Warning
As some of you know I have be speaking to Ofcom about the club’s call signs that many of you sometimes use GX4ABC. & G4ABC.
The callsign G4ABC is OK to use until 2017 when it will need to be renewed.
Ofcom
After a long chat with them GX4ABC is not Licenced to be Used. as this was a callsign to be used for people with No Callsign to send greeting messages with a full Amateur by their side, Not a general club call.
So please only use the callsign G4ABC
SO DO NOT US THE CALLSIGN GX4ABC AS THIS WILL BE OUT SIDE OF YOUR LICENCING TERMS AND YOU MAY PUT YOUR OWN LICENCE AT RISK.
You have been warned.
Some one has stirred up a storm in a tea cup
In the licence section C. …the radio equipment is used solely by a club etc etc
The X is acceptable
Rex G4RAE.
Clause 2(2) & 2(3) of the licence talk about secondary locators to be used with UK call signs (Page 4 of 23).
Later in the licence notes (Note c, Page 13 of 23) it mentions alternative secondary locators to be used by clubs.
The link below is to the specimen licence valid from 7th April 2015 on Ofcom’s website.
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/spectrum/amateur-radio/guidance-for-licensees/nov/licence.pdf
This is the same wording as in the licence received from Ofcom earlier in the year.
So from my interpretation of the licence conditions G4ABC is the club call sign and the additional X is just an acceptable secondary locator for a club call sign used in England.
Gentlemen,
There does appear to be some confusion over what is and is not allowed as a secondary identifier in a club callsign.
I will be asking our club licence holder to look into this and advise us on the correct use of our callsign.
Regards
Paul
M0ZMB