A few miscellaneous comments regarding callsigns (none of this is directed
at Andrei, since nothing he proposed doing would have broken any rules):
As N1ND pointed out, the ARRL DX contest rules require that your callsign
must reflect your DXCC country. CQWW does not have such a rule.
CQWW scoring has always required some knowledge of QTH that cannot be
determined from the callsign (to score your log accurately. Of course,
these days, you don't have to, since the checkers willl score it for you).
For example, in the old days you might never know that a particular GM3 was
in the Shetlands unless he announced it on the air. Now, the .cty file
tells us. (Not an issue for ARRL DX, since it's not a separate counter
there.) Today, KP2A could operate from KP4, sign KP2A, be perfectly legal
with both the FCC and the contest rules, give out no hint via the zone
number, which is the same, and nobody would know to count him as P.R.,
rather than USVI until he sends his log in.
By the way (and I mention it only because I don't think a lot of people know
this), reciprocal operating in the U.S. (without issuance of a callsign by
the FCC) is only available to non-U.S. citizens who do NOT have an
FCC-issued callsign. In other words, once you have an FCC-issued callsign
you MUST use it (or another FCC-issued callsign that the holder has allowed
you to use) when operating in the U.S. (technically, in any place for which
the FCC issues callsigns). Also, a U.S. citizen who is licensed only by a
foreign country (but not by the FCC) can not operate in the U.S. at all.
This includes U.S.-citizen yachters who get licenses from other countries
(and not from the FCC). They are illegal (I mean, any amateur radio
operation is illegal) once they enter U.S. territorial waters.
Rich K2WR
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