Ham Radio > Ham Prefixes
Vector > Ham Radio > Ham Prefixes
Data Source: ITU > Amateur radio call signs
Website: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/terrestrial/fmd/Pages/call_sign_series.aspx
Description
This layer shows Amateur Radio callsign prefixes. Amateur radio call signs are allocated to amateur radio operators around the world. The call signs are used to legally identify the station or operator, with some countries requiring the station call sign to always be used and others allowing the operator call sign instead.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) allocates call sign prefixes for radio and television stations of all types. Since 1927 these have been used to uniquely identify operators and locate amateur stations within a geographical region or country of the world. Call signs meant for amateur radio follow the ITU's Article 19, specifically 19.68 and 19.69.
Prefixes are assigned internationally, and a separating numeral plus suffix are added by a national body to produce this unique identifier. These prefixes are agreed upon internationally, and are a form of country code. Each country must only assign call signs to its nationals or operators under its jurisdiction that begin with the characters allocated for use in that country or its territories.
Country Ranking
There is never enough room on a world map to show all of the Prefix labels, so some form of Ranking must be used to set an order of label preference.
The 'Time Mapper UHD' ranks countries by their population, and shows labels for the larger countries first. As the software includes anti-overlap routines for labels in the same map-layer, this means that prefix labels with a lower rank will not be shown.
A ranking by population may not please everyone, of course, so facility is provided for the User to set his own ranking order. To do this, open the 'Settings Menu' and visit the 'Country Rank' tab-page.
There are two independent lists: one for standard Countries, and the other for Ham Radio Countries. The 'Ham Radio Countries' list applies here. If you wish to change the ranking of a country, just select it in the list, then choose a new position with the 'Ranking' control, then click 'Change Rank to New Value'. You can revert all changes by clicking the 'Restore All Ranks to Default Values' button.
This Map Layer is a Vector Layer composed of Labels, so the Style for these can be changed as desired by opening the 'Layers Menu', clicking the wanted layer on the left, then clicking the relevant panel controls on the right.