7J-8N


[ General ]   [ Prefix ]   [ Suffix ]   [ Special Operation ]   [ 7J-8N ]   [ Designator ]   ( callsign.jp )

  1. 7J-8N Stations Categorization
  2. A 7J-8N amateur call sign implies (1) a foreigner, (2) an individual under the call sign shortage in Area 1 — these two are sequentially assigned —, (3) an outside province, (4) a special event, (5) an ARISS school contact or (6) an emargency. The following is not a written policy, but a follow-up categorization by the author. (8K and 8L are not used yet.)
    7J-8N PREFIX AMATEUR STATION
    |-Foreigner licensed 1985-1999 (7J#$$$)
    |
    |-Individual in Area 1, licensed in the call sign shortage 1990-2003 (7[K-N][1-4]$$$)
    |
    +-Special call sign (7J1RL, 8J's, 8M2000, 8M1C and 8N's)
      |-Special place: outside Japan
      | |-Polar region
      | | |-Antarctic region
      | | | |-JARL Antarctic station (8J1RF, RL, RM)
      | | | +-Individual (8J1AA-AD, 1958-1961)
      | | |
      | | +-Arctic region (8J1NP, 1978)
      | |
      | |-Another Country/Entity: Okinotorishima I. (7J1RL, 1976)
      | |
      | +-Space: Satellite itself (8J1JAS, JBS, JCS)
      |
      |-Commemoration
      | |-JARL
      | | |-Specially commemorative station
      | | | |-Regular
      | | | | |-Hamfair (8J1HAM, 8N1HAM, 8J1A)
      | | | | |-ITU Day (8J#ITU, -2003)
      | | | | +-IARU HF Championship (8J3XHQ, 8J3JHQ, 8N#JHQ, 8N#HQ)
      | | | |
      | | | +-Screened
      | | |
      | | +-Special staion
      | |
      | +-Other amateur organization
      |   |
      |   |-Boy scouts
      |   | |-World Jamboree (8J1WJ, 1971)
      |   | |-Japan Jamboree (eg 8J6BSJ)
      |   | |-Prefectural Camboree (8N3BSN, 2005)
      |   | +-100th Annversary (8J1S, 8J100S)
      |   |
      |   |-Lions club (8N3LIO, 2002)
      |   |
      |   |-ITU Association Japan (8J1ITU, 2002-)
      |   |
      |   |-Rotary club (8N3RI, 2004)
      |   |
      |   +-Other club
      |     |
      |     |-Local Club (eg 8J8EXP)
      |     |
      |     +-JARL prefectual branch (8J4WLC, 2002)
      |
      |-ARISS project station operationalized for elementary and junior high schoolers without thier own ham tickets
      | (eg 8N#ISS)
      |
      +-Emergency: Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (8J3AAA-AMT, 1995)
    

  3. 7J — Foreigners who established their stations 1985-1999
  4. Prefix 7J is for foreign amateurs who reside in Japan under reciprocal permit since Sept. 17, 1985. But on May 28, 1999, the Japanese authority has announced that, for non-Japanese, they will start to use the same call sign series as the Japanese. No discriminations any more. (But maybe 7J's sound better....) So the 7J prefix will not be issued any more, while existing stations can continue to use their original 7J call signs (in addition, an old holder can bring back his/her expired 7J call sign). They were issued sequentially from 7J#AAA, while 7J6C$$ means 7J's in Okinawa (normally US military). A club station having a foreigner representative which the authority granted since 1993 uses the 7J#Y$$ block.

    Exception — 7J1RL

    7J1RL had been used for Okino-torishima DXpedition in 1976, before the reciprocal rule began.

    7J Stations
    Area Foreigners Licensed before 1999 Special
    Event
    Individuals 1985-1999 Clubs 1993-1999 # of Survivors and
    the Last Call Signs
    (As of Apr. 29, 2006)
    AllocatedIssuedAllocatedIssuedIndividualsClubs
    17J1AAA-DZZ-7J1BBR7J1YAA-YMZ-7J1YAN62 (7J1BBO)7 (7J1YAK) 
    27J2AAA-CZZ-7J2AIE7J2YAA-YMZ-7J2YAF38 (7J2AIC)1 (7J2YAF) 
    37J3AAA-CZZ-7J3BAE7J3YAA-YMZ-7J3YAK103 (7J3BAC)8 (7J3YAK) 
    47J4AAA-BZZ-7J4AEF7J4YAA-YMZ-7J4YAC17 (7J4ADU)2 (7J4YAC) 
    57J5AAA-BZZ-7J5AAR7J5YAA-YMZ-7J5YAA3 (7J5AAL)0 
    67J6AAA-BZZ-7J6ADH7J6YAA-YMZ-7J6YAB12 (7J6ADF)1 (7J6YAA) 
    77J7AAA-BZZ-7J7ADB7J7YAA-YMZ-7J7YAA2 (7J7ACT)0 
    87J8AAA-BZZ-7J8ABB7J8YAA-YMZ-7J8YAA5 (7J8ABB)1 (7J8YAA) 
    97J9AAA-BZZ-7J9AAW7J9YAA-YMZ-7J9YAA4 (7J9AAU)0 
    07J0AAA-BZZ-7J0ABP7J0YAA-YMZ-7J0YAC4 (7J0ABK)2 (7J0YAC) 
    JR67J6CAA-CZZ-7J6CEQ7J6YNA-YQZ10 (7J6CEK)0 
    JD1Included in Area 1 mainland7J1RL

