Note: The following information was copied from the FCC website on 3/15/2018. The latest redesign of their website removed the ability to provide a direct link to this information so in order to make it easier to access the information it has been reproduced here. You can currently find the information on their site by clicking here and then clicking on the various tabs.
FCC Sequential Call Sign System
Each call sign has a one letter prefix (K, N, W) or a two letter prefix (AA-AL, KA-KZ, NA-NZ, WA-WZ) and a one, two, or three letter suffix separated by a numeral (0-9) indicating the geographic region. Two letter prefixes that are designated for regions 11-13 are not available in regions 1-10. Certain combinations of letters are not used. When the call signs in any regional-group list are exhausted, the selection is made from the next lower group. The groups are:
| Group A - Amateur Extra Class | ||
|---|---|---|
| Primary stations licensed to Amateur Extra class operators. | ||
| Region | Prefix | Letters in Suffix |
| 1-10 | K, N, or W, and two letter suffix; | 2 |
| two letter prefix with first letter A, N, K, or W | 1 | |
| two letter prefix with first letter A | 2 | |
| 11 | AL, KL, NL, or WL | 1 |
| 12 | KP, NP, or WP | 1 |
| 13 | AH, KH, NH, or WH | 1 |
| Group B - Advanced Class | ||
| Primary stations licensed to Advanced class operators. | ||
| Region | Prefix | Letters in Suffix |
| 1-10 | Two letter prefix with first letter K, N, or W | 2 |
| 11 | AL | 2 |
| 12 | KP | 2 |
| 13 | AH | 2 |
| Group C - General, Technician, and Technician Plus Classes | ||
| Primary stations licensed to General, Technician, and Technician Plus class operators. | ||
| Region | Prefix | Letters in Suffix |
| 1-10 | K, N, or W | 3 |
| 11 | KL, NL, or WL | 2 |
| 12 | NP or WP | 2 |
| 13 | KH, NH, or WH | 2 |
| Group D - Novice, Club, and Military Recreations Station | ||
| Primary stations licensed to Novice class operators, and for club and military recreation stations. | ||
| Region | Prefix | Letters in Suffix |
| 1-10 | Two letter prefix with first letter K or W | 3 |
| 11 | KL or WL | 3 |
| 12 | KP or WP | 3 |
| 13 | KH or WH | 3 |
| Geographic Region-based Numerals | ||
|---|---|---|
| Region | States & Other Areas | Numeral |
| 1 | Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont | 1 |
| 2 | New Jersey and New York | 2 |
| 3 | Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland and Pennsylvania | 3 |
| 4 | Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia | 4 |
| 5 | Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas | 5 |
| 6 | California | 6 |
| 7 | Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming | 7 |
| 8 | Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia | 8 |
| 9 | Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin | 9 |
| 10 | Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota | 0 |
| 11 | Alaska | 0-9 |
| 12 | Caribbean Insular areas: | |
| Navassa Island | 1 | |
| Virgin Islands | 2 | |
| Commonwealth of Puerto Rico except Desecheo Island | 3 or 4 | |
| Desecheo Island | 5 | |
| 13 | Hawaii and Pacific Insular areas: | |
| Baker or Howland Island | 1 | |
| Guam | 2 | |
| Johnston Island | 3 | |
| Midway Island | 4 | |
| Palmyra or Jarvis Island | 5 | |
| Kingman Reef | 5 followed by suffix letter K | |
| Hawaii except Kure Island | 6 or 7 | |
| Kure Island | 7 followed by the letter K | |
| American Samoa | 8 | |
| Wake, Wilkes, or Peale Island | 9 | |
| Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands | 0 | |
| 14 | (unofficial). Outside the United States | |
Call Sign Availability
A call sign is normally assignable two years following license expiration, surrender, revocation, set aside, cancellation, void ab initio, or death of the grantee. Where a vanity call sign for which the most recent recipient was ineligible is surrendered, cancelled, revoked or voided, the call sign is not assignable for 30 days following the date such action is taken, or for the period for which the call sign would not have been available to the vanity call sign system pursuant to Section 97.19(c)(2) or (3) but for the intervening grant to the ineligible applicant, whichever is later. Refer to the Sequential Call Sign System for how call signs are sequentially assigned and the grouping and geographic region attributes of each call sign.
The following call signs are not available for assignment:
- KA2AA-KA9ZZ, KC4AAA-KC4AAF, KC4USA-KC4USZ, KG4AA-KG4ZZ, KC6AA-KC6ZZ, KL9KAA- KL9KHZ, KX6AA-KX6ZZ;
- Any call sign having the letters SOS or QRA-QUZ as the suffix;
- Any call sign having the letters AM-AZ as the prefix (these prefixes are assigned to other countries by the ITU);
- Any 2-by-3 format call sign having the letter X as the first letter of the suffix;
- Any 2-by-3 format call sign having the letters AF, KF, NF, or WF as the prefix and the letters EMA as the suffix (U.S Government FEMA stations);
- Any 2-by-3 format call sign having the letters AA-AL as the prefix;
- Any 2-by-3 format call sign having the letters NA-NZ as the prefix;
- Any 2-by-3 format call sign having the letters WC, WK, WM, WR, or WT as the prefix (Group X call signs);
- Any 2-by-3 format call sign having the letters KP, NP or WP as the prefix and the numeral 0, 6, 7, 8 or 9;
- Any 2-by-2 format call sign having the letters KP, NP or WP as the prefix and the numeral 0, 6, 7, 8 or 9;
- Any 2-by-1 format call sign having the letters KP, NP or WP as the prefix and the numeral 0, 6, 7, 8 or 9;
- Call signs having the single letter prefix (K, N or W), a single digit numeral 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and a single letter suffix are reserved for the special event call sign system.