First, what is a callsign anyway?
- This one is simple, there is an FCC licensed activity called amateur radio, where you get to play with radio wave transmissions, contacting people from around the world, creating loads of headache for yourself in designing antennas, troubleshooting cable transmissions, standing wave ratios and many other fun things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio
- There are three "grades" of licenses, each getting progressively harder from both a technical aspect as well as the number of questions. These grades are Technician, General and Extra... the top level license. You may ask what the difference between them is and why someone would get the next level license, well when you get the top-level license you get some extra reserved spectrum and you get to challenge yourself by ensuring you learn / know the test material.
- You are assigned a "callsign" when you complete your Technician license, or you can pick one... it is far easier to just take the one that is assigned to you and from what I gather, that is what the majority of people do at the technician level. You can also choose a vanity callsign, but when you are a technician all the "cool" ones are not available.. you get stuck with a crappy selection. When you get your Extra license, you are allowed to choose from the "cool-pool", hence why I waited to get my "vanity callsign"
It is no cakewalk getting a vanity callsign, in fact I submitted about 25 "options" and ended up landing the 3rd.. in fact, to get the list of 25, I had to search a database to see what was available (you cannot just walk up and make one up after all).
Ok, so now that baseline is complete, on to the trivia:
So, my new callsign is KD1E, I chose that because it is my initials (KD) the number 1 and E, which I state stands for Extra Class Licensee...so, KD the number 1 Extra. :-) I am sure many other Extras would argue the point of being the number 1, but so what... that is my call and I say it stands for that. :-)
Now to take a history walk as far back as I can trace this call...
On Feb 27, 1981 a Gentleman named John Moore applied for a vanity callsign, he selected or was assigned KD1E. Mr Moore held onto that "call" until 1997, when he changed it to K1DE (I am going to get that one someday, "Ken 1 Distinguished Engineer") a callsign that he has to this very day (it expires in 2016, so I will be watching >:-)).
When he released it in 1997, it lingered until 2000.
In 2000, it was picked up by a Gentleman named, Keith Darwin (I understand KD1E with Mr Darwins initials as well as the fact that he was an Extra class licensee too).. Mr Darwin held that call until 2006, then somehow it just stayed in the "cool-pool" waiting for me to come along and claim it.
On 5/09, I relinquished my original callsign "KI6SCQ" to become KD1E, just in case I change my mind, KI6SCQ will be kept in a secure locker for 2 years (only kidding about the locker), so I can revert back to it if I choose to do so.
Now it may have been around longer than I can track it down, but it is mine until I decide to go after K1DE or not.. :-)
So let it be known that from this point forward on the airwaves, I shall now be known as KD1E...
