Two Letter Call Sign Ballot Conducted

The ballot for two letter callsigns was conducted on Friday morning, the 5th of September at the WIA’s offices in North Caulfield.

315 valid applications to participate were received, and every application was successful in that each will be offered a two letter callsign. All but 67 of the applicants were successful in receiving either their first or second choice.

The happy result of every applicant being offered a two letter call was only just achieved in Victoria, where only 76 two letter callsigns were available, and there were precisely 76 valid applications.

The ballot was conducted by WIA Director Peter Young VK3MV as Ballot Manager, using specially written Access based software, as described in the published details of the ballot process.

The ballot was conducted under the supervision of the WIA’s independent auditor Evan Mudie. Also present was Andy Byrne, of ACMA. Also helping were President Michael Owen VK3KI, Secretary Geoff Atkinson VK3AFA and Margaret Williams, WIA Administration Officer.

Letters to each successful candidate will be posted on Monday the 8th of September. The letters include a copy of the ACMA form RO57 and provide details on how to apply for the callsign the WIA has recommended.

Applications for the two letter callsigns must be received by ACMA no later than 10 October 2008. The WIA urges successful applicants accepting their allocated callsign to lodge their application with ACMA as soon as possible, because if they do, their new callsign is likely to be included in the 2009 issue of the WIA Callbook.

Of course, the successful participants in the ballot do not have to accept the callsign allocated to them, and if they wish to retain their existing callsign, they simply do nothing.

The WIA expects that two letter callsigns that are not allocated as a result of the ballot or that have become available after the ballot process started will be available for re-issue after 24 October 2008.

However, as the WIA and ACMA are still discussing the callsign management process to be used after that date, neither the WIA nor ACMA can currently accept any applications for two letter callsigns.

Full details of the process adopted will be announced before 24 October 2008.

Photo : (left to right) Michael Owen VK3KI, Peter Young VK3MV, Andy Byrne ACMA, Margaret Williams, Evan Mudie, Dianne Ashton VK3FDIZ (click photo for a larger view)

Click Here To Return To Previous Page