Notice: This page was initially generated with the assistance of AI and is pending human review. The information may contain errors or omissions. Amateur radio operators are encouraged to verify all technical details independently. Help improve this page by submitting corrections and additions. Learn how to contribute Remove this banner after human review is complete.
Every licensed amateur radio operator is assigned a unique callsign — a combination of letters and numbers that serves as their on-air identity. Callsigns follow internationally standardised formats defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and their structure conveys useful information about the operator's country of origin and sometimes their licence class or geographic region.
An amateur radio callsign consists of three main parts:
Prefix → Numeral → Suffix
For example, in the callsign W1AW:
The prefix identifies the country that issued the callsign. The ITU allocates blocks of prefixes to each country. A prefix can be one or two characters, and some countries have multiple prefix blocks. The prefix always contains at least one letter.
A single digit (0–9) follows the prefix. In some countries (like the US and Japan), this digit indicates a specific geographic region or call district. In other countries, the numeral may be assigned sequentially or may indicate licence class.
One to three letters following the numeral uniquely identify the individual operator. Shorter suffixes (one or two letters) are generally more desirable and may be reserved for higher licence classes or available through vanity callsign programmes.
Callsigns are described using a shorthand notation where numbers represent digits and letters represent letters:
| Format | Example | Common usage |
|---|---|---|
| 1×1 | W1A | Special event stations |
| 1×2 | K1AW | US Extra class vanity |
| 2×1 | AB2C | US Extra class vanity |
| 1×3 | N1ABC | US sequential assignment |
| 2×2 | KD9XY | Some US/international |
| 2×3 | KD9XYZ | US Technician/General sequential |
The "1×2" notation means one-character prefix, numeral, two-character suffix. The total callsign length (excluding the numeral) typically ranges from two to five characters.
The ITU allocates prefix blocks to every country and territory. The table below covers the prefixes most commonly used by amateur radio operators worldwide. Some countries have large allocated blocks (e.g. DA–DR for Germany) but only use a few prefixes in amateur practice — the prefixes listed here reflect what you are most likely to hear on the air.
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| W, K, N, AA–AL | United States |
| VE, VA, VO, VY | Canada |
| XE, XF, 4A–4C | Mexico |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| TG | Guatemala |
| V3 | Belize |
| YS, HU | El Salvador |
| HR | Honduras |
| YN, H7 | Nicaragua |
| TI | Costa Rica |
| HP, H3 | Panama |
| Prefix | Country / Territory |
|---|---|
| C6 | Bahamas |
| CM, CO | Cuba |
| HI | Dominican Republic |
| HH | Haiti |
| 6Y | Jamaica |
| 9Y, 9Z | Trinidad and Tobago |
| 8P | Barbados |
| J3 | Grenada |
| J6 | Saint Lucia |
| J7 | Dominica |
| J8 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| V2 | Antigua and Barbuda |
| V4 | Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| VP2E | Anguilla |
| VP2M | Montserrat |
| VP2V | British Virgin Islands |
| VP5 | Turks and Caicos Islands |
| VP9 | Bermuda |
| ZF | Cayman Islands |
| P4 | Aruba |
| PJ2 | Curaçao |
| PJ4 | Bonaire |
| PJ5, PJ6 | Saba and Sint Eustatius |
| PJ7 | Sint Maarten |
| FG | Guadeloupe |
| FM | Martinique |
| KP2 | US Virgin Islands |
| KP4 | Puerto Rico |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| PY, PU, PP, PR, PS, PT | Brazil |
| LU, LW | Argentina |
| CE, CA, CB, XQ, XR | Chile |
| HK, HJ, 5J, 5K | Colombia |
| OA, OB, OC | Peru |
| YV, YW, YX, YY, 4M | Venezuela |
| HC, HD | Ecuador |
| CP | Bolivia |
| ZP | Paraguay |
| CX, CV, CW | Uruguay |
| 8R | Guyana |
| PZ | Suriname |
| FY | French Guiana |
| VP8 | Falkland Islands |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| G, M, 2E | England |
| GM, MM, 2M | Scotland |
| GW, MW, 2W | Wales |
| GI, MI, 2I | Northern Ireland |
| GD, MD | Isle of Man |
| GJ, MJ | Jersey |
| GU, MU | Guernsey |
| EI, EJ | Ireland |
| F | France |
| DL, DA–DR | Germany |
| I, IK, IN, IS, IT, IW, IZ | Italy |
| EA, EB, EC | Spain |
| CT, CS, CQ | Portugal |
| PA, PB, PC, PD, PE | Netherlands |
| ON, OO, OP, OQ, OR, OS, OT | Belgium |
| LX | Luxembourg |
| HB | Switzerland |
| HB0 | Liechtenstein |
| OE | Austria |
| 3A | Monaco |
| C3 | Andorra |
| 9H | Malta |
| ZB | Gibraltar |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| SM, SA, SB–SL | Sweden |
