52 Week Ham Radio Challenge 2025 - Week 4: Research the history of your callsign!

Challenge for 2025-01-20 - 2025-01-26:

Category: 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 - Difficulty: 🟠

Research the history of your callsign!


Toots mentioning this challenge

DateUserUser scoreStatusToot summary & link
2025-01-16 21:31:38DM4EA@social.darc.de7Success!HC04S Before I got my callsign DM4EA, it had been the clubstation of OV Bad Doberan, DOK V06. Holder of the callsign and responsible for the club was Eckard, DL3KVC (sk 2019). Promise to actively hold in in honor!
2025-01-18 14:11:18AF0AJ@mastodon.radio5Success!I nearly forgot about #hamchallenge Week 4... My callsign.Looks like the first in the AFØ series (AFØAA) was taken as a vanity callsign some time back, and that the rest from AFØAB forward were issued in sequence, including mine, in July 2024. It's certainly never been issued previously.I was planning to get back one of my older callsigns via vanity, but after receiving AFØAJ, it felt right, and I kept it.HC04S
2025-01-18 14:53:44stu@gott.social8Success!For #HC04S, I chose to research my original callsign since it's much more challenging.The tricky part about researching KC0LKB is that it was issued back when the FCC was barely starting to digitize their license database, so online records are spotty. My call was issued in September 2001. I can't find original records of when KC0AA or KC0AAA were issued, but KB0ZZZ was issued on March 15, 2000.Both my current and original callsigns are 1-up lineals, so have no previous owner.
2025-01-19 14:01:35DJ5CW@social.darc.de8Success!But it took me 23 years to convince myself to change my callsign, and I picked DJ5CW - because I love Morse code (CW) and it matched my Polish call SO5CW very well. The callsign was previously assigned to someone called Oskar from near Ludwigsburg but except for a photo from 1959 I could not find any information about his radio career. It appears that he was not really active in the last 30+ years, so I felt it was OK to pick a re-assigned callsign. And I love it! #hamradio HC04S
2025-01-19 16:44:53BenDoubleU@llyxx.me2Success!For the callsign history @hamchallenge: I was originally assigned KF0AVE when I licensed in 2020. I took w0odl soon afterwards. I wanted it because it’s pretty much my last name, and it was also in the zero region, which was cool because I was in Colorado at the time.Before me, Minton “John” P. had it. I found that he originally licensed in 1967 via a Radio Call Book thanks to @AF0AJ (https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A%22callbook%22)John let go of his license in 2000 and passed in 2019.
2025-01-19 18:56:09pg4i@mastodon.radio7Success!#hamchallenge HC04SI was given the call PA3ABA in 1977 at the time they ran out of PA0 callsigns. So they started a new block with PA3AAA being the first computerized call. It was fun getting on the bands with a PA3 prefix, everyone wanted a QSO. Then after some years they decided to change their policy. PA-PH was allowed with a 2 or 3 letter suffix, callsigns were free to choose but no PA0's allowed. I got myself PA4TU, it sounded nice in CW....
2025-01-19 19:18:11DL6PL@social.darc.de2Success!I took the information on the history of German callsigns from the German-language homepage of DL4NO, really worth reading: https://www.dl4no.de/thema/rufzeich.htm HC04S #hamchallenge 5/5
2025-01-19 22:31:34mike_k@mstdn.social5Success!HC04S is easy. VK1OMG, first of that name.An advantage of living in a tiny prefix region.@hamchallenge#hamchallenge
2025-01-20 09:40:31DL6MHW@social.darc.de8Success!But I stick with DL6MHW because a callsign is also an identity. If it's really about the last 5 per cent in a contest, I also like to transmit as DR3W. #HC04S @hamchallenge
