Evening star., 1923-01-28
III. S. RADIO ssCALL LETTERSr
REGULATED BY WORLDLAW

I bination of three letters, all combt
nations beginning with and w be.
Ing allocated to the United Statea
and also the combinations from kDA
Thus. a total OF 1850 international
call letters was provided for the use
Of American stations, including Army,
Navy and privately owned stations
whether on shipboard or on shore,
aircraft radio beingsunknown at thai
| time.
| This number was considered sufIi.
| cient at that time to meet our re-
quirements for call letters for many
years to come. American radio sta
! tions having an International status
/ had increased to such an extent upon
the advent of the broadcasting service
| about two years ago, however. thai
, these 1850 calls mad been virtually
| all assigned or reserved for prospec-
tive assignment and IL was necessary
to have recourse to the use OF four
letters instead of three for some OF
the broadcast stations.
Combinations of Four Letters.
Call letters consisting of combIna-
tions of four letters are now being
assigned to virtually all new broad
| cast stations. but otherwise they con-
form to the existing international
radio laws and therefore have an In
| ternational status rather than
| strictly national status such as the
| amateur stations.
| Any radio station whose call letters
begin with the letters n or w, there
fore, whether a broadcast station or
otherwise, is an American station.
and likewise any station whose call
consists of a combination OF three or
four letters from KDA to KZZ.
| Should broadcast stations using the
call letters KAA to KCZ be heard in
this country, the program will likely
be in German. because German
| originally shared with the United
States the KS in radio, in addition to
| being allocated all combinations be
ginning with the letters A, d. ar-l
also the combinations from tina to
| TZZ.
| However. such is the extremely i'm
portant nature of International radio
| call letters. that Germany's future
| possession of these call letters is sub
ject to change in accordance with the
provisions of the treaty of Versailles.
! To France and her colonies all calls
beginning with the letters F. and
the combinations VAA to UMZ have
signed the single letter 1 for herself
| and colonies, and Japan the single
| letter ].
To Great Britain was allocated al
calls beginning with the letters Z,
G. NJ, Y, 2. the combinations cFA 70
CKZ. GOA to-~COZ, Ella to EZZ. lisa
| to LUZ, OCA to OFF. ZEA TO zA1z.
XTA to XZZ. also NAA to VGZ for
| Canada, VIA to NkI for Australia.
VIA to VMZ for New Zealand. VIVA
to VNZ for South africa, VOA to VOZ
for Newfoundland. VPA to VSZ for
British colonies not autonomous, VITA
to WV for British India, VxA to VIZ
for colonies and protectorates in gen
eral and SUA to SUI for Egypt.
shows Acknowledged Positions.
The ALLEGATION of call letters as
outlined in this article will serve to
exemplify the acknowledged positions
of relative Importance of the leading
maritime powers of the world when
the last international radio convention
was held in London ten years ago.
! Although Great Britain was ac-
knowledged to be far in the lead at
that time, as is obvious from the num-
Der of call letters provided for. the
United States has now assumed the
lead in radio development and appl!-
cation to service. This in itself con-
stitutes a tribute to the policy con-
sistently followed by the government
in radio and to the inventive genius
and perseverance of American radio
engineers.
If broadcasting stations using the
call letters formed by combinations
XAA to XDZ are heard, the location
of the station will be somewhere
within the adjacent republic of Mex
leo to the south. while. as Indicated
In the foregoing. if stations using the
British combinations VAA to VGZ are
heard. the incoming wave will have
been created within the Dominion or
Canada to the north.