Hams who'd made contact with radio operators in India or Sweden - or who have perhaps just heard them on the air - have been hearing these operators identify themselves with callsigns that, until this year, did not exist. In India, newly licensed amateur stations have been assigned new suffixes since the 25th of June. Although the existing, older callsign forms have not changed, new General Grade licenses, which are assigned a VU2 prefix, now get a combination of numbers and letters, creating callsigns such as VU22DX or VU29AR. Likewise, Restricted Grade licenses, which are assigned a VU3 prefix, are receiving suffixes of two numbers and three letters, creating callsigns such as VU33ABS.
Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, the assistant director of the National Institute of Amateur Radio, told Newsline that the changes are a direct result of ham radio's growth in India. He wrote, in an email: [quote] "These new prefixes are a practical measure to accommodate the increasing number of amateur radio enthusiasts in India by expanding the available callsign combinations while still adhering to the country's internationally allocated prefix block." [endquote]
Meanwhile, in Sweden, amateurs who have received the new entry level class certificate are identifying themselves with the country's new callsign prefix, "SH." These amateurs can be heard on 40, 20, 15, 10, 6 and 2 metres, where they are permitted to use a maximum of 25 watts of power.
