The E in GE3YPQ represents your regional indicator which shows that
you are in England.
Well, I was G6DTN and lived in England (Well, just. Shrewsbury is only a few miles from GW-land), and my NOV still shows me as G6DTN, and I still live in England. So much for consistency.
Needs his salary divided by 10.
Regards, Dave, G6DTN
In reply to G3YPQ:
Quote
"Thank you for your email.
The E in GE3YPQ represents your regional indicator which shows that
you are in England.
Sigh…
I have just Emailed him to query the error in my own NoV, and have explicitly pointed out clauses 2(2) and 2(3) of the main licence.
This must be what they mean by self-regulation.
Helen’s (GW7AAU) NoV arrived yesterday but no sign of mine and they were posted in the same envelope. I am not worried yet though. Her NoV does not have any glaring errors so maybe the job experience kids have gone back to school.
However we were out for a meal last night and out of three other amateurs who posted their NoVs a week before I did only one has had his back. His was sent in the same envelope as one of the other guys and he had it back almost by return of post. It sounds like all the applications are in a big tombola and the big prize is a bizarre call.
Bearing in mind that they do not seem to understand their own rules I was thinking of trying for a short contest call “GW” ,no number or suffix ;0)
Steve GW7AAV (or GW for short)
In reply to GW7AAV:
Steve it may be they are only going to issue one per household
Roger G0TRB
In reply to GW7AAV:
AAHHH methinks too many spitting feathers passed thy lips last night matey,No the other applicants all posted their applications off in SEPARATE ENVELOPES .and I even supplied the stamps …! second class mind you
,(MIND YOU IF I HAD NOT HAD A SHERBET OR TWO MYSELF I would have put them all in 1 envelope and used a second class stamp and saved even more money…!! then charged em all for first class stamps that,s the welshness in me see look you )
latest news is Mine is on the way nice lady at ofcom said so …!!
mine went first class was told it was (should to have been posted on the 25th may)
Was going to be resent Monday bank holiday permitting …
Graham the GW0hus
In reply to GW7AAV:
Many years ago, when it was still the Radiocommunications Agency, a college pal and I posted our original license applications off in the same envelope. My license arrived a week before his, his call is G4FUS (not that he’s been heard on air for a very long time!.
New 5MHz NoV arrived after a week, but no exotic prefix!
73
Graham G4FUJ
With regard to the extra letter on certain NOV’s, there is an item in the latest GB2RS news for transmission on 20th June 2010 available in the members area of the RSGB website that basically states the following:
If you have renewed your 5MHz NOV & it includes an extra letter,(ie GE0VOF rather than G0VOF),you need to contact Ofcom as soon as possible to have this corrected. A correct NOV will then be re-issued. You must contact Ofcom directly, not the RSGB, as only Ofcom can correct the error.
73,
Mark G0VOF
In reply to G4FUJ:
Many years ago, when it was still the Radiocommunications Agency, a
college pal and I posted our original license applications off in the
same envelope. My license arrived a week before his, his call is
G4FUS (not that he’s been heard on air for a very long time!
When I posted mine, I asked for an G4N series call, but got G4OIG. Well it was 1982 - a crisis year in licensing terms. Applications sent off in March, licensed in June!
Interesting note from Mark regarding the GE error. Presumably it applies to all anomalies. Seems that 2010 may be bordering on another crisis year in licensing terms.
73, Gerald
In reply to G4OIG:
I like the suggestion that the NOV holder needs to contact OFCOM to get it corrected. This suggests OFCOM has used a paper system for the NOVs and not their shiny electronic licencing system and hence doesn’t know who has what. If they did, then OFCOM could print the corrected NOV and stick it in the post. What am I saying, they should just create a new PDF and let the licencee downloaded it.
It’s more amusing as Martyn M(E)1MAJ had already questioned OFCOM about the incorrect call and they told him he was wrong! At least the NOV for 2009 Year of Homecoming (MA, GA, 2A prefices) was done online and maintained electronically which shows OFCOM can do this if it wants.
