the prefix is J2, the number is 9, and the suffix is DBA. Others may start with a number followed by a letter, for example, Jamaican call signs begin with 6Y. Jamaica (ˈdʒəˈmeɪkə} is an Island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea.

When identifying a station by voice, the call sign may be given by simply stating the letters and numbers, or using a phonetic alphabet. The NATO phonetic alphabet, more formally the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet, is the most widely used Spelling alphabet.

Broadcast call signs

North America

Main article: North American call sign

Broadcast stations in North America generally use call letters in the international series. Many countries have specific conventions for classifying Call signs by transmitter characteristics and location There are some common conventions followed in each country. In the United States, the first letter generally is K for stations west of the Mississippi River and W for those east of the Mississippi. There are a number of exceptions, such as KDKA in Pittsburgh and WFAA in Dallas, but these are historical artifacts from a rule change in the 1930s, and most of the exceptions are located in the states immediately to either side of the river. WFAA-TV, channel 8 is the ABC television affiliate serving the Dallas / Fort Worth Texas DMA ( 5th largest nationwide) The westernmost station in the continental United States beginning with W is WOAI in San Antonio. WVUV-LP in Pago Pago, American Samoa, is the westernmost station with a W call-sign. This page is about KKHJ-LP in American Samoa which brands itself as "KHJ-TV" American Samoa (Amerika Sāmoa or sm ''Sāmoa Amelika'' is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast KYW in Philadelphia is the easternmost station with a K call sign.

An exception to this is that all time broadcasting stations have a three or four letter call sign beginning with WWV. WWV is the Callsign of NIST 's Shortwave Radio station located in Fort Collins Colorado. The three current government-operated time stations, WWV (and longwave sister station WWVB), and WWVH, are located in Fort Collins, Colorado and Kekaha, Hawaii, respectively, both of which would normally use call signs beginning with "K". For the Virginia based broadcast radio station please see WWVB-FM. WWVH is the callsign of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology 's Shortwave Radio Time signal station in Kekaha, on The City of Fort Collins, a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache la Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, is the County seat The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. Kekaha (literally "the place" in Hawaiian) is a Census-designated place (CDP in Kaua{{okina}}i County, Hawai{{okina}}i The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the

The US government-operated international broadcaster the Voice of America no longer has call signs assigned to it; however Radio Canada International's transmitter in Sackville is still assigned CKCX. Voice of America ( VOA) is the official external radio and Television broadcasting service of the United States federal government. Radio Canada International ( RCI) is the International broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC Radio Canada International ( RCI) is the International broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC Privately-operated shortwave stations, like WWCR and CFRX, also have call signs. WWCR is a Shortwave Radio station located in Nashville Tennessee in the United States.

Australia

In Australia, broadcast call signs begin with a single-digit number indicating the state or territory, followed by two or three letters for AM stations and usually three letters for FM. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Commonwealth of Australia is made up of 8 states and territories controlled under a federal system of government See also Frequency modulation, FM band FM broadcasting is a broadcast Technology invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong that Some AM stations retain their old call signs when moving to FM, or just add an extra letter to the end. Australian broadcast stations originally used the prefix VL-, but since Australia has no nearby neighbors, this practice was soon discarded, although the VL prefix can still be implied in an international context. (Certain ABC radio stations, particularly outside of metropolitan areas, may use five-letter call signs for FM stations: xABCFM for ABC Classic FM, xABCRN for Radio National, and xABCRR for ABC Local Radio - the x being the state number. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly abbreviated to the 'ABC' is Australia's national public broadcaster. ABC Classic FM is an Australian classical music Radio station available in major centres around the country ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide Radio network broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation with many various programs involving News and ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned Radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. )

Television station call signs begin with two letters usually denoting the station itself, followed by a third letter denoting the state. For example, NBN's call sign stands for Newcastle Broadcasting, New South Wales. NBN Television is a Television station based in Newcastle New South Wales, Australia There are some exceptions:

Letters and numbers used by Australian stations:

State Radio Television
Australian Capital Territory 1* C**
New South Wales 2† N
Victoria 3 V
Queensland 4 Q
South Australia 5 S
Western Australia 6 W
Tasmania 7 T
Northern Territory 8 D‡

* New designation. } The Australian Capital Territory (ACT is the Capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and its smallest self-governing internal territory Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern corner of the mainland continent South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. Tasmania is an Australian island and state of the same name It is located south of the eastern side of the Continent, being separated from it by Bass The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the center of the mainland continent as well as the central northern regions

** Stands for Canberra. Canberra ( is the capital city of Australia With a population of over 340000 it is Australia's largest inland City.

† Also applies to stations in the ACT and some external territories.