2025-01-20 12:30:49DL9DX@mastodon.radio8Success!1/3My first hint that DL9DX was used before me was during a contest. “DL9DX, 59, 123, thank you Hermann”. Well, my Name is not Hermann. I got that a couple of times after that. So I start to dig about the histors of my callsign. At first I found the website of DOK R10, a radioclub in Mönchengladbach, west germany. On their history page DL9DX (OM Stammen) was mentioned as one of the founders of the radioclub there after the war in 1948.#HC04S @hamchallenge
2025-01-20 12:30:49DL9DX@mastodon.radio8Success!2/3A look in to old callbooks on archive.org shows DL9DX mentioned early as 1952 with the Name Josef Stammen. Last entry there is from 1995 with the name Hermann J. Stammen. So it seems to me, that the callsign could somehow be inherited from father to son (that is speculation).And kind of a sad reminder that you are not the first owner: you get a QSL card you can not verify against your logbook. Then you check the date and realize: that QSO was before your time.#HC04S @hamchallenge
2025-01-20 12:30:49DL9DX@mastodon.radio8Success!3/3The first Callsign of mine, DO5SBZ (a novice license at the time), was not used before me as far as I am aware. Just for the records: the suffix stands for “Sowjetisch Besetzte Zone” (soviet occupied zone). A hint that I am located in east germany. Humor comes in many forms an shapes. Some of the older OM in my area got a good laugh out of it, though.#HC04S LInk to R10: https://www.darc.de/der-club/distrikte/r/ortsverbaende/10/historie/Link to the internet archive for your own research: https
2025-01-20 15:00:00scottdirwin@mastodon.social2Success!My first #hamradio callsign, KB8SBQ was a first issue. I changed it to W8UFO on a whim. The friend with me when we hit the button was into UFO/Aliens. He got W9UFO. He passed due to cancer/tumor. I’ve kept the call as a nod to him. #HC04S @hamchallenge
2025-01-20 15:00:05scottdirwin@mastodon.social2Success!My #hamradio callsign, W8UFO, is also a nod to W9FO. “Arny” was like a father to me. He passed quite some time ago but his legacy of mentoring lives on. #HC04S @hamchallenge
2025-01-20 15:18:07mike@triangletoot.party1Success!Getting to the #hamchallenge late and selectively. I find one previous owner of the callsign K3LOE. Apparently what we have in common is hilarious last names: John M. Thot lived in Maryland and had K3LOE from at least 1962. John was listed as a Silent Key in the Winter 1981 issue of Radio Amateur Call Book Magazine, so at least John's name didn't become funny in his lifetime.#HC04S #HamRadio @hamchallenge
2025-01-20 16:15:13N2DYI@mastodon.radio1Success!Guess I might as well do this...My call was previously licensed to Kenneth Troy, of Wayne, NJ, in 1987. He was a Technician Plus.The license expired in 2007.Looks like he died in 2019.And that's about all I can find out.#HC04S #HamRadio @hamchallenge
2025-01-20 16:41:16DL9DX@mastodon.radio8Success!4/3Did some more digging in the archives of the clubmagazine CQ-DL. Besides a few mentions about diplomas and contest participation over the years i found also a picture of H.J. Stammen from his 50 year membership celebration 2010 (second from the right).Found also his SK note from 2018.#HC04S @hamchallenge
2025-01-20 16:49:17DL9DX@mastodon.radio8Success!4/3Did some more digging about the prevoius owner of DL9DX in the archives of the clubmagazine CQ-DL. Besides a few mentions about diplomas and contest participation over the years i found also a picture of H.J. Stammen from his 50 year membership celebration 2010 (second from the right).Found also his SK note from 2018.#HC04S @hamchallenge
2025-01-20 17:32:22k3fnb@mastodon.radio1Success! ok, trying out the ham challenge.#hamchallenge HC04SI couldn't find a previous owner of K3FNB.The K3 seems to have started in 1977 according to this article https://www.eham.net/article/38849The 3 indicator is a pretty small geographic area of DC, DE, MD, and PA. A pretty exclusive club.
