2 Letter Call Ballot

In April the WIA published a paper setting out the process that was proposed for it to conduct a ballot on behalf of the ACMA to provide a means for the equitable allocation of available amateur callsigns with two letter suffixes (2 letter callsigns).

The paper sought comments and proposed a time table for the future conduct of the ballot.

As a part of the process, ACMA agreed to the WIA’s request to review the cases of amateurs who had "lost" their 2 letter callsigns since 19 October 2005 as a result of their failure to renew their apparatus licence on time and who could show that their failure to renew was due to exceptional circumstances.

All amateurs who applied for a review were able to show exceptional circumstances, and so were successful and so their callsigns have been returned to them.

However, a number of contractual, taxation and other issues have emerged in the discussions between the ACMA and the WIA in respect of the conduct of the ballot, and these complex issues have made the adherence to the original timetable impossible.

It now appears that the timetable originally proposed will slip by at least two months.

The WIA will advise all amateurs of the steps to be taken by those wishing to participate in the ballot, and the timing, just as soon as it has resolved the currently outstanding issues.

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