‡ Stands for Darwin.

New Zealand

See also: List of New Zealand radio station callsigns

The use of broadcast call signs in New Zealand historically consisted of a digit, and two letters for AM or three for FM. New Zealand's radio stations were once known by their callsigns The usage was:

For example - 1ZB was a Radio NZ commercial station in Auckland; 4XF was Foveaux Radio in Invercargill (now More FM); 4YC was the Concert Programme in Dunedin. Radio New Zealand National (formerly National Radio is a publicly-funded non-commercial New Zealand Radio network operated by Radio New Zealand. Radio New Zealand Concert is a publicly-funded non-commercial New Zealand FM Radio network owned by Radio New Zealand, which broadcasts The Radio Network (TRN is a division of the Australian Radio Network (ARN a 50/50 joint venture of APN News & Media and Clear Channel Communications.

FM stations appeared to have no standard format for the letters, just picking three that 'fit' the station. To make matters more confusing, some stations such as 4ZA-FM (now Classic Hits Southland 98. 8FM) and 4XO Gold (now More FM Dunedin) retained their AM call signs.

Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin as major centres for the four regions had specific Radio NZ call signs used:

During the early 1990s the use of call signs became less common, to the point that most broadcasters do not use them at all. Some are retained in some form for branding - for example, 4XO Dunedin (until it was rebranded More FM Dunedin in 2004), Newstalk ZB (using the old 1ZB, 2ZB, 3ZB, 4ZB and various other Radio NZ commercial frequencies) and ZM (originally ZMFM, replacing the old 1ZM, 2ZM and 3ZM, now nationwide). Stations licensed since 1990 have not had call signs allocated.

With consolidation in the commercial radio market, the only stations now using a call sign in New Zealand are the long. established 1XX in the Bay of Plenty, and the recently-arrived (2005) LPFM Primetime 1ZZ [2] in the Bay of Islands, whose "call sign" is self-assigned.


Brazil

In Brazil, some radio stations still broadcast their call signs few times a day, but this practice is becoming very rare. For TV stations and radio stations it's used letters ZY, plus one letter (ZYA and ZYB for TV, ZYL and ZYK for AM radios, ZYG for short wave radios, ZYD and ZYM for FM radios) and three numbers, for example: ZYB883 (analog ch. Shortwave Radio operates between the frequencies of 3000 KHz (3 18) is TV Tribuna in Santos.

Europe and Asia

In Europe and much of Asia, call signs are normally not used for broadcast stations. Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan are exceptions to this general rule. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES Other countries have other formats for assigning call signs to domestic services.

Philippines

Traditionally, broadcast stations are assigned one of three predominant prefixes depending on the location of their license:

DW is now also used for stations in Luzon. Luzon is the largest and most economically and politically important Island in the Philippines and one of the three island groups in the country with Visayas Visayas ( Visayan: Kabisay-an) is one of the three island groups in the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost Island in the Philippines. Other call sign prefixes assigned to the Philippines are DU and DV.

Military call signs

In wartime, monitoring an adversary's communications can be a valuable form of intelligence. Consistent call signs can aid in this monitoring, so in wartime, military units often employ tactical call signs and sometimes change them at regular intervals. Police units in the United States tend to use a tactical designator (or tactical callsign) consisting of a letter of the police Radio alphabet In peacetime, some military stations will use fixed call signs in the international series.

U. S. Army

The United States Army uses fixed station call signs which begin with W, such as WAR, used by U. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. S. Army Headquarters. Headquarters (HQ denotes the location where most if not all of the important functions of an organization are concentrated

Tactical call signs are often assigned to a company sized unit or higher. A company is a Military unit, typically consisting of 75-200 Soldiers Most companies are formed of three to five Platoons although the exact number may vary For example the collective "Checkmate" might be assigned to an entire company and thus "Checkmate 1" would be the first platoon leader , "Checkmate 2" to the second platoon leader, etc. A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or Squads and containing about 30 to 50 soldiers As there are usually only 4 platoons, "Checkmate 5" becomes the Company XO and "Checkmate 6" is the Company Commander. While executive officer literally refers to a person responsible for the performance of duties involved in running an Organization, the exact meaning of the role is variable Commander is a Military rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service This system can be extended to squad or fireteam level by adding another number, for example the squad leader of the second squad of the third platoon in Checkmate company would have the call sign "Checkmate 32", pronounced "three two".

