If you have received your new call book (or CD for the ‘modern’ men!) you may find an interesting oddity in it. Club callsigns are shown with the secondary identifier, so OUR call is shown as GE8SRC.
This was brought about as the extract of the content from the Ofcom database that is passed to RSGB for callbook / yearbook use was sent with the secondary identifier included for clubs.
It appears that though ‘spotted’ by RSGB, they are not permitted to change the data to extract the “E” for Data Protection reasons. Since the data isn’t “wrong” (just excessive to the norm) Ofcom are satisfied with their data.
This anomaly shouldn’t cause too many problems… we can ignore the “E” on the air and on QSL cards (or use it for extra ‘interest value’ when chasing DX !!).
Looking up a club call in the book will show the call in the normal sequence, but looking it up on the CD ( ..and maybe later but not yet on QRZ.com) will require a search for GE8SRC or it won’t find the entry.
QRZ have provided a statement…
For now, QRZ will list the call signs as we have been and will thus, not be affected by the E extension.
Thanks to Den, M0ACM for the researching this news.