2025-01-20 18:08:26mcdanlj@social.makerforums.info4Success!I find no records of my #AmateurRadio KZ4LY call sign having previously been issued. I don't see any digital records of it, and the last callbook has no KZ prefix call signs issued in any way. I know mine was regularly sequentially allocated (not as a vanity call sign); KZ4LN @stu upgraded to amateur extra and changed to an extra-only call sign about a week before I was licensed. KZ4AA was granted as a vanity sign on 15 February 2022 with no indications I find of a prior owner; KZ4AB was granted
2025-01-20 18:08:26g7kse@mastodon.radio7Success!Ok, so here's the dullest bit of callsign research. G7KSE has only ever been mine....issued in 1992 as a class B (VHF & up only). When ham radio was even snootier.I didn't fancy CW, so no access to HF. I don't think I missed much.The only interesting thing is that there are fewer G7's than you might think, but there's some who toot....classy folk if you ask me@hamchallengeHC04S
2025-01-20 19:21:34ian@mastodon.radio8Success!Week 4 of the 52-week Ham Radio Challenge is to research the history of your callsign, and unfortunately there isn't any. At least, nothing significant.The full detail, along with the write-up of how I fared in weeks 1-3, is now up on my blog: https://ianrenton.com/blog/52-week-ham-radio-challenge-roundup-weeks-1-4/HC04S
2025-01-20 22:05:00dd1mat@mastodon.social5Success!#hamchallenge Week 4: Research the history of your callsign!To the best of my current knowledge, my two call signs DD1MAT and previously DO4ZN have not been in use before.Quite a rabbit hole but spent last night with reading about the history of national callsigns and #hamr #hamradio in our country.The prefix DD was introduced for amateur radio callsigns in Germany back in the 1970s. HC04S
2025-01-20 22:22:02W1CDN@mastodon.radio3Success!I guess this one is pretty easy for me, although I don't have recent history to share. HC04S #hamRadioW1CDN was my great-grandfather Thor Hannon's callsign from 1931 to 1936. I got it as a vanity once I upgraded to Extra.Thor may have given up radio after that, because in 1938 he and Alfred B. Nelson founded Superior Electric in Bristol CT. Folks may recognize some of these products: https://www.wimb.net/index.php?s=slosyn&page=0&info=1He was also first president of the Bristol Radio Club founde
2025-01-20 22:23:02W1CDN@mastodon.radio3Success!This one is pretty easy for me, but I don't have recent history to share. #hamChallenge HC04S #hamRadioW1CDN was my great-grandfather Thor Hannon's callsign from 1931 to 1936. I got it as a vanity once I upgraded to Extra.Thor may have given up radio after that, because in 1938 he and Alfred B. Nelson founded Superior Electric in Bristol CT. Folks may recognize some of these products: https://www.wimb.net/index.php?s=slosyn&page=0&info=1He was also first president of the Bristol Radio Club found
2025-01-20 23:28:09PA3DSB@mastodon.radio13Success!@pg4i #hamchallenge HC04S. Glad that Jo did all the hard work for me. I previously got the callsign PE1DFF for VHF and up at that time in 1979 when I became 16 yrs of age. After passing the CW exam 3 years later I was issued PA3DSB. No free choice back then and never thought of changing it. So it will stay Double Sideband...
2025-01-20 23:44:11mcdanlj@social.makerforums.info4Working on it...Anyone in the US having trouble tracking down the history of your call sign for #HC04 here are lots of details to help:https://www.w2zq.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Finding-your-ham-roots.pdf
2025-01-21 21:39:45ei7ijb@mastodon.radio4Success!I’ve been spending time for the 4th challenge, 'Research the history of your callsign!' to understand the history behind Irish call signs. There are no previous holders of EI7IJB from what I have gathered. The ‘B’ at the end of the call sign indicates that I’m a CEPT Class 2 licence or simply it means that I have not passed my Morse test. There is mention that the EI call signs were first issued in 1929 but there are no callbooks from that year to confirm this. #hamchallenge HC04S @hamchallenge
2025-01-21 22:18:49df5go@radiosocial.de6Success!I started ham radio with a class C (VHF & up) licence and my first call sign was DC8TD. It seems that it was only issued once before in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After pasing the morse code test I was issued my current DF5GO. That call sign was also issued only once before. Surprisingly the previous holder lived in the town where I grew up.Source: old call books available at https://archive.org/details/dlarc#HamChallenge #HC04S #amateurradio #hamradio #Amateurfunk
2025-01-22 07:47:23mischk@bunt.social6Working on it...@df5go thank you for the link to the vintage call books. I was able to find my call in a book from 1995. HC04
2025-01-22 12:00:48mischk@bunt.social6Success!Unfortunally no more informations on the net. (2/2) HC04S
2025-01-22 23:19:03df7cb@mastodon.social5Success!TIL my ham radio call sign DF7CB had been issued to someone else in 1981 before I got it 1995. Searching the internet had never shown any sign of this before, and I was never greeted with that name on air. Thanks DC1TC!https://archive.org/details/Winter_1981_Foreign_Amateur_Callbook/page/81/mode/1upHC04S
2025-01-23 00:23:10dc1tc@mastodon.radio5Success!My first callsign was the CEPT Novice License (class E) callsign DO1TC.The callsign block DO was introduced in 1998 for class 2 (VHF/UHF-only), which became class E in 2005.Historic callsign data for Germany is sparse. The references I found indicated that it belonged to JĂźrgen in 2007, who I found again as DB3JB with a full CEPT license (Class A) in a callbook from 2015.I owned the call DO1TC from August 2022 until March 2023. And in 2024, it already got a new owner.#HC04S
2025-01-23 00:24:10dc1tc@mastodon.radio5Success!#HC04SIn March 2023, I upgraded to the full CEPT license and picked the callsign DC1TC.The DC prefix started out as a no CW and VHF only callsign class (class C), which was introduced in 1967. In a callbook from 1981 there were no DC1 callsigns whatsoever, the first callbook I found with a reference to DC1TC was from 1992 and the callsign belonged to Horst H. It must have been issued for the first time between 1981 and 1992, likely to Horst as the first owner.
2025-01-23 00:26:11dc1tc@mastodon.radio5Success!#HC04SIn 1998, class C became class 2, which got access to shortwave bands in 2003 and was then merged into the „new“ full class A in 2005.In a callbook from July 2016, Horst was still listed as the owner of the callsign, which means he owned it at least 1992 to 2016. I found an obituary with matching name and region online dated October 2016. It’s very likely that Horst kept the callsign until becoming Silent Key.
2025-01-23 00:27:11dc1tc@mastodon.radio5Success!#HC04SI found no indication of somebody owning DC1TC between Horst and me, so it’s very likely that I’m the second owner of that call.And to answer part 3 of the challenge: These days there is no indication of geographical location for German callsigns anymore.
Sources I used:https://www.dl4no.de/thema/rufzeich.htmhttps://www.darc.de/einsteiger/amateurfunkausbildung/#c152704https://archive.org/details/dlarchttp://qrzcq.me/do5ssb/BNetzA/Calls/
2025-01-23 00:52:14df7cb@mastodon.social5Success!TIL my ham radio call sign DF7CB had been issued to someone else in 1981 before I got it 1995. Searching the internet had never shown any sign of this before, and I was never greeted with that name on air. Thanks @dc1tc!https://archive.org/details/Winter_1981_Foreign_Amateur_Callbook/page/81/mode/1upHC04S
2025-01-23 02:46:25w8mhb@social.lol2Success!I did a little digging into my callsign history and was surprised by what I found.#HamRadio #AmateurRadio #HamChallenge HC04S https://w8mhb.com/my-callsigns-history
2025-01-24 01:01:08w8emv@mastodon.radio1Success!#HC04S W8EMV belonged to Victor Smith of Medina, Ohio who had the call at the very least between 1930 and 1960. All of the callbooks I found have him at the same address in Medina.Find-a-grave at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/244220676/victor-smith has him born 1905, died in 1993. [Update: 1998] Can't find more info about him on a first go, no SK notices or obituaries are evident. It very much looks like the 1x3 call signs of that era were sequentially issued but I don't know that part of
2025-01-24 20:59:35DA1EE@social.darc.de7Success!HC04SThe history of the callsign DA1EE is different to research. To my knowledge, there wasn't anyone using it. The reason is, that initally the callsign DA1xx (2-3 suffixes = personal callsign) were only issued to members of the US army living in Germany (moving from DL4 prefix used since 1949).I've heared, that at some point the German authorities did no longer reserve a region for member of foreign military to avoid, that military personell can be easily identified.
2025-01-24 21:07:36DA1EE@social.darc.de7Success!HC04S #hamchallengeThe history of the call DA1EE is different to research. To my knowledge, there wasn't anyone using it. The reason is, that initally the callsign DA1xx (2-3 suffixes = personal callsign) were only issued to members of the US army living in Germany (moving from DL4 prefix used since 1949).I've heared, that at some point the German authorities did no longer reserve a region for member of foreign military to avoid, that military personell can be easily identified.
2025-01-25 22:55:36df7cb@mastodon.social5Working on it...I think my contest call sign DF7C was never issued as call sign before, but there are other namespaces 😏 - DF7C is a nice Chinese diesel locomotive with 2000 kW 🚋 https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:DF7C_Orange.jpghttps://www.crrcgc.cc/zyjcen/2021-07/15/article_C7646CE2462742819B5543366A822D7A.html#hamchallenge HC04
2025-01-26 08:00:55oe4dsr@mastodon.social2Success!After some research on my call OE4DSR and history of #hamradio in OE I can only report very little: To the best of my knowledge my call was never in use before it was assigned to me. OE call signs in general seem to exist since some time between the WWs. I wasn‘t able to find a document, chatGPT claims the year 1921, but who knows if this is true. The number after the national prefix indicates the federal state, 4 being Burgenland, the most eastern state in Austria. HC04S @hamchallenge
2025-01-26 19:50:36bgarfoot@kind.social10Success!HC04S. My current, and original, callsign KC9RED was first issued to me after I took my Technician exam at the Baraboo WI Hamfest in January 2010. In September 2011, after I had passed my Extra, I changed to a Vanity callsign, NU8N, as I was about to graduate from Northwestern University (NU!).Now I know I was not the original NU8N, but neither the DLARC or the FCC database shows a y data on the original holder. If anyone knows who that was (or has a QSL), I'd love to know.
