Did you just work M0AB or a 2A0ABC and can't figure out what country it is? Ask the IARU - they're the guys who set the standards for those whacky call signs in the first place.
Often you hear calls on the air and consulting ARRL's DXCC country's list
produces nothing. When in doubt, consult the IARU master call sign allocation
list.
The list is maintained by blocks of letters, allowing up to 3 characters in the prefix. In another words, ultimately we're destined to hear 3 by 3's on the air someday when we run out of 1 by's amd 2 by's. Try them on for size! In any case, the master list includes all combinations of 1 by's and 2 by's as well. Thus, if you look up the United States permissible allocations, you'll find we've got a flock of allocation combinations and we haven't even scratched the surface yet.
More importantly, some of these strange combinations are starting to show up already among foreign calls. M's are routinely showing up on the air these days and it's a UK call! How about 2A0MM? Heard one of those? Believe it or not it's the UK too!
We're making this valuable HTML document available on the FARA site because I can't seem to find it in this form any longer on the web. The ARRL's DXCC list is generally pretty good, but it when push comes to shove, it doesn't include the newer whacked out call sign variations permitted by the IARU. Some countries are allowing special events stations to start using these. The M0 I worked was, in fact a special event station in England, but since then I've heard many more that weren't so the UK's telecommunications bureau has started handing these out evidently.
[TOP]
Updated: 08/23/99
