Talk:ITU prefix

History
Dear,

I am very interested in the history of the callsigns for radio amateurs. I am, myself, a radio amateur, ON4ZA. Of course I know the prefixes that have been allocated by ITU to various countries. I looked into you web-site to see if I could also find some historical information. In the 1920-s amateur radio got more and more organized. A first IARU meeting was held in Paris with some representatives of national clubs: USA, GB, Germany, France, Belgium... In the very early period the prefixes allocated to European countries all started with E, the second letter being the first of the country. For Belgium the prefix in those days was EB. That system did not last very long. I "guess" it changed when ITU started organizing things.

Some founding countruesn the big ones, had so much influence that they could choose the letters that they wanted reserved for theur amateurs: USA, France, GB, Germany, Italy. We, the smaller, tiny country Belgium, had not that privilege. What I would like to find out is why we got OM-OT in the end? No single letter refers to "B"-elgium? Was there any logic in allocating the callsigns around the end of the 1920's - beginning 1930's? Or was it sheer luck that when they had to give a prefix, after the big shots had choosen their ones, that they followed simply the alfabeth and that when tey had to allocate prefixes for Belgium they had just arrived at OM.....??

Other question. Who allocated the first prefixes: IARU or ITU??

Maybe you can give me some E-addresses wher I can search myself for the answers to my historiacle questions! It might save time at your end.

Thanks for reading me and for any action you want or can undertake at your end.

Fleurbaey Fernand, ON4ZA.

Asterlaan 20n B2550 Kontich. Belgium. E-ddress: t.fleurbaey@skynet.be


 * See The ITU's official history page. They've got some factual errors, such as attributing the first audio broadcast to Marconi instead of Reginald Fessenden's much earlier 1906 broadcast.LeadSongDog 18:57, 25 September 2007 (UTC)


 * This document from the International Radiotelegraph Convention of 1927 mentions on page 69 a list of country callsign prefixes. I'm not sure if this is the earliest record of such allocations, but it must be getting pretty close.

Taiwan
Why is the ROC (Taiwan) conspicuously absent from the ITU Prefix list? do they share Mainland China's call-sign prefixes? I've noticed this is with Japan, North Korea, and South Korea, as well.

Raccoon Fox 04:01, 22 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Regarding the absence of Taiwan from the ITU list, most likely it's due to political pressure from the PRC. According to this site, Taiwan has or continues to use the callsigns BM, BN, BO, BQ, BV and BX. -Loren 07:39, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, Taiwan can use any callsign starting with B or any other prefix allocated to China. --  Denelson83  21:50, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Second Table
Should there be a table organized by country? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 1.618033989 (talk • contribs) 09:47, 15 December 2006 (UTC).
 * There is one. Refer to List of ITU prefixes by nation and ITU prefix/Grid chart. :)  RingtailedFox • Talk • Stalk''' 19:02, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Needs update regarding dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles
More info: Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles. Styath (talk) 17:31, 12 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Sorry, but the ITU hasn't published any new information regarding this. --  Denelson83  21:04, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

South Sudan
Does South Sudan have a prefix yet? They've just recently been allocated .ss as their internet TLD. Roger (talk) 12:33, 13 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Z8 prefix was allocated on 23 Feb 2012 User:fitzsimons —Preceding undated comment added 12:51, 12 February 2013 (UTC)


 * It was added to the list by this edit on 24 February 2012 - almost a full year ago, do try to keep up... :) Roger (talk) 13:10, 12 February 2013 (UTC)