Call signs in Canada

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada reserves the right to issue temporary special event call signs to licensed amateurs using the other available prefixes.[8][15]

Typically, for national or regional observances licensed amateurs add their suffix to the assigned special event prefix as per the following explanation. An individual amateur may apply for a single special event callsign that has any of the 24 prefixes and an appropriate suffix related to the event. For instance, VA3OR received the special event call CF3NAVY from June 4 to July 3, 2010 to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy. In 1973 for the centennial of the RCMP a call sign VE3RCMP was issued and used from N division in Ottawa from April to November. The operators were all members of the RCMP who were also amateur radio operators.

For the special national event commemorating the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, from February 1, to March 31, 2010 amateurs could substitute VG for VA, VX for VE, XJ for VO, XK for VY so that an amateur with call sign VE3AAA could use VX3AAA, or VY0AAA could use XK0AAA.[16]

For the 2023 Coronation of King Charles III, special call signs were authorized for use from May 5 to July 2, 2023.[17]

Some special event call signs have been issued with more than one numeral. For instance, VE2008VQ was issued for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Québec City from June 28 to July 27, 2008. Also, CG200I was issued for the 200th Anniversary of the Lighthouse of L'Ile Verte (Green Island), Québec.[18]

Technically speaking, the first digit is the numeral separating prefix from the suffix, and the rest are part of the suffix.

Canadian provincial and territorial motor vehicle licensing authorities can issue special licence plates to amateurs resident in their jurisdiction.[19][20] In British Columbia, the ICBC application form clearly allows only call signs beginning with VE7 or VA7,[21] but calls from other jurisdictions sometimes slip through.

Under a reciprocal agreement between the United States and Canada, United States citizens licensed by the FCC can use their call sign within Canada as long as they affix the appropriate Canadian area-prefix to the end of their American call sign. For instance, a United States amateur with call sign W6AAA operating in British Columbia would sign as W6AAA/VE7.[22]

Prior to adoption of the Radiotelegraphic Act on June 6, 1913, in most cases radio station owners adopted call letters of their own choosing. By 1912 most Marconi Company-owned commercial stations, including those in Canada, had three-letter call signs starting with "M",[26] while other stations commonly were given calls that reflected a station's location or its owner's initials. One exception was the amateur radio operators belonging to The Wireless Association of Ontario, who were assigned three-letter call signs by the club that began with the letter "X", followed by the first letter of the member's surname, and closing with a sequentially assigned third letter.[27]

In 1912 the first International Radiotelegraph Convention was held in London. This conference established an International Bureau in Berne, Switzerland, which allocated initial letters for call signs issued to stations within various jurisdictions, and in the Bureau's April 23, 1913 circular "Canada (British)" was assigned VAA–VGZ. (The series VOA–VOZ was assigned to "Newfoundland (British)".)[28] These allocations only covered commercial stations, and a broadcasting station category did not yet exist.

Amateur and experimental stations were not yet included in the international assignments. For these stations, the federal government assigned three-letter call signs, starting with "XAA", that were issued in alphabetical order.[29] Experimental stations later received call letters from a separate alphabetical sequence, starting with XWA in Montreal.[30]

Most civilian radio stations were shut down by the federal government during World War I. After the war, the call letters in the range CFA–CKZ were assigned to "British Colonies and Protectorates",[31] and in 1920 this assignment was divided between Canada, which received "CF", "CH", "CJ" and "CK", Australia, which was assigned "CG", and Newfoundland, which was given "CI".[32]

Canada silenced its amateur stations from August 1914 to May 1, 1919. Concurrent with the restoration of amateur station licensing, there was a change to alphanumeric call signs, consisting of a regional number from 1 to 5, followed by two letters.[33] Training Schools followed a similar policy, with an initial digit of 6, with Experimental stations call signs now starting with the digit 9.

As international communication became more frequent, Canadian amateurs informally began using a prefix of 'C' in front of their assigned alphanumeric call sign, and Americans similarly used a 'U' as a prefix. On February 1, 1927, European countries began using a two-letter prefix beginning with 'E' in front of their regional identifying numbers. Following that practise North American operators put a leading "N" in front of their calls, so that Canada's prefix became "NC" and Americans used "NU". For example a British Columbia amateur would sign their transmissions with a prefix of NC5.

Radio broadcasting began to appear in the early 1920s. Initially there was not a separate category for stations making broadcasts intended for the general public, so the earliest broadcasts were sent by stations operating under standard amateur and experimental licences. In early 1922 two new licence categories were added: "Private Commercial Broadcasting station" and "Amateur Broadcasting station".[34] In late April 1922 an initial group of twenty-three commercial broadcasting station licenses was announced, which received four-letter call signs starting with "CF", "CH", "CJ" or "CK", plus one additional "C" as the third or fourth letter.[35] Stations in the Amateur Broadcasting station category received alphanumeric call signs starting with the number "10".

Canada has traditionally made use of a few call letter prefixes outside of those assigned to the country. In the 1920s exceptions were made for three regular Canadian National Railways broadcasting stations, CNRA in Moncton, CNRV in Vancouver and CNRO in Ottawa, plus the railway's "phantom stations" operating on time leased from other stations. When the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission took over the Canadian National Railway stations in 1932 and began to buy other stations, the prefix "CRC" was reserved for its exclusive use, including CRCT (formerly CKGW) and CRCY (formerly CKNC) in Toronto. In 1936 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation succeeded the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission. Its stations were assigned call letters starting with "CB", and in Toronto CRCT became CBL and CRCY became CBY.[36] In the early 1930s the Canadian Pacific Railway held a phantom station licence for Toronto, which held the call letters CPRY.[37]

At the International Radiotelegraph Convention (Washington, 1927) Canada was assigned the call letters blocks CFA–CKZ and VAA–VGZ.[38] These came into force January 1, 1929, and amateur radio stations were now included in the ITU lettering scheme. Initially all amateur radio stations were given the prefix "VE" which replaced informal use of "NC", a prefix in use by the United States Navy.

Following World War II, the International Telecommunication Convention (Atlantic City, 1947) met and refined the international call sign blocks. Canada was assigned CFA–CKZ, CYA–CZZ, VAA–VGZ, VXA–VYZ, XJA–XOZ and 3BA–3FZ.[39] These came into force January 1, 1949. The 3BA–3FZ block eventually was reallocated between Mauritius, Equatorial Guinea, Kingdom of Swaziland, Fiji, and Panama.

The Canadian government reformatted amateur call signs according to this table.

In 1949 Newfoundland and Labrador joined with Canada and the VOA–VOZ block of prefixes came with them. In 1954 the federal government made VE0 available to Canadian operators in international waters. The additions to the 1946 prefixes are summarized as: