In reply to M1BUU:
“As you have one station you should not have more than one call sign.”
Fair enough.
Steve MW0BBU.
In reply to M1BUU:
I missed your quote Colin until I read Mark’s comment about V44.
The guy from OFCOM is somewhat labouring a point of misunderstanding. He’s right that the callsign identifies the station. He’s wrong in assuming that the licensee is the station. So I hold 3 calls for 3 stations. Each station has a different call and all the ITU regs are satisfied. All station details are correct with OFCOM so no matter which call they hear being used or (perish the thought) abused, they can contact the license holder and take up the matter.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
He’s wrong in assuming that the licensee is the station.
However the licence is issued to the Licensee … not to the station.
Page 1 of the current UK Licence states:
“This Licence, issued by Ofcom … authorises the holder named above (the “Licensee”) to establish and use stations or install or use radio transmitting and receiving apparatus for wireless telegraphy (the “Radio Equipment”) …”
Note the word “stations” … in the plural.
Therefore if Ofcom pleases to issue only one Licence per Licensee, it follows that each person will have custody of only one callsign, however many stations he establishes and uses.
This is different from the situation in some countries, where there are separate “station” and “operator” licences.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
Note the word “stations” … in the plural
So the licence allows up to set up stations. Fair enough.
And the OFCOM chap is quoted as saying: “As you have one station you should not have more than one call sign”.
So if you have more than one station you NEED more than 1 callsign. The licence says you can have more than one station. 
He seems to be actually supporting the retention of multiple callsigns which I don’t think was his intention. Which is par for the course, OFCOM not really understanding what they’re doing. Sadly, from experience, the old RA didn’t know much better either!
I’m quite happy for them to limit people to a single callsign per licence and no holding FL, IL and Full licences at the same time. I’d also love to see licences reissued after a fallow period of 3 years. There are 507000 possible M, G, 2 style calls at present. Reallocation (like many countries do) would solve all the problem of running out.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Regardless of legal loopholes and wording, it’s pretty clear to me that as a licensed radio amateur I should only hold one call sign for the class of license that I am entitled to. I am entitled to a Full Amateur license and thus hold one appropriate call sign.
As many will know, I took the path to lighter side a couple of years ago and started to use CW for SOTA. I liked the idea of an M1 prefix for CW, it just seems better than sending ‘M0’. I was issued M1BUU when I passed my RAE back in 1997, but I then held M0CGH after passing the Morse test on Valentines day 1999.
I had been following the license debate for a while and knew that Ofcom would not allow me to reapply for M1BUU without relinquishing my M0 call. I rang Ofcom and without getting the chance to fully explain myself I was told immediately that if I was ringing up to reinstate my ‘class b’ call, it was now policy to not allow this, regardless of past practice, as Ofcom had made a mistake and was now trying to put things right. Eventually the officer listened to me and agreed that it would be fine to do a call sign swap, killing off the M0 call and then applying for my M1 call in it’s place.
I filled in the paperwork as requested and sent it all off to Ofcom in a big brown envelope, I included copies of email exchanges between Ofcom staff and myself, explaining my request, just to double make sure they understood my intentions.
About a week later I was sent an email rejecting my application, the text quoted previously was from that email. In the end, after further emails, my application was successful and my M0 call is no longer valid.
I agree that Ofcom at (most?) times seem incompetent, I had tried my best to follow their own suggestions and procedures, whilst provinding more than needed proof, and proof of proof, but yet they still made a mess of my application!
Anyway I got what I wanted and I’m loving having my original call sign back 
73
Colin, M1BUU
And quite uncanny how your Class B call is beautiful on CW, whereas your Class A call was rather hideous!
My own dealings with Ofcom have varied. There used to be an excellent lady (Denise Carter?) who was on the ball and gave great customer service. She arranged for Jimmy to have M3EYP after he passed his Foundation, even though it had already been issued. The original holder - Tim - had written a letter to Ofcom asking that the call be relinquished and made available for Jimmy to take.
My next contact was quite different. This was when my first batch of 8 Foundation licensees came through at school. We went through the callsign selection procedure online in the classroom, and the first 7 all got shiny new M6 callsigns, and all with their chosen suffices. There was a connection problem while processing the 8th, and the process had to be restarted. But the Ofcom website wouldn’t let us, saying that we had already started - but it wouldn’t let us in.
So it was done over the 'phone instead. Without being offered a choice, I was told that the yound lady’s call would be M3YUR. I enquired as to why it wasn’t an M6? The gentleman replied “It has to be an M3 because of your location - it is a Manchester callsign”. There was clearly no point trying to debate the point with someone who was so uninformed, so I convinced Charlotte she was lucky to have got one of the last ever M3 calls, which she accepted enthusiastically.
