Vanity calls

[The Slab Bacon]

Glad I was able to get a REAL Extra call instead of a goofball Extra call.

What is a "real extra call"? ? ? ?

KB3AHE is a real extra call................

What makes any one more or less extra than another? ? ? ? ?

[WD8BIL]

No inclination to change here...... unless I were to move!

Witch Doctor 8 Bud in Lorain

[W2VW]

You know them when you see them Slab : )

[W1RKW]

I was first  licensed in '81 with KA1IHQ, a real bear for CW as a novice. Upgraded to Tech and took N1EBA for a number of years. CW wise N1EBA was pretty good. Voice, it sucked. Constant repeating of the call drove me nuts. Under marginal conditions I'd get N1EDA,,N1ETA, N1EPA etc. It made for good phonetics. For example, N1 Extra Big Appendage or N1 Extremely Big Antenna.  When vanity came along I opted for the present call.  I always wanted a W call with my initials.  For years I'd watch the Callbook and then one day on a search whim it was available so I applied for the current call and lo and behold. With this call there's very little repeating. I had a family member of the original call sign holder email me to see if I wanted a metal call sign name plate from the original owner.  I said sure but never received it which is OK fine.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I just renewed this call.  I did think about getting a vanity at the time. Some of them actually appealed to me too. But, I won't change my call until I upgrade.  Maybe that'll motivate me?

Did have one other call, YI9HYS for about a year.  It tended to create pile ups on 20m CW 

[K1JJ]

For example, N1 Extra Big Appendage...  

Calling  N1 Extra Big Appendage -  you got the  K1 Jumbo Joint with W1 Itchy Appendage and W1VD looking for you, caw mawn.

T

[WA1GFZ]

WA1DGK, now that would be a cool call

[W7TFO]

Glad I was able to get a REAL Extra call instead of a goofball Extra call.

What is a "real extra call"? ? ? ?

Define goofball?

I did over 40 years in broadcast engineering, and handle CW just fine since that radio merit badge in scouts.

It was time to get another license and beat on my own gear for a change.

Folks that make snap judgements on others' call pedigree deserve all the QRM/N they get.

73DG

[The Slab Bacon]

You know them when you see them Slab : )

Come on, Dave, it just sounds like some kind of an ego thing.    

When you are in QSO with someone, does it really mean anything to you whether or not they know you are an extra? Or does it just bolster ones ego? If you are up in the general part of the band what does it really matter? If you are down low in the band they will have to assume you have a higher lisence. If it haunts them enough wondering why you are down band with a Novice call, they can look you up and find out.

I really could care less about my own lisence class showing through and/or whether or not anyone knows what class of lisence I have, as long as I am able to join into a QSO that I find interesting.

The BIG advantage to having an extra call (real, fake, or "goofball") is being able to move to areas of the band that are less conjested.

And, errr, furthermore................ No one on the air has ever questioned or said anything about my novice call being used in the extra part of the band.    

[WA1GFZ]

An idiot with a cool call is still an idiot

[WD8BIL]

Way ta  go, Dave!

[kb3ouk]

How do you think I felt?? I had one of the first of a new series of calls. EVERYONE knew you were a newbie.  

Everyone used to call me "the KB3 GUY"      

With my call now being over 20 years old, and they haven't run out of those damned KB3 calls yet! ! ! ! ! ! !      

The really sad part of it is that it shows how few NEW hams have been lisenced in the 3rd call district in the last 20 years  

And they just now got to the Y's. Newest KB3 I can find is KB3YLM, and that was issued April 5. I got this call back in March of 2007, so they aren't making much progress. But KB3OUK gets troublesome on phone at times, everyone seems to get it wrong, even after I repeated it like 20 times in phonetics while calling CQ.

[W2VW]

You know them when you see them Slab : )

Come on, Dave, it just sounds like some kind of an ego thing.    

When you are in QSO with someone, does it really mean anything to you whether or not they know you are an extra? Or does it just bolster ones ego? If you are up in the general part of the band what does it really matter? If you are down low in the band they will have to assume you have a higher lisence. If it haunts them enough wondering why you are down band with a Novice call, they can look you up and find out.

I really could care less about my own lisence class showing through and/or whether or not anyone knows what class of lisence I have, as long as I am able to join into a QSO that I find interesting.

The BIG advantage to having an extra call (real, fake, or "goofball") is being able to move to areas of the band that are less conjested.

And, errr, furthermore................ No one on the air has ever questioned or said anything about my novice call being used in the extra part of the band.    

Anyone who has been in amateur radio longer than 5 minutes should know someone can get an Extra with no practical radio knowledge whatsoever. This is no secret or great revelation. It means little except the newer Extra is more likely to be up on later rule changes.

It's what you do after you get the license that counts these days. Anyone unhappy with the current crop of license holder's technical experience had the option to do something about it.

So called old timers who go around bitching on radio sites should spend more time helping younger hams instead of clogging up sites with their venom. Some of these folks IMO don't like what they see in the mirror so they TRY to dump on others to boost their ego. Almost all of these birds would fail a current Extra test without study because of the regulations areas.

Some Extra calls (the ones you can't get without holding the Extra license) just exude wannabe. Has nothing to do with your continued use of your novice call. I did the same thing for 2 decades. Like I said, you know them when you see them.

[WA1GFZ]

Agree Dave,
Even though you have a cool call, you are still cool.

[W1RKW]

For example, N1 Extra Big Appendage...  

Calling  N1 Extra Big Appendage -  you got the  K1 Jumbo Joint with W1 Itchy Appendage and W1VD looking for you, caw mawn.

T

BwaHaHa!