BILL'S RADIO HISTORY & CALL LETTER PAGES
Last updated April 29 2008
These pages are a combination of my writings about call letters, which might be called a somewhat bizarre interest, and incidental to that, some history of radio in Canada. In other words I have set out to write about and list call letters, but in order to do so have along the way passed along some interesting historical snippets.
My own specific pages are:
Call Letters (What, Evolution, Form)
3 - Letter Call Letters in Canada
(Ships, Coast Stns, Military and more)
Canadian Military 5 - Letter
Call Signs from the past
Canadian Naval Ship Call Signs from the Pacific Coast, ca. 1972
Aeronautical Registration Marks (Call Letters)
SOURCES AND INSPIRATION
For those who want more of an
historical narrative, it is recommended that you go to the various websites
mentioned below.
The information on these pages has come from or been inspired by a number of sources. Some are official list publications. These are dry but very interesting to look through. The others mentioned are not just interesting, they are extremely fascinating, and I cannot thank the authors enough for writing these histories, which go far beyond lists. Some history is also contained in my broadcasting pages at my main site: www.marscan.com You may also like to visit my pages about my own background in the radio hobby, and also see many of my QSL cards from my years of radio listening.
Spud Roscoe, VE1BC, has provided me with lists and clarifications of various kinds. His wonderful and extensive historical account is entitled "Radio Stations Common? Not This Kind". This is a .pdf file of several chapters and includes many many photographs. This is essentially the story of Canada's coast radio system and of marine radio, both civil and naval. This site from a veteran radio operator has to be seen!
Also extremely important is Jerry Proc's extensive site on Canada's naval radio history: Radio Communications and Signals Intelligence in the Canadian Navy. This covers both land and shipboard radio. While I am not dealing specifically with ship callsigns here on my site, those who are interested will find a huge list of Canadian naval ships and their callsigns, both the international type and the tactical voice type, and is up to the minute. Like Spud's site, this is a great source of information on call signs, equipment, procedures, and just wonderful history.
From the west coast comes Rough Radio: History of Wireless Along the British Columbia Coast, written by Jack Statham, VE7VAZ.
My intent here is to list as many three letter call signs in alphabetical order, with a bit of information about each station. This is a slightly different twist on the subject and is quite bare compared to the richness of the above sites. As the saying goes, "you simply MUST" visit these sites. I enjoy them very much. Both Jerry and Spud have kindly responded personally to my queries, and I am sure they will be happy to answer your questions or receive any input you can give.
Statistics Canada's "Coast stations for communication by wireless telegraphy with ships at sea, fiscal year 1916"
Statistics Canada's table "Wireless and radio stations in operation in Canada, March 31, 1924 to 1927
Statistics Canada's table "Radio stations in operation, by class, as at March 31, 1942 to 1946"
In general the excellent website United States Early Radio History. There is a secton devoted to the early international conferences that brought about regulations and call letters. The US Navy lists linked individually below are on this site.
List of Wireless Telegraph Stations of the World, including shore stations, Merchant Vessels, Revenue Cutters and vessels of the United States Navy, corrected to October 1, 1910 United States Department of the Navy, Bureau of Steam Engineering (facsimile reproduction on this site)
Wireless Telegraph Stations of the World, as the preceding, corrected to January 1, 1912
I also used Bill Hepburn's list of Continuous Marine Broadcasts in Canada. This excellent list does in effect show all the active call signs for Canadian Coast Guard radio stations including all the peripheral transmitters. It shows clearly that there really are very few 3-letter calls in use any more outside the military.
Another excellent site with links to various Canadian Army Signals historical pages is one entitled RCSigs Militaria. This site includes a link to Major John MacKenzie's 90 Years and Counting: The History of Canadian Military Communications and Electronics.
See the Hammond Museum of Radio for the history of radio in Canada, including radio apparatus built in this country.
The Troy Wood site has pages on the Vancouver Wireless Station, CFS Massett, Alert and various military communications and SIGINT stations, and links to other military communications sites.
The Camp
X Historical Society website is on Canada's spy training camp in Ontario
during World War II, supported by Oshawa Wireless Station.
The United States
Early Radio History from Thomas H. White is also fascinating, and gives
amongst other things a good outline of the early days of radio when the marine
service was paramount, and as well contains several official lists of stations
and call letters. This is a huge site that also deals as much with
early broadcasting as it does other topics. This is where I came to find
out about the early international conferences that resulted in radio regulations
and call letter allocations. Included in this site is a reproduction
of Wireless Telegraph Stations of the World, from the US Department of
the Navy, corrected to January 1, 1912. This includes the Canadian
stations, which at that time were using the Marconi call letters.
White's site has a large number of links to other sites of interest.
I also consulted a publication I have had for more than 30 years, the Alphabetical List of Call Signs of Stations Other than Amateur Stations, Experimental Stations and Stations of the Maritime Mobile Service , 4th edition, January 1970. International Telecommunications Union, Geneva, 1970. I recall purchasing this in the early 70's direct from Switzerland, and that the payment was in Swiss francs.
Utility DX'ers Handbook. 1971. Steven Joel Handler and Paul Mayo.
Admiralty List of Radio Signals, Volume I, 1969. Hydrographer of the (Royal) Navy, 1969. This publication was also known within the service as N.P. 275 (I)
Radio Call Letters (as of May 9, 1913). Department of Commerce, Office of the Secretary, Washington, 1913.
Radio Navigational Aids 1943. United
States Navy Department, Hydrographic Office, and known as H.O. 205.
Radiotelephone Directory of British Columbia, 1957 edition. This publication lists all the ships registered in Canada that were operating on the west coast, along with their call letters. It also details the ship/shore marine operator system then active in the 2 MHz and 4 MHz bands. Interestingly there are also numerous isolated fishing camps and logging sites also listed as they used the marine radio system as well.
North American Radio-TV Station Guide , 2nd edition, 1964, and 10th edition 1974, Vane A. Jones. This was a more formal version of the various lists that came out in magazine format in the 70's and earlier, such as White's Radio Log. I used this to check on 3-letter call letters in use in Canada.
Some information is recollection from when I was a Communications Officer in Canada's navy in the mid-70's, or taken from various official lists and from unofficial websites, that I am now unable to cite properly.