I’m not sure when the next batch of new 12 year old M6 licensees will be activating The Cloud G/SP-015 with me. I am back at work now, but obviously the long absence due to brain surgery seriously disrupted last year’s cohort. And now back at work, I haven’t got a classroom anymore, or even currently any classes! So if/when I get to run the Foundation Licence course as a Friday afternoon enrichment activity again I am unsure. One lad from last year is very keen to come into the hobby, so I have promised him some lunchtime/after-school sessions to try and get him through.
Back to (sort of) topic, I’m looking forward to hearing M1BUU/P on the air from a summit soon Colin.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
Hi Tom,
I’m very sorry to hear you don’t have a current batch of budding amateurs, it has always been a pleasure working those you have encouraged in the past.
I sincerely hope there will be more!
I am also sorry to hear that Colin’s M0CGH call will be heard no more 
I have had the pleasure of working him with that call & thought the change to M1BUU was only temporary.
Rest in peace M0CGH, long live M1BUU.
Best 73 to all,
Mark G0VOF
In reply to G0VOF:
M1BUU is nicer than the old one on the key. Think of us who start MM0
Anyway, it’s the inconsistency which is so very annoying with OFCOM never mind the plain cluelessness some of their employees show.
You could have some fun by applying for M0CGH as a club callsign. you’ll need a letter from the previous owner to say he is happy for it to be reallocated, a club application form and £20 
After that and it goes on the system, renewal is free.
Andy
MM0FMF et al.
In reply to MM0FMF:
Anyway it’s the inconsistency which is so very annoying with OFCOM
never mind the plain cluelessness some of their employees
If radio hams were paying for the service OFCOM provides, I may have some sympathy with your view.
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to 2E0YYY:
Don’t you pay income tax, CGT, VAT ? I do and I expect people paid out of those taxes to do their job properly. Simply because I can’t go elsewhere for the service on offer.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to G0VOF:
I am also sorry to hear that Colin’s M0CGH call will be heard no more
Maybe Colin needs to form the “Heights Contest Group” - CGH would be quite a good callsign. 
73, Gerald G4OIG
In reply to MM0FMF:
Don’t you pay income tax, CGT, VAT ?
Some of us, including me, are not rich enough to pay CGT, Andy!
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
That’s all right Walt. I’m sure I’m paying enough for 2 people already
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
So if you have more than one station you NEED more than 1 callsign.
I don’t think that really follows, Andy. You can’t be in more than one place at one time, so there is no reason why you can’t use one callsign for all three stations. Nobody else can operate one of your stations except under your direct supervision.
Club callsigns, of course, are a different matter.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
It’s interesting watching how the two issues play off one another. Both seem to be driven by Ofcom’s desire to have one callsign per licencee (Club, Special Event Station and Contest calls excepted). It seems reasonable to expect lower level calls to be surrendered when higher levels are attained, but Ofcom really don’t seem to have thought the Regional Secondary Locator situation through at all. If anything needs fixing there then it’s the business of GB* calls and the various special prefix NoVs…
73, Rick M0LEP
In reply to M0LEP:
Well when they do I will be interested to see how quickly they update their callsign database. The latest version of “Callseeker” from the RSGB, the one which was published a week or so ago, still contains a number of callsigns from members of our club which I know have been cancelled as well as six SK two of them having passed to the great shack in the sky some three years ago!
Not very helpful, so what are Ofcom playing about with this latest scheme?
73
Barry GM4TOE
In reply to GM4TOE:
Well when they do I will be interested to see how quickly they update
their callsign database. The latest version of “Callseeker” from the
RSGB, the one which was published a week or so ago, still contains a
number of callsigns from members of our club which I know have been
cancelled as well as six SK two of them having passed to the great
shack in the sky some three years ago!
They will probably update it five years after the last occasion that the deceased person confirmed their details on the licensing database.
One problem with the “Licence For Life” scheme is that Ofcom will not know that a licensee has gone SK until the five-year period has expired and the deceased person fails to re-confirm their details!
Incidentally, there are numerous entries on QRZ.com for people who have been SK for more than 20 years, including several former members of my old radio club in SW Scotland.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to GM4TOE:
Not very helpful, so what are Ofcom playing about with this latest scheme?
Who knows… I’m not convinced Ofcom do, that’s for sure. I could only see one logical end-point for their suggested interpretation of the Regional Secondary Locator issue; that it would let them allocate M0XYZ, MM0XYZ, MW0XYZ etc. to different individuals…
73, Rick M0LEP
In reply to M0LEP:
Hi,
And then when M0XYZ retires to sunny Tenby(is it?), Ofcom
will need to issue him with a new call.
Kind regards
Dave
In reply to G0ELJ:
But Dave, they’ll have loads of spare licenses saved up by not allocating as many to begin with that they can afford to give him a new one!
As long we don’t move about the country too much that would work!
Andy
MM0FMF