TNX for this interesting video. Here in Finland our first ham radio calls were NVA, NVB etc. which then shortened. 3NB Arvi Hauvonen (1st ”commercial radio station”), 2NA etc. 73 de OH2BIO

Callsigns have been issued in error. Since 1968 I have used 4 callsigns 2 of which were wrong. ZC4MO should be on one of the RAF Sovereign base areas on Cyprus but was actually on top of Mount Olympus, about 30 miles outside the SBA, 5B4MO would have been correct, In 1981 I was working with the US Army in Germany. As I had an Army Post Office New York postal address the German Authorities assumed I was a US citizen and gave the the call DA2GJ. As I'm English it should have been in the DA6.. series. Still active as G4JIU.

TU, did not know the prohibitions of the world wars. W8JO, 73 OM

Thank you for this great presentation!

Increíble trabajo Mike! Muy interesante y sobre todo educativo. Saludos desde Bariloche, Patagonia Argentina.

I am old enough (now 76) to have personally known 3 hams who once had no "W" as their prefix. Jeff Woodhouse, once 7FL, I knew as W7FL. He lived mostly in Montana, but wandered over to the N end of Idaho occasionally. He was section manager for quite awhile back in the ?30s? I was first licensed in high school in 1965, and took my general in Spokane in 66. That was a big deal as it was about a 160mi. drive round trip from home to Spokane. My junk car just out of high school was not very reliable, so Mom drove me in for the test. If I'd failed, there would have been 'el to pay.

American exceptionalism much? Just ignore international agreements...

Great content and. nicely done. 73s

This turned out to be a history of the American people bending over and grabbing their ankles and giving up any semblance of having god given rights.

How the hell did congress ratify a treaty for a power they were never given?

This is great, thanks. I'm battling noise on my new RTl-SDR V4. I've had the V3 for years, but this one has the up-converter for HF, so much better. My biggest problem is spikes about every 115 KHz from the SPS in the desktop, but think I have a plan to deal with it. Watching this to see if I might. Edit: at 28:00 those faint, repetitive spikes you see are what I've got, although mine are massively worse, and I'm positive it's from the SPS in the desktop. If I plug the dongle into my laptop running SDR++ (I use LInux on both machines), and turn off the desktop, they disappear. I know it's not the 2m USB cable from dongle to computer, because if I disconnect the antenna, no spikes. It's the antenna coax itself where it comes into the house picking it up on the shield, I assume. I've ordered a 6m USB cable that will allow me to get the dongle up on the concrete roof here in Jamaica. Antenna is a sloping dipole about 11m long each side into a 9:1 balun. I get Radio China, Radio Romania, and other distant stations - in Jamaica - quite well every night because the frequencies are between the spikes.

what a great video

Thanks for the Ham license history lesson, well done. George N2SQ

Thanks for the explaining. Very helpfull.

Hi Mike, I really enjoyed your video... But I'm curious about the lead picture of the 3 fellows in the Bowler hats working the early radio gear.... Do you know the pictures origin ???? Thank you .....Bob

That was very interesting and informative, thank you! 73, AC1QC

Great video, thanks. 1957 i was trained buy my hometown Kentucky club and got KN4VUD and then Got the general, and have K4VUD even now. When I relocated to Thailand I was awarded a reciprocal HS0ZCW, based on my USA general call--- HS0Z and two more letters were reserved for foreigners only. Then I have gotten a USA club call of AC4TT during the time when you could request a call and I got one to honor the old TIBET national prefix of AC4--- ending with two T's for Tibet twice. Thailand is still giving reciprocal foreigners HS0Z +2 letters and they have not harvested calls from people who have died or drop interest-- so the H0Z prefix is fairly full today. I hope after my death, people will pick up my call signs and honor them in use. Thailand natives to become new hams Thailand gives calls with the prefix of E2, followed by another number and three letters. The story of E2E, exception, is on qrz.com. USA no longer requires American HAMs to sign the number in the district along with their call. Before that change, I have operated K4VUD/9 and /2 and /5. I don't like the dropping oh that rule and I don't like the dropping of the standard data prefix during some DXpediositions that go to rare locations. Hams have the most unique identifiers of naming beyond name or anything. We should honor that completely and limit change as much as possible.