A humorous reference to a person in the household, usually the wife, is "Household 6" or HH6. This is because the number six denotes the element leader on the radio when using unit call signs. (i. e. If you heard "warrior six" on the radio, you would know you were speaking to the leader of the unit known to those on that radio net as "warrior". )

U. S. Air Force

Fixed call signs for the United States Air Force stations begin with A, such as AIR, used by USAF Headquarters. The USAF also uses semi-fixed identifiers consisting of a name followed by a two or three digit number. The name is assigned to a unit on a semi-permanent basis; they change only when the U. S. Department of Defense goes to DEFCON 3. The DEFense readiness CONdition ( DEFCON) is a measure of the activation and readiness level of the United States Armed Forces. For example, JAMBO 51 would be assigned to a particular B-52 aircrew of the 5th Bomb Wing, while NODAK 1 would be an F-16 fighter with the North Dakota Air National Guard.

The most recognizable call sign of this type is Air Force One, used when any Air Force aircraft is transporting the U.S. President. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by Similarly, when the President is flown in a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter, the call sign is Marine One. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout When President George W. Bush, a former Air National Guard fighter pilot, was flown to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in a Navy S-3B Viking, it was the first use of the "Navy One" call sign. George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. The Air National Guard ( ANG), often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the several states and

Individual military pilots or other flight officers usually adopt a personal aviator call sign. An aviator call sign or callsign is a Nickname given to a American or Canadian military pilot or other flight officer

U. S. Navy/Coast Guard

The United States Navy and United States Coast Guard use a mixture of tactical call signs and international call signs beginning with the letter N. For example, the carrier USS John F. Kennedy has the call sign NJFK for unclassified and navigation communications with other vessels, but uses varying tactical call signs that vary with its mission.

British Army

Tactical voice communications ("combat net radio") use a system of call signs of the form letter-digit-digit. Within a standard infantry battalion these characters represent companies, platoons and sections respectively, so that 3 Section, 1 Platoon of B Company might be F13. In addition, F13A might be the second-in-command of that section, in charge of its Delta fire team. For the film see Second in Command. The Second-in-Command ( 2i/c or 2IC) is the deputy commander of any British Army A fireteam is a small Military unit of Infantry. It is the smallest unit in the militaries that use it and is the primary unit upon which infantry organization is

Note that the letter part of the call sign is not the company's own letter (B vs F in the above example) - indeed, the letter designations are randomly assigned using BATCO sheets, or appear on CEI's (communication electronic instruction), and change along with the BATCO codes every 24 hours. This, together with frequency changes and voice procedure aimed at making every unit sound the same, introduces a degree of protection against simple traffic analysis and eavesdropping.

Not all radio users fit into the standard battalion model, but in order to continue the obfuscation they will be assigned a call sign that appears to be part of such a system. Presumably, the well-known B20 falls into this category. Bravo Two Zero ( B20) was the Callsign of an eight-man British Army SAS patrol during the First Gulf War 1991.

Finally, the controller of each net has the call sign 0 ("zero"). There may also be a second controller - either a backup station or a commander who has delegated communication tasks to a signaller but may occasionally wish to speak in person - with the call sign 0A ("zero alpha").

Earlier systems used a series of appointment titles to identify users and individuals, "Sunray", for instance, referring to the appropriate leader. Sunray is a term used in Radio voice procedure the conventions used in radio conversation in the British military and the Military of nations strongly

Transmitters requiring no call signs

No call signs are issued to transmitters of long-range navigation systems (LORAN-C, Decca, Alpha, Omega) or transmitters on frequencies below 10 kHz, because frequencies below 10 kHz are not subject to international regulations. In addition, in some countries low-power personal and broadcast radio (Citizen's Band, Part 15, and the like) is allowed; a call sign is not always required for such stations, though especially on personal radio services it is considered a matter of etiquette to create one's own. Citizens' Band radio ( CB) is in many countries a system of short-distance simplex radio communications between individuals on a selection of 40 channels within In the US, Part 15 is an often-quoted section of Federal Communications Commission (FCC rules and Regulations mainly regarding un Licensed

International regulations no longer require a call sign for broadcast stations; however, they are still required for broadcasters in many countries, including the United States. Mobile phone services do not use call signs on-air for obvious reasons; however, the U. S. still assigns a call sign to each mobile-phone spectrum license.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ United States Call Sign Policies
  2. ^ United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, CAP 413: Radiotelephony Manual, Edition 16, paragraph 1. 8. 2 and table 9. CAA, 2006.
  3. ^ Ibid, paragraph 1. 4. 2(a).
  4. ^ Concorde - 27 Supersonic Years. British Airways.

External links

Dictionary

call sign

-noun

  1. (military) Any combination of characters or pronounceable words, which identifies a communication facility, a command, an authority, an activity, or a unit; used primarily for establishing and maintaining communications. Also called CS. (JP 1-02 Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms.)
  2. (broadcasting) A combination of letters used to identify a radio or television station.
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