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Vanity Call Signs

Changing your call sign to a shorter one is a good idea especially if you’re on the HF bands working DX. The shorter the call sign, the easier the DX station will hear your call during a pile-up. When you apply for, and are granted a call sign that is different than the one the FCC originally gave you, this is called a Vanity Call Sign.

General or Technician license holders can upgrade their 2 x 3 call sign to 1 x 3 call sign. Amateur Extra license holders can upgrade to a 2 x 1 or a 1 x 2 call sign

One of the neat things about Vanity Call Signs is that you get to pick the call sign you want. You can get a call sign that has your initials or that sounds cool or that has the same three letters in the suffix or, anything you want, as long as the call sign is available.

The following two websites will provide you additional details on the rules for vanity call sign applications and will help you search for available call signs:
http://www.radioqth.net/
http://ae7q.com/query/text/Vanity.php

Here is a link to a YouTube video that will walk you through the online application process for a vanity call sign at the FCC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EUdPG1-tCs

You will be amazed how easy your new, shorter call sign will roll off your tongue and how quickly your ham radio friends will get used to the new call sign.