I noticed lately that I’m contacting a station ex: M6xxx but they are in say Wales so they use MW6XXX…which do I put in the SOTA database?
You log exactly the call sign they gave you that you then used in the QSO.
It can be confusing when people have not registered these alternative callsigns on QRZ. I had one recently, I checked for MWxxxx to be sure I had copied it correctly but it wasn’t known - however, Mxxxx without the W was.
You should log the callsign used in the QSO.
73
When activating Foel Cae’rberllan GW/NW-057 nearly 4 years ago I worked an English expat who was residing in Spain on 20m SSB. Because I was using the callsign of MW0HGY/P and my callsign on QRZ.com is M0HGY, this English expat in Spain decides to accuse me on the air that I do not have an amateur radio licence all because he could not find MW0HGY on QRZ.com. I was really annoyed by this especially that his expat had a UK amateur radio licence before he moved to Spain where he obtained his Spanish amateur radio licence so he really should have known that a W can be added to the callsign when a station with a UK amateur radio licence who’s based in England does some operating in Wales. I pointed out to this expat over the air that I was on holiday in Wales, that I live in England and that I was on QRZ.com as M0HGY and he soon found me. Still though I would have thought that an English expat who had a UK amateur radio licence prior to moving to Spain would have known better.
Jimmy M0HGY
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I’m not on QRZ, so what should people log when they can’t find me on QRZ? The callsign I was giving or a blank?
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Thx for the answers. It’s sort of confusing because it would normally be MW/M6XXX by other convention’s. No worries logged it right.
Thx
Paul
Using the correct regional prefix is a UK license requirement not an individual’s choice or an indication of the licensee’s place of residence.
Courtesy Wikipedia 2022
In recent years Ofcom [the UK radio licensing authority) have emphasized this in the license by stating the callsign like this: G#8CPZ and M#0ALC.
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Hi Paul,
when travelling to another part of the UK, the operator MUST add in the regional letter - it’s not an option (unless the rules have changed). So for example my call sign in the UK is G8GLM, If I travel to and operate in Scotland - I must sign as GM8GLM - If I head over onto the Isle of Man my call sign becomes GD8GLM.
This regional letter appraoch, as far as I know, is unique to the UK as you say other countries would add a prefix or suffix when traveling to a different licence region. For example VK2JI when in South Australia becomes VK2JI/VK5 or simplified VK2JI/5.
The UK (M & G & 2) callsigns are different.
Using qrz.com as a reference of valid/not valid calls is flawed - not only for this reason of the UK regional letter requirement but also because all countries in the world do not provide the licenced callsigns list for free and open use, so qrz.com won’t have all valid callsigns for all countries in it (in the US - qrz.com takes an extract off the FCC database, hence in the US it should be fairly accurate). For operators in many countries, they are only in qrz.com if they have added the entry themselves. This is the same issue across all of the callsign lookup sites - qrzcq hamqth etc. etc.
73 Ed.
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I had learnt from operating practice early that the UK callsigns can alter by region. Even our Andy is HB9/M0FMF (only) abroad but remains being the same guy (hopefully). I would never expect finding all variations in QRZ, Google helps here in case of need.
73, Markus HB9DIZ
It is a bizarre system Markus and confuses new and old UK hams. Yes, it’s MM0 whilst in in GM but once I leave GM and land in HB9 it reverts to M0. The second M means Scotland and if I’m in HB9 I cannot be in GM at the same time. MM0FMF at home and HB9/M0FMF.
But the fact remains you log what the station gave you. If you think it’s wrong, you make a note in your log.
I can remember a station in a UK 2m contest who we heard give 2 contest stations the same serial number. The station then gave us the same number. I asked if he was sure as he had given that number 3 times and he said “that’s what I’m logging”. So I logged it and made a note. His log was different to what he gave over the air but there were enough reports of his nonsense from others that it still was scored.
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And how! Many silent keys are still listed as family members do not consider such registrations after the licensee passes away.
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