| LA, LB–LN | Norway |
| OH, OF, OG | Finland |
| OZ, OU, OV, OW | Denmark |
| OX | Greenland |
| OY | Faroe Islands |
| TF | Iceland |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| SP, SN, SO, SQ, SR | Poland |
| OK, OL | Czech Republic |
| OM | Slovakia |
| HA, HG | Hungary |
| YO, YP, YQ, YR | Romania |
| LZ | Bulgaria |
| 9A | Croatia |
| S5 | Slovenia |
| YU | Serbia |
| 4O | Montenegro |
| E7 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Z3 | North Macedonia |
| ZA | Albania |
| Z6 | Kosovo |
| SV, SW, SX, SY | Greece |
| 5B, C4, H2, P3 | Cyprus |
| TA, TB, TC | Turkey |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| LY | Lithuania |
| YL | Latvia |
| ES | Estonia |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| R, RA–RZ, UA–UI | Russia |
| UR, US, UT, UU–UZ, EM–EO | Ukraine |
| EU, EV, EW | Belarus |
| ER | Moldova |
| EK | Armenia |
| 4J, 4K | Azerbaijan |
| 4L | Georgia |
| UN, UP, UQ | Kazakhstan |
| UJ, UK, UL, UM | Uzbekistan |
| EX | Kyrgyzstan |
| EY | Tajikistan |
| EZ | Turkmenistan |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| 4X, 4Z | Israel |
| HZ, 7Z | Saudi Arabia |
| A4 | Oman |
| A6 | United Arab Emirates |
| A7 | Qatar |
| A9 | Bahrain |
| 9K | Kuwait |
| YI | Iraq |
| EP, EQ | Iran |
| OD | Lebanon |
| JY | Jordan |
| YK | Syria |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| JA–JS, 7J–7N | Japan |
| HL, DS, 6K–6N | South Korea |
| BV | Taiwan |
| BY, BA–BZ (various) | China |
| XX9 | Macau |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| VU | India |
| 4S | Sri Lanka |
| AP | Pakistan |
| S2 | Bangladesh |
| 9N | Nepal |
| A5 | Bhutan |
| HS, E2 | Thailand |
| 9M2, 9M4 | West Malaysia |
| 9M6, 9M8 | East Malaysia |
| 9V | Singapore |
| YB, YC, YD, YE–YH | Indonesia |
| DU, DV, DW, DX, DY, DZ, 4D–4I | Philippines |
| XV, 3W | Vietnam |
| XW | Laos |
| XU | Cambodia |
| XZ | Myanmar |
| Prefix | Country / Territory |
|---|---|
| VK | Australia |
| ZL | New Zealand |
| P2 | Papua New Guinea |
| 3D2 | Fiji |
| A3 | Tonga |
| 5W | Samoa |
| ZK | Tokelau / Niue / Cook Islands |
| T3 | Kiribati |
| V6 | Micronesia |
| V7 | Marshall Islands |
| T8 | Palau |
| H4 | Solomon Islands |
| YJ | Vanuatu |
| FK | New Caledonia |
| FO | French Polynesia |
| FW | Wallis and Futuna |
| KH6 | Hawaii |
| KH2 | Guam |
| KH0 | Northern Mariana Islands |
| KH8 | American Samoa |
| Prefix | Country |
|---|---|
| ZS, ZR, ZT, ZU | South Africa |
| SU | Egypt |
| 5N | Nigeria |
| 5Z | Kenya |
| 5H | Tanzania |
| 5X | Uganda |
| 9J | Zambia |
| Z2 | Zimbabwe |
| A2 | Botswana |
| V5 | Namibia |
| 3DA | Eswatini (Swaziland) |
| 7P | Lesotho |
| C9 | Mozambique |
| 7Q | Malawi |
| 9Q | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| TL | Central African Republic |
| TR | Gabon |
| TN | Republic of the Congo |
| TJ | Cameroon |
| 5V | Togo |
| 5T | Mauritania |
| TU | Ivory Coast |
| 6W | Senegal |
| C5 | Gambia |
| EL | Liberia |
| 9G | Ghana |
| 9L | Sierra Leone |
| D4 | Cape Verde |
| J5 | Guinea-Bissau |
| 3X | Guinea |
| XT | Burkina Faso |
| TZ | Mali |
| 5U | Niger |
| ET | Ethiopia |
| E3 | Eritrea |
| 6O | Somalia |
| J2 | Djibouti |
| ST | Sudan |
| S0 | Western Sahara (unofficial, not ITU-allocated) |
| S9 | São Tomé and Príncipe |
| CN | Morocco |
| 7X | Algeria |
| 3V | Tunisia |
| 5A | Libya |
| 3B8 | Mauritius |
| 3B9 | Rodrigues Island |
| FR | Réunion |
| 5R | Madagascar |
| D6 | Comoros |
| FT | French Southern Territories |
When operating away from your home station, you may add indicators to your callsign:
For example, W1AW/P indicates W1AW operating portable, and W1AW/M indicates mobile operation.
When operating under reciprocal licensing in another country, you prefix your callsign with the host country's prefix:
Many countries issue special callsigns for events, anniversaries, and commemorations. These often use unique prefixes or formats, such as GB (Great Britain special events), 8J (Japan special events), or single-character suffixes for major contests.
Club stations operated by amateur radio organisations often have distinctive callsigns. For example, W1AW is the headquarters station of the ARRL.
Many countries allow operators to apply for a vanity callsign — a specific callsign of their choosing (subject to availability and eligibility rules). Vanity callsigns are popular because they allow operators to choose calls that are shorter, easier to remember, or personally meaningful. Eligibility for the shortest call formats is typically restricted to the highest licence class.
Several online databases allow you to look up callsign information:
These databases are useful for confirming callsigns after a contact, finding QSL information, and looking up operator locations.