Call signs in North America

Call signs are frequently still used by North American broadcast stations, in addition to amateur radio and other international radio stations that continue to identify by call signs worldwide. Each country has a different set of patterns for its own call signs. Call signs are allocated to ham radio stations in Barbados, Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Many countries have specific conventions for classifying call signs by transmitter characteristics and location. The call sign format for radio and television call signs follows a number of conventions. All call signs begin with a prefix assigned by the International Telecommunication Union. For example, the United States has been assigned the following prefixes: AAA–ALZ, K, N, W. For a complete list, see international call sign allocations.

(in amateur radio VP2E prefix)

Anguilla

(uses V2 prefix)

Antigua and Barbuda

(has the C6 prefix)

Bahamas

(uses 8P)

Barbados

(also uses VS, in amateur radio normally VP9)

Bermuda

(for amateur radio uses VP2V)

British Virgin Islands

(ZF for amateur operation, ZF1 for Grand Cayman, ZF8 for Little Cayman and ZF9 for Cayman Brac islands. Visiting reciprocal for all islands is ZF2)^[1]

Cayman Islands

(Commonwealth of Dominica, uses J7)

Dominica

(uses J3)

Grenada

(uses 6Y)

Jamaica

(for amateur operation VP2M prefix)

Montserrat

(uses V4)

St. Kitts and Nevis

(uses J6)

St. Lucia

(uses J8)

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

(typically uses VP5)

Turks and Caicos Islands

another element of station licensing

City of license

used by the FCC in the United States to distinguish broadcast stations without regard to call sign changes

Facility ID

— Top-of-the-hour station identifications with call signs from American AM and FM radio stations

Tophour.com

Military Callsign List

— A comprehensive historical review of K and W call letter assignments for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations in the United States

K/W Call Letters in the United States

— United States call sign policies