No need to do either. Just use your FCC assigned call. Course it helps to
let folks know the general area your in, so they can point the antenna at
you.

Dan/W4NTI

"TeleTech" wrote in message
.. .
I used to be active on the air about 12 years ago. I will be moving out
of
my assigned call area. I'd like to get back on the air when I move.

What is the accepted practice relative to identifying the call area when
one has moved permanently, given that the FCC does not assign a new call
when one moves out of their area?

For example, if I was visiting W4 area from W3, I would identify as W3---
"portable W4" or W3---/W4. Do people put the /W4 on their QSL cards, etc?
Is this a big deal these days?

Thanks.

--
NOTE: To reply, DELETE the obvious word in my e-mail address you need to
DELETE in order to reply.

My 2 cents -- When DXing give your present district as a cw slash or on
phone -- slant district. Folks calling you want to know where you are at.

In a DX pileup calling by district -- same as above and call when the DX
station calls for the district you are in. Some DX stations get very upset
when they call for sixes and a Ham in NY calls who has a 6 call

When operating a repeater that is in your home area -- no need for the
/district -- folks will know you are local.

When travelling or a visit away from your home state -- give a /district so
folks know you are a visitor and might invite you to some Ham activities or
assist with directions etc.

When on 6M and no skip --- just your call

For 6M skip give the /district you are in. I've called several W1 and W2's
only to find they were in a western state. Not good for WAS hunting and band
openings can be very short

For QSL cards a /district would be in order so the incoming ARRL burro cards
will go to your present district. Some QSL cards may not include the
/district and the card will go to the old district -- best have envelopes in
both districts I would suppose.

Keyboard In The Noise

Opinions are the cheapest commodities in the world. Author unknown but
"right on"


"TeleTech" wrote in message
.. .
I used to be active on the air about 12 years ago. I will be moving out
of
my assigned call area. I'd like to get back on the air when I move.

What is the accepted practice relative to identifying the call area when
one has moved permanently, given that the FCC does not assign a new call
when one moves out of their area?

For example, if I was visiting W4 area from W3, I would identify as
W3---
"portable W4" or W3---/W4. Do people put the /W4 on their QSL cards,
etc?
Is this a big deal these days?

Thanks.

--
NOTE: To reply, DELETE the obvious word in my e-mail address you need to
DELETE in order to reply.

Thanks for all of the, um, "feedback", folks!

--
NOTE: To reply, DELETE the obvious word in my e-mail address you need to
DELETE in order to reply.

TeleTech wrote

What is the accepted practice relative to identifying the call area when
one has moved permanently, given that the FCC does not assign a new call
when one moves out of their area?

Whatever works for you. The FCC has implicitly acknowledged that we
are a mobile society and that we become 'attached' to our callsigns
sort of as a second name, so changing calls just because we've moved
makes no more sense than changing our name just because we've moved.
Just sign your call as issued without 'attachments'.

73, de Hans, K0HB/4ID

Hans K0HB wrote:




Whatever works for you. The FCC has implicitly acknowledged that we
are a mobile society and that we become 'attached' to our callsigns
sort of as a second name, so changing calls just because we've moved
makes no more sense than changing our name just because we've moved.


Never quite understood it, but it used to be that a callsign belonged to
the "station" and
not the operator, or something like that. Once it happened many years
ago that two
brothers got licenses but the FCC gave out only one callsign, as they
used the same
"station". The FCC recently decided to change that theory to one that
more closely
matches the way hams think of their callsigns. That a ham "owns" a
callsign and uses
it on whatever ham equipment he happens to be using at the moment. If I
borrow your
ham shack, I would still use my callsign. Once I'm satisfied that your
equipment works
correctly. "Looks like a kenwood TS440SAT, receives like one, and seems
to transmit
like it should."

In article , Robert Casey
writes:

Never quite understood it, but it used to be that a callsign belonged to
the "station" and
not the operator, or something like that.

Yep. That derives from the fact that in most other radio services, the station
and the operator are/were completely independent licenses.

For example, consider maritime radio. A typical ship station has aseveral
operators, but the ship's callsign stays with the ship. The operators, OTOH,
change with the watch and from voyage to voyage. Same for broadcasting and many
other services.

Amateur radio is almost unique in that it is a licensed service where, in the
vast majority of cases, the station owner, engineer, operator and license
holder are all the same person.

Once it happened many years
ago that two
brothers got licenses but the FCC gave out only one callsign, as they
used the same
"station".

That must have been before WW2. Maybe even before the FCC, because there have
long been OM/XYL and other ham family setups where everyone had their own
callsign even though there was only one station.

The FCC recently decided to change that theory to one that
more closely
matches the way hams think of their callsigns. That a ham "owns" a
callsign and uses
it on whatever ham equipment he happens to be using at the moment. If I
borrow your
ham shack, I would still use my callsign. Once I'm satisfied that your
equipment works
correctly. "Looks like a kenwood TS440SAT, receives like one, and seems
to transmit
like it should."

There was a time when using your callsign/portable at my station was not
allowed by the rules. In fact, if you go back far enough, there was a time when
mobile and portable operations by hams were not allowed by the rules.

It also used to be possible to get additional station licenses so you didn't
have to sign portable or send in postcards. A typical situation would be one
where a ham had a vacation home where hamming would take place. Of course some
hams used this provision to hang onto callsigns they didn't want to give up
when moving out of a call district.

Portable operation was allowed first (early 1930s) but for a few years you
needed a second station license with a special callsign. Oddly enough, mobile
(land vehicle) operation came later - even after aeronauticla mobile operation
by hams was allowed. US hams were not allowed to use mobile on the ham bands
below 25 MHz until 1949.

73 de Jim, N2EY