Vanity

Applying for a vanity call sign

Member Submitted, Vanity

By: Larkin Folsom (NC4AU)

KO4GBL, KO4IBM, NC4AU, W8NTV

 


Many of us have considered the possibility of selecting a vanity callsign. This article is intended to discuss the callsign selection process from two different perspectives. We hope this will assist hams who are considering a vanity callsign. With potential FCC application fees looming on the horizon, now would be a great time to apply for one.

Part 1

I would like to begin this article by mentioning that you do not need to pay a third party to apply for a vanity callsign. You may be tempted to do this as some websites offer this as a service for a rather hefty fee. I nearly made this mistake myself, but after additional research I realized that you can apply for it directlyusing the FCC website.

I first earned my Technician and General class licenses in July2020 using remote testing. Then I took my Extra exam in August 2020. This is where I met Mark (N4MQU). I specifically waited to apply for a vanity callsign until I had upgraded to Extra because it meant I could have access to the full range of callsign configurations. Additionally, I was concerned about having a vanity callsign application still pending when I took my Extra exam. Since the shortest callsigns are difficult to come by, I decided I would pick a 2×2 once I upgraded.

Now that I knew I was going to request a 2×2 vanity callsign, I started thinking of various themes. This was a process of thinking about my interests and coming up with various combinations of letters to represent those interests. After I compiled a list of legal candidate callsigns, I began to search through the FCC database to determine which ones were available.

During my selection process I also considered how difficult the callsign might be to understand if my signal was weak. So, I tried to avoid letters which are more likely to be confused with other letters. I learned from my systematically assigned callsign (KO4FJI) that “f” is often confused with “s”, and I was surprised to find that “j” was often confused with “g”.

I settled on the NC prefix for obvious reasons. Because I like both astronomy and gold, I ultimately decided that my suffix should be AU. In astronomy, AU refers to an Astronomical Unit, which is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. In chemistry, the symbol Au from the Periodic Table, which is derived from the Latin word “Aurum”, refers to gold. This callsign was not used according to the database, so I applied for it. In addition to this callsign, I added several other candidate callsigns to the list that I submitted to the FCC in case someone else took the callsign while my application was still being processed.

After about 20 days, I received a notification that I had been assigned my new callsign, NC4AU. I am very happy with it and I am glad that I put careful thought into selecting it. The next portion of this article is written by W8NTV. She will cover another route to consider when selecting a vanity callsign, which is the concept of multi-generational callsign heritage.

Larkin Folsom (NC4AU)

Applying for a vanity call part 2

 

 

Applying for a vanity call sign part 2

Member Submitted, Vanity

By:Sarah (Sally) Folsom (W8NTV)

Part 2

NC4AU, KO4IBM, W8NTV

Applying for a vanity call part 1

My son, Larkin (NC4AU), mentioned to me earlier this summer that he planned to earn his ham radio license and suggested that I should consider doing the same. I took my Technician exam in August, the same day that my son passed his Extra exam.

The thought of pursuing ham radio reminded me of my uncle, Lynn Faulkner, who was an avid ham. As a young child in the 50s and 60s I remember seeing my uncle sitting in a small room off of his living room. The entire room was filled with metal boxes with knobs and displays on them. They looked very important to me as I would watch him sitting in front of them speaking into a microphone. He spent a lot of his time in that room, early in the morning before going to work as the principal at the local high school and in the evening after he returned. He told me that he was talking to people all over the country which was an impressive feat to me.

His house was located at the highest point in the town on a mountain in West Virginia. Much of his front yard was consumed by a very large tower that his neighbors may not have appreciated! Now I realize that he may have chosen that spot to have the best signal.

Since he was a principal and my aunt was a teacher, they did not work in the summer. Each summer they would pack up the travel trailer and take extended cross-country trips. Every trailer they owned always had a dedicated space for his ham equipment. After they retired and began to spend winters in Florida living in a small travel trailer, he still utilized a lot of space just for his ham equipment.

Larkin spent time researching Uncle Lynn’s history and found that he first got on the air in 1916. During his service in the U.S. Navy, he was a radar and electronics officer. He also completed West Virginia University with a degree in electronics engineering. His passion for ham radio never waned, but no other family members ever became interested in it. When I was studying for my Technician license, I read about vanity signs, but did not think much about it. Larkin talked about obtaining a license based on family heritage and I knew that was something I wanted to do to honor my uncle. Unfortunately, he passed while I was pregnant with Larkin and so they never go to know each other, but I know he would be pleased that his family is continuing the tradition.

His call sign was located in the Radio Amateur Call Book and subsequently verified in the database as available. Based on his callsign I needed to obtain my General license which I did in October on the same day that my grandson, Skye, passed his Technician license exam. The application to change my callsign to W8NTV was submitted to the FCC website and about three weeks later I received notification that I had been assigned the new callsign.

Did I mention that my uncle’s house was at the intersection of two roads which formed a triangle? The back of his house faced the apex of the triangle and the front faced his neighbor’s house on the right side of his lot. This is where he placed the huge metal tower. On the left side of his lot, he faced the Dairy Queen which was right next door. That was the other great reason for visiting him!

Sarah (Sally) Folsom (W8NTV)