Did you notice something different on the website?\u00a0 Well, the name has changed…..actually, my Amateur Radio Call, for which he site is named, has changed.<\/p>\n
I was first licensed as a Novice Class Amateur Radio Operator in 1965 as WN4EJE.\u00a0 After my novice period, I passed my General Class License test which included a 13 word per minute code test and a technical test, and my call changed to WB4EJE.\u00a0 I have had that call until December of 2014.<\/p>\n
I like to operate CW (morse code for the uninitiated.)\u00a0 WB4EJE is a terrible call to send and hear on CW.\u00a0 The problem is, that last “E” on the end is a single ‘dit’ in morse code and frequently gets lost, especially when the bands are noisy or the signals are weak.\u00a0\u00a0 I can’t tell you how many times I have had other stations come back to me with ‘wb4ej’ instead of ‘wb4eje.’<\/p>\n
The FCC started a program some years ago called the Vanity Call system.\u00a0 In this system you can dig through all of the unissued Ham Radio calls and pick\u00a0one that you like for your own.\u00a0 A lot of Hams, if it is available, will get their initials as their call, or other catchy calls.<\/p>\n
The general rule for Ham Calls is the shorter the better.\u00a0 Basically, the older licenses have the shorter calls.\u00a0 As more and more Calls were issued the length of the Calls got longer.\u00a0 They started out as just two letters and one number.\u00a0 (The number in a Ham Call indicate the region of the US you are in.\u00a0 There are 10, 0 through 9, plus some funky ones for US Possessions)\u00a0 Because I am an Extra Class License holder I qualify under Vanity Call system for a one by two call, I.E. W4BC or a two by one call, like WB5C.<\/p>\n
However, to complicate matters, a few\u00a0years ago the FCC removed the requirement from the Extra Class Licensee to pass a 20 Word Per Minute code test. \u00a0Apparently the 20 WPM code requirement was keeping a lot of Hams from upgrading from the lower class licenses to the Extra. \u00a0(Extra Class is the highest) \u00a0When the FCC removed the code requirements\u00a0a large number of folks that couldn’t pass the code test, but could pass the technical exam became Extra Class License holders and they basically sucked up all the 1X2 and 2X1 calls.\u00a0 So when I started looking, there was basically nothing much available in a shorter 1X2 or 2X1 call.<\/p>\n
So I decided to look for a 1X3, of which there were lots available, that had a nice sound on CW.\u00a0 After looking I narrowed it down to N4RFC and about 18 other choices.\u00a0 I got my first choice and there you have it my call is now N4RFC.<\/p>\n
I have registered the Internet Domain, N4RFC.COM.\u00a0 You can now get to my website by either www.wb4eje.com or www.n4rfc.com.\u00a0 However, in May of this year wb4eje.com will expire and I am not renewing it.\u00a0\u00a0 It, like my old call, will go into the pool to used again.\u00a0 Whatever.<\/p>\n
DE N4RFC SK<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Did you notice something different on the website?\u00a0 Well, the name has changed…..actually, my Amateur Radio Call, for which he site is named, has changed. I was first licensed as a Novice Class Amateur Radio Operator in 1965 as WN4EJE.\u00a0 After my novice period, I passed my General Class License test which included a 13 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,11,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amateur-radio","category-life","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1187"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1190,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions\/1190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}