2025-01-26 19:55:37bgarfoot@kind.social10Success!HC04S. My current, and original, callsign KC9RED was first issued to me after I took my Technician exam at the Baraboo WI Hamfest in January 2010. In September 2011, after I had passed my Extra, I changed to a Vanity callsign, NU8N, as I was about to graduate from Northwestern University (NU!).DLARC lists the original NU8N as James Kortge, of Fenton MI, not too far from where I reside now.
2025-01-26 19:59:37bgarfoot@kind.social10Success!HC04S. My current, and original, callsign KC9RED was first issued to me after I took my Technician exam at the Baraboo WI Hamfest in January 2010. In September 2011, after I had passed my Extra, I changed to a Vanity callsign, NU8N, as I was about to graduate from Northwestern University (NU!).DLARC lists the original NU8N as Jim Kortge, of Fenton MI, not too far from where I reside now. Jim looks to have been an avid bicycle enthusiast, like me, as well as an QRP affictionado
2025-01-26 20:17:40magnus@layer8.space2Success!This weeks challenge for went without results as my callsign "DL8ROB" apparently has never been used before me. At least there are no qrz.com versions of it on archive.org that are not my own. Searching for it explicitly on Google doesn't produce any results beyond those, that lead to me. Maybe there are historical records of German callsigns available at BNetA? HC04S
2025-01-26 21:59:52DJ3CE@social.darc.de4Success!HC04S For my first callsign, DO5GC, I can find no evidence it had been assigned previously. My current callsign DJ3CE had been assigned to one of the founders of DOK P05. Some traces can be found until 1995. I got the callsign in 2022. #hamchallenge
2025-01-26 22:23:55DJ3CE@social.darc.de4Success!HC04S For my first callsign, DO5GC, I can find no evidence it had been assigned previously. My current callsign DJ3CE had been assigned to one of the founders of DOK P05. Some traces can be found until 1995. I got the callsign in 2022. #hamchallenge
2025-01-26 23:12:00DC4LW@social.darc.de7Success!I knew that my call sign was used by another person before as I received a QSL card from a time, when I did not own this call sign. And I also knew, that the prefix DC4 was used in norther Germany in the past, as an older amateur radio operator located me into that region. And most probably the previous owner succeeded in an old class 2 exam, so for VHF/UHF only or never took a morse exam.#HC04S #hamchallenge
2025-01-27 21:12:01K5KHK@mastodon.hams.social2Success!My call - a vanity call with my initials - was used by Gary L Roberts from 2001 to 2011 - it was cancelled in 2013 - Gary had the call KC7UZG before that. Unfortunately I could not find any information about Gary. I got the call after having N2XRQ from 1993 to 2017. I wanted a call with my initials. This was before I got into CW - I would probably not get this call again :) @hamchallenge HS04S #hamchallenge
2025-01-27 21:15:59DH5NN@social.darc.de1Success!i picked my callsign because it was the only german 5nn callsign available at that time, so i guess someone may have used it before. however, i didn't find anything, so i don't really know for sure the sources i've used: web search engines, all german cqdl issues (available as pdf to darc members) and the dlarc archive @hamchallenge #hamchallenge #hc04
2025-01-27 21:17:17siwli@toot.berlin5Success!According to my research in old callbox at https://archive.org/details/dlarc?tab=collection, neither of the 2 callsigns I've used were assigned previously (at least until 1995, which is the most current of the callbooks I looked into). Thus no interesting findings here but since I more or less expected this, I'll still mark this little research as a success. Looking through old callbooks was fun, too. #hamchallenge HC04S
2025-01-27 21:18:10kr1st@mastodon.radio2Success!@hamchallenge I just completed my HS04S #hamchallenge. It turns out that no one else had my callsign before me. This is because the KR1 prefixes were never issued until the current vanity callsign program became available in 1996. I got my callsign on 05/11/2001. I remember that it wasn't until I filled out my vanity callsign request form that I checked if KR1ST was still available and to my amazement it was and promptly made it my first choice. It may have been my wife who suggested that.
2025-02-07 10:03:54M0CUV@mastodon.radio1Success!Today is my 34th birthday (sort of) - I’ve been a licensed radio amateur for 34 years (I won’t be seeking a top band net to moan about ailments). I was first licensed as G7JFJ on 7 Feb 1991, after passing the Radio Amateur’s Exam, then after the Morse test in March 2000, changed to M0CUV. As far as I know, there’s no previous owners of these types of callsign in the UK. #hamchallenge HC04S 73!

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