From: tjc50@ccc.amdahl.com (Terry Carroll)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: FCC Call letters
Date: 10 Apr 92 17:16:37 GMT
Reply-To: tjc50@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Terry Carroll)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <1992Apr6.173405.21166@venice.sedd.trw.com> gay@venice.sedd.trw.com (Lance Gay) writes:
>In article <1992Apr1.072956.22769@talon.ucs.orst.edu> tim@comphy.UUCP (Tim Mefford) writes:
>>At some point in history, the 40's I might guess, the FCC decreed
>>that all radio stations granted call letters henceforth would 
>>arbitrarily be divided into east and west, those east of the 
>>mississippi getting W??? call letters, and those west getting 
>>K???.  My question is why W + K?   Any reason?
>
>When the letters were first assigned in the USA and Mexico, they assigned
>rarely-used letters so there would be little confusion between
>call letters and ordinary words.  The US got K and W since these
>are the two letters missing from the Spanish alphabet (Spanish is
>spoken in Mexico, you know).  Since all the Spanish letters are
>used in the English alphabet, Mexico was assigned X since fewer words
>in English start with X than any other letter.

I'm looking at the Multilateral Treaty on Radio Regulations of December
21, 1959.  This treaty has been amended a couple of times, but none of the
amendments seem to go against the call letter allocations (which is only
one small part of a pretty large treaty), regulation / section / article
or whatever # 747.

I note that the regulation assumes 3-character call signs, so that in
itself would lead me to believe that it's been modified, but I can't find
such a modifcation.  Plus, as someone else posted, there are some Canadian
stations that begin "CB", which, according to this doc, should be assigned
to Chile, which also leads me to beleive that it's been modified.  By the
way, while I don't know international law, since adherence to this treaty
is a benefit to all signatories, I doubt a bilateral agreement between
Chile and Canada would be enough to overcome the treaty.  For those of you
who want to check this out, the TIAS number is 4893, and it's in US
Treaties, volume 12.

In listing some of these, I may goof, because they're listed
alphabetically by call sign, not country.

USA: AAA-ALZ (other As are Spain, Pakistan, India, Australia, and
Argentina); KAA-KZZ, NAA-NZZ, and WAA-WZZ.

Canada: CFA-CKZ, CYA-CZZ (other Cs are Chile, Cuba, Morocco, more Cuba,
Bolivia, Portuguese Overseas Provinces, Portugal and Uruguay), VAA-VGZ,
VOA-VOZ, VXA-VYZ (other Vs are Australia, Overseas Territories for the
international relations of which the Government of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland are responsible, India, and Australia),
XJA-XOZ (other Xs are Mexico, Denmark, Chile, China, France and Overseas
States of the French Community an French Overseas Territories, Cambodia,
Viet-Nam, Laos, Portuguese Oversea Provinces, and Burma), and 3BA-3FZ
(other 3s are Chile, China, Tunisia, Viet-Nam, Guinea, and Poland).

Mexico: XAA-XIZ (other Xs, see Canada), 4AA-4CZ (other 4s are Phillipines,
USSR, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Ceylon, Peru, United Nations, Haiti, Yemen,
Israel, International Civil Aviation Organization, and more Israel), and
6DA-6JZ (other 6s are United Arab Republic (Egyptian and Syrian Regions),
Korea, Somaliland, Pakistan, Sudan, and a small (6VA-6ZZ) unallocated
portion).

The US's use of its frequencies are set forth in the FCC regulations in
47 CFR 2.301.  Contrary to popular belief, there's no _legal_ requirement
that Ws be East of the Mississippi, and Ks be West.  The requirement for a
"broadcasting (standard)" (which presumably means AM) is KAAA through KZZZ
or WAAA through WZZZ.  The same for "broadcasting  (FM)". "Broadcasting
(with suffix 'FM')" gets KAAA-FM through KZZZ-FM and WAAA-FM through
WZZZ-FM.  TV is similar: unsuffixed is just like broadcast FM, and with
suffix "TV" is just like with suffix FM, except, of course, the suffix is
"TV".

For "broadcasting (standard)", "broadcasting with suffix 'FM', and
"broadcasting with suffix 'TV'", they can continue to use a three-letter
call sign, if it was already in use.  Note that the same does not apply to
an FM or TV station that does not use the suffix. So, assuming the
3-letter call sign (let's say "WZZ") was already in use by a station,
"WZZ" is valid only for an AM station; for FM or TV, they'd have to say
"WZZ-FM" and "WZZ-TV", respectively.

My assumption is that the practice of the FCC assigning call signs based
on the east/west distinction is just that, an administrative practice.

Someone also asked if the assignment of "N" to the US has to do with the
fact that aircraft numbers also begin with "N".  I doubt it.  All the
aircraft call letters begin with K or W, too.  Unless I missed something
in the list, "N" is restricted to amateur radio.  However, an alternate
call sign for an "aircraft telephone"  is the registration number,
preceded by the type of aircraft.

Since I began typing this, I received a note that Canada's use of CB is
okayed by a separate agreement with Chile.  Doesn't sound right to me to
have a multilateral agreement adjusted by a bilateral agreement in this
matter, but what do I know?  If anyone knows of a legitimate source to
support this, I'd be interested in hearing.  Unfortunately, I don't think
I have access to any treaties to which the US is not a partner.

On the other hand, the treaty clearly _has_ been modified a few times.
Looking through the modifications, I can't find anything that alters the
call sign lists, though, but I might just have missed it.  Another thing I
did not think to check is if Canada signed with reservations, which they
could do to continue use of CB.
-- 
The above is my thoughts, not Amdahl's;   |  Terry Carroll  408/992-2152
The above is not legal advice;            |  Senior Computer Architect
All models over 18 years of age;          |  Amdahl Corporation
Contents sold by weight, not by volume;   |  tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com
Your mileage may vary.                    |  tjc50@amail.amdahl.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban