Posted: 2012-06-17 00:04 | I am seriously considering getting my Technicians License soon, and I was recently made aware of "vanity" callsigns. Two of my friends (both deceased now) were Hams, and when I look up their callsigns it appears that they are available. Do they recycle old callsigns, and is it possible to request it as a "vanity" callsign? For that matter, if it is not already assigned and I request it, is it likely that I will get that callsign? ? ?
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Posted: 2012-06-17 03:39 | They probably wouldn't have been automatically reassigned: the FCC issues new call signs in relatively sequential order. That is, if the last new technician in California received KG6GRO as his call sign, the next one would receive KG6GRP. So unless someone else requested it as a vanity callsign, it would probably be available.
One caveat, though, is that you won't be assigned a particular vanity callsign unless it corresponds to your license class or below. So if your friend's callsign was something like N6RO, for example, you'd only be able to successfully request it if you had an extra class license. If it happened to be a 2x3 callsign starting with K or W, you could request it with a technician license, and if nobody else has it, you'd have a good chance of getting it.
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