What are these unusual callsigns I hear in contests?
You hear unusual callsigns during contests for two reasons. First, some administrations reserve special short or unusual callsign sequences specifically for use during contests. For example, in Britain callsigns with a single letter in the suffix like “M5A” or “GM1A” are reserved for contest use. In France, the prefix “TM” is allocated to contest stations rather than the more usual “F” prefix, for example “TM6X”. A short callsign gives the station an advantage because it is faster to send and less likely to be copied incorrectly. Unusual prefixes are attractive because in some contests like the CQ Worldwide WPX (Worked all Prefixes) contest, each unique prefix counts as a multiplier, so the more unusual prefixes will attract more calls. That happens in other contests as well. The first time I heard a “TM” station I was convinced I had found some rare DX, and was somewhat disappointed when I discovered it was located in mainland France. Some countries have even issued callsigns without
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