 In
Canada, all HAM Radio operators are licensed with Industry Canada. Their
license numbers (or what they refer to as a "call-sign" or "handle") always
start with V since all British Colonies were assigned call signs beginning
with that letter after the War. The 18 call sign prefixes in use
at this time are assigned to the various provinces originally Canada was
assigned prefixes VE1 thru VE0 and Newfoundland, VO1 & VO2. Newfoundland
was different since it wasn't part of Canada when the call signs were being
allocated world-wide, just after the 2nd World War. Newfoundland
didn't join Canada until 1949. VO6 was also issued to Labrador, but
it was retired in the 50s, before plates were issued in that part of the
country. When Canada ran out of VE allocations, it expanded using
VY and VA as shown in the above table.
The call sign prefix is followed
by two or three letters to form the operator's call sign. In the
less populated areas such as NWT, the Yukon and Labrador, two letter calls
are all that is needed, and three letter calls are available by choice.
In more populated areas, both two and three letter calls are needed.
In these cases, two letter calls are more desirable and, generally, require
seniority to acquire. |
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