[Dx-qsl] Monk Apollos note:

Sat Feb 11 13:53:50 EST 2006

hi Danny--
 Like you, I also lived in Athens and sported an SV0 callsign.
 I agree with Monk Apollo that Mt Athos should have a distinctive prefix, but 
I respectfully disagree that it should be SY. I think Mt Athos deserves a 
completely new prefix block from the ITU, and Greece can ask for it as the 
parent country. 
 For example, France uses F calls but has TK for Corsica. You've been around 
long enough to remember when Macao had a CR9 prefix but then Portugal got the 
XX block from the ITU and internally assigned XX9 to Macanese stations.
 SY has already been used in several Greek call areas for special event 
stations for many years that for many hams, "Greece" is what comes to mind, not "Mt 
Athos". Heck, I was SY0GC myself in Athens (along with SW, SX, SZ, & J40GC).
 It was only last year that the Cook Islands (ZK1), a dependency of New 
Zealand, got the "E5" block from the ITU, even though the Cook islands are not an 
"independent" country. Following the same logic, Greece can ask the ITU for a 
new and unique block for Mt Athos ... "E6" is next in line.
 Your post to the reflector did not explain why you feel there is a problem 
with the way Greece assigns their island assignments. Perhaps you will share 
your opnion. Did you ever see the call area map in the Telecommunications 
Ministry? It looked logical to me. US has call sign districts, Greece has call 
sign districts.
 I would politely disagree with Monk Apollo's request to e-mail the Greel 
telecomms. Something about interfering in the internal affairs of a country. 
Just what the world needs, more Americans telling them how to do their business. 
Can you imagine the FCC getting tons of e-mail from Greece about the way we 
do callsigns? "Hey American FCC, why do you assign two numbers (KP3 & 4 and 
KH6 & 7) to a single area?" etc hi
 So I encourage the RAAG (Radio Amateur Association of Greece) to petition 
their telecomms themselves and get Mt Athos a distinctive prefix.
 Tired of reading complaints about 3Y0X, glad to have a different topic !!
 73 de Will WC6DX & SV0GC