Hey, I am good for another 10 years with owning my amateur radio\u00a0call sign, W5EHS. For a ham, the call sign is like a part of our personality. I even have it on my auto license plate.<\/p>\n
I have always had the “EHS” part but I changed the number from 8 to 5 when I moved to Texas. The number indicates a region where the station is located but it is not a requirement these days to change the number when changing regions. I think it just makes\u00a0sense\u00a0to do so but some hams just love their original region number.<\/p>\n
The prefix has been “WN” and “WB” but is now “W” since 1997.<\/p>\n
I use the phonetics, “Easily Heard Signals” for the “EHS”. I have written probably a hundred\u00a0columns\u00a0for radio publications under that heading. Yeah we hams\u00a0get attached to our call signs.<\/p>\n
There are “vanity” call signs available and the change from “WB” to “W” prefix is considered a vanity call. Many hams change everything. All original calls are random generated by the FCC so you like what you get or you hate it.<\/p>\n
The renewal process I just\u00a0completed\u00a0means I had to deal with a US Government agency. I have done that many times and was\u00a0prepared. But I received at least three\u00a0notices\u00a0from radio groups to which I belong \u00a0reminding me my “ticket” (license) was about to expire. Of\u00a0course\u00a0they all offered to help me “complete the paperwork” for a nominal fee.<\/p>\n
The process does look intimidating but that is what government\u00a0agencies\u00a0do (look intimidating). I guess it keeps the riffraffs out. The FCC even requires the applicant to possess a special 10 digit FRN number before they will even talk to you. I already have one of those.<\/p>\n
The renewal for Amateur Radio Operators is free. But because I have a Vanity call (remember, I changed the “WB” to “W” back in ’97) it cost me $13.40. Maybe with that fee, they will stay in business for another year or ten…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey, I am good for another 10 years with owning my amateur radio\u00a0call sign, W5EHS. For a ham, the call sign is like a part of our personality. I even have it on my auto license plate. I have always had the “EHS” part but I changed the number from 8 to 5 when I moved to Texas. The number indicates a region where the station is located but it is not a requirement these...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[43,16,42],"class_list":["post-1242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amateur-radio","tag-amateur","tag-hobby","tag-radio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}