Very interesting. Thanks Mike de KK4CB

Trying to find a call sign for my grandparents. I have an article from April 15, 1943 - skill PF radio ‘HAMS’ now used to strengthen New York Defense - my grandmother is shown in the article as the first women licensed as a radio-telephone operator in NYC WERS. I am trying to find her call sign as I have recently became a General (KE2AED). Any suggestion on where else to find this information would be appreciated.

it should go back to no license required to transmit on this ancient technology

I'm from Brazil and can tell that this presentation is pure gold! Helps understand not only us, but how world took the callsign subject. Congratulations.

Very interesting. Thank you.

Thank You for the cool video... I know no electronics, but I love being around; My mentor though was W1NTE, Bob M.

Thanks for the history lesson. My father and some of his friends got me interested in this in 1954, and I was licensed as WN5YKJ, now upgrade to W5YKJ.

Fascinating video of the call sign origin. KB1THP

Great I found this web page by mistake. I loved it please keep up the good work

Informative but would have been more enjoyable without the faux radio crackling over the voice- I'd say 4 by 9 😉 73 M7KEC

Thanks, Mike, you cleared up a mystery in my life. My father was licensed as W9PIZ (Preacher In Zion) ca. 1932 and retained the call until his death in 1946. But what puzzled me when I got my general in 1958 was the "9" in his call, as we both lived in Missouri. By 1958, Missouri was in the zero district. Now you answered my question why he was W9 when I became K0.

Had a wonderful Elmer, W5BXV, SK, and received my Novice ticket in 1961. After it expired things got busy with military service, etc. and I let it expire without upgrading. Nearly 60 years later got my Technician, General and Extra and very glad I did. The FCC allowed me to recover my old Novice call sign. 73 de KN5MVC

Greetings from the UK, novice 2E1GPA graduated to M1DQE after the 'slow Morse' test. UK call signs are now permanently allocated at no cost, it seems the costs of administering the renewable license system exceeded the receipts! I only took the exams to support my daughter when she took them, and I never struggled with real RF equipment as e-mail and Skype were also around!

I was big in Chicken Band , tried to learn Morse just couldn't do it .

Imagine my surprise as I was watching, and enjoying, your presentation, I see the picture of my old Novice license. Ahhhh, the good old days. Great job on your work. 73, Jim - K5LAD

Pre-War Years 1928-1941. Only for Americans. For most of the world, the Pre-War Years were 1928-1939. I do have a callsign (and licence), I'm just not active as I don't find ham radio that interesting.

Very cool video. Thanks for sharing. Thanks N6PUD

Excellent! Thank you for a great presentation! de WA6IXI (51 years of hamming).

Great Job Thanks 73's

I went and took the test to have my own call sign instead of getting them out of that book I bought at the hamfest as a kid. LOL

What a great video. Thank you! I was 1st licensed in 1921 and what a ride it's been.

"They had to get things under control' ( for the bankers to regulate free speech )

My call today is N0CUL. Ham radio history has a lot of good information

Too much compression, or some other type of processing on your audio., de WO6N

In the late 1950's my uncle would pull up in his Cadillac with license plate W6PPO. We would talk to people in Europe sitting in our driveway. Great fun. Your video brought back some wonderful memories.

My uncle was the first person to make ham radio in West Virginia Samuel nurnburger

Excellent presentation. Fascinating information. Thanks for making the effort to share this overview!

Simply put, This was an " EXCELLENT PRESENTATION ". Very informative and easy to follow.

So how do you check a call signs history? I have a 1×2.

Just a little trivia... I grew up in Minnesota and it was possible to have your callsign be your vehicle license plate number. 🧐

I've had a couple of friends who were amateur radio operators, though I've never been (I loved listening to Shortwave broadcasting for several years). This video enlightened me to several things. Thanks.

Very well written and produced. Thank you! 73

Why is the audio portion of your otherwise informative presentation recorded so poorly? It's coarse, digital screech overwhelms your mellifluous delivery.