World Amateur Radio Prefixes

Radio callsigns for the world are set by the ITU – the UN Agency which coordinates all radio activity.

The ITU allocates a block or blocks of prefixes to each country, and all callsigns must begin with the specified prefix.

This applies to all radio amateurs, aircraft, ships, broadcast, commercial stations etc.

This must be the most comprehensive list I've ever seen in my 18yrs as a Radio Ham.

Many thanks to Rod Dinkins, AC6V, for taking the time to put this together.

Ham Radio World Prefix List

UK Amateur Radio Call Signs

There are a large number of different prefixes used for UK, British amateur radio callsigns or call signs. From a knowledge of these ham radio call signs it is possible to learn something about the licencee - the type of amateur radio or ham radio licence held and also when it was issued.

As the types of ham radio licence available have changed over the years, and different call sign series were issued for each one, it may be difficult to identify what the callsigns mean without a table and explanation.

Current UK amateur radio licences.

Within the UK, there are three types of amateur radio licence that can be obtained, namely the Foundation Licence, Intermediate Licence and the Full Licence. Each of these ham radio licences offers different privileges in a form of incentive amateur radio licence scheme through which all new UK radio hams must progress to achieve the full licence.

The different ham radio licences reflect the experience of the operators, the Foundation Licence offering entry level privileges while the Full licence offers the highest power levels and the greatest number of bands.

Ham Calls in The UK