Now we should ask OFCOM’s highly paid chairman (he gets paid twice what Dave, the man who runs the country, gets paid) why his staff are, to put it bluntly, unable to organise a getting drunk contest in a brewery.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
It’s more amusing as Martyn M(E)1MAJ had already questioned OFCOM
about the incorrect call and they told him he was wrong!
No, that was somebody else. They didn’t bother to reply to me 
Had a call from RSGB and later spoke to ofcom about the GE3YPQ license I have here, Rod at Ofcom apologised for the error and that their Mr Barnett would be advised about his errors. New license expected soon.
In reply to M1MAJ:
According to someone, who should know, that I spoke to at Ofcom GE always was a legitimate call sign and that it is only due to historical reasons that those in England were allowed to drop the regional prefix.
The problem is apparently occurring because the software that Ofcom uses automatically puts in the regional prefix and they need to delete the ‘E’ before they print the NoV out.
A lot of the problems with this batch of NoVs seems to have occurred because key personnel were on holiday when the applications started flooding in. Most people got theirs back within a week which seems reasonable. Mine was sent in the same envelope as Helen’s. She had hers back quite quickly but a week later I was still waiting. I emailed Ofcom and had a telephone call back less than two hours later, my application had gone missing. Presumably, due to a lack of attention to detail, someone must have thought mine was a duplicate of Helen’s and filed it under ‘B’ for bin. I had a my NoV through the post a day later.
One interesting fact - About 1,400 NoVs for 60 metres were issued last time and I monitor the band constantly when I am not in work. The band therefore must get really busy when I am in work as there are about 1,200 NoV holders who I have never heard yet.
Regards Steve GW7AAV ;0)
In reply to GW7AAV:
According to someone, who should know, that I spoke to at Ofcom GE always was a
legitimate call sign and that it is only due to historical reasons that those
in England were allowed to drop the regional prefix.
But it can’t be Steve. That’s because during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 stations where allowed to drop their secondary locator and use the letter E (for Elizabeth?) instead. This meant you had stations in Scotland signing GE3xxx.
So you can’t have E as a valid secondary locator for English callsigns and a valid special event prefix for stations outside of England albeit 33 years ago. Given there were no 2 prefixed amateur calls then the use of 2E is outwith the above and perfectly sound.
1400 NOVs and I think I’ve worked only 50 different calls on 60m!
Andy
MM0FMF
Still seeking a way to open my FT-897 for 60m. Been through the softmod processes with WidebanderV4 and another program, but neither worked. Taken top off 897 to look at what jumpers mod involved - but couldn’t even find the jumpers!
BTW, is it necessary/advisable to operate at lower power on 5MHz with a modded 897?
817 is ready to go though, so just need to make a dipole to do some activations.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to MM0FMF:
Just quoting what I was told!
In reply to M1EYP:
No need to operate at lower power. My tuner works okay on either the 80m or 40m setting for 60m.
If I remember rightly you need to remove a chip diode on the 897 to allow it to be wide-banded. If you remove two it is permanently wide-band but if you remove one of them you can use the software to mod it and a full reset puts back the factory settings.
Steve
In reply to M1EYP:
817 is ready to go though, so just need to make a dipole to do some
activations.
Tom
You are welcome to borrow my 5MHz dipole. I can be collected this evening if you want.
73
Richard
G3CWI
Hey, nice one Richard, thank you. Should be round later. Looks like tommorow’s ‘early’ on SP-015 will be my debut 5MHz.
“I can be collected this evening…”
Does that mean we are going for a beer as part of the handover process?
Fine by me.
Tom
In reply to M1EYP:
Locate the nine jumpers. These are located about 2" from the front edge of the main unit and about 3/4" from the left edge.
Diodes must have been the 706
In reply to GW7AAV:
These are located about 2" from the front edge of the main unit and about 3/4" from the left edge.
That’s exactly what the instructions on the internet told me. I couldn’t see anything there!
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
I have a file with photos of the 897 mod, I will email it to you when I get home.
73,
Mark G0VOF