  5. 7K-7N — Call Sign Shortage in Area 1
  6. Prefixes 7K1-7N1, 7K2-7N2, 7K3-7N3 and 7K4-7N4 were issued during the call sign shortage era Apr. 23, 1990 - June 20, 2003 for Area 1 (i.e. Not for Area 2, 3 and 4).

  7. 8J — Special Event Stations
  8. Prefix 8J is normally used for special event stations and for ARISS school conatact temporary stations. According to the reslt of WRC-03 — in Japan, applied on June 24, 2004 — the MIC permitted the applicant to select the any of from "single-" to "five-character" suffix as 8J#$, 8J#*$, 8J#**$, 8J#***$, 8J#****$; 8N#$, 8N#*$, 8N#**$, 8N#***$ or 8N#****$, under the following conditions:

    Special Cases — Unusual Format Call Signs

    On the other hand, up to the present date, we have had four special event stations which got unusual format call signs as 8J90XPO, 8J2000, 8M2000, 8N2000 and 8M1C as exceptions.

         
    Complete List of Unusual Format Call Signs
    Call SignEventYearCall Area
    8J90XPOThe International Garden and Greenery Expo19903
    (Not 9)
    8J20002000 AD20001
    (Not 2)
    8M2000
    8N2000
    8M1CFIFA World Cup, Yokohama20021

    Exception 1 — Antarctica and Arctica

    Antarctic stations have/had 8J1 call signs (8J1AA-AD,RF,RL,RM).
    Likewise, An Arctic expedition station by Nihon University had 8J1NP.

    Exception 2 — Satellites

    The amateur satellites have/had 8J1 call signs (8J1J[A-C]S).

    Exception 3 — Emergency

    8J3AAA-AMT had been temporarily licensed and used for emergency communications during the aftermath of Kobe earthquake in 1995. The JARL and the Japan Amateur Radio Equipment Industry Association (JAIA) conducted the effort at the request of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Two hundred hand-held transceivers for 430 and 1260 MHz were supplied by JAIA member companies for the operation. Each portable station was assigned a special call sign 8J3AAA, 8J3AAB and so on.

  9. 8M — Special Event Stations, for a suffix alignment
  10. Prefix 8M was exceptionally used only twice, to align a suffix among three stations for a same event.

  11. 8N — Special Event Stations, originally under either of two conditions
  12. Prefix 8N has gradually become popular for special event and ARISS school contact stations. Originally, 2001 and before, it had meant, but not mandatorily, a special event station (1) having availability to be operated by foreign amateurs without any reciprocal permit, or (2) locating in Okinawa as 8N6. Having been cleared away such special meanings, nowadays an applicant can select either 8J or 8N without any distinction — nevertheless it would be fact that 8N still implies that "more special than 8J" for us.

    Foreigners Operable

    Before the appearance of the 8N prefix, we had 8J1WJ and 8J3ITU as foreigners operable special event stations.
    After the clearing away of the difference between 8J and 8N, 8J2AI is becoming foreigners operable in 2005. In addition, 8J1XPO in 1985 was also a foreigners operable even its 8J prefix.

    Foreigners Operable Special Event Stations
    Call SignEventYear
    8J1WJBoy Scouts World Jamboree1971
    8J3ITUThe 14th CCIR Kyoto General Meeting1973
    8N1WCYWorld Amateur Radio Conference (in World Communications Year)1983
    8J1XPOInternational Science and Technologies Expo in Tsukuba '851985
    8N1APTAPT Amateur Radio Seminar1994
    8N3ITUThe 14th ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Kyoto1994
    8N0WOGNagano Olympic Winter Game1998
    8J2AIThe 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, japan2005

    In Okinawa

    Even in this era (1991-2001), prefix 8N6 is not mandatory for Okinawa. In fact, 8J6SMT and 8J6FTY existed in this region in 2000 and 2001 respectively.

    Special Event Stations in Okinawa
    Call SignEventYear
    JR6RLOkinawa Internatonal Ocean Expo1975-76
    8N6ARLThe 33rd JARL annual general meeting: "Yugafu General Meeting"1991
    8J6SMTKyushu-Okinawa Summit -- Okinawa2000
    8J6FTYThe fourtyth anniversary of amateur radios in Okinawa2001
    8N6WUFThe 3rd World Uchinanchu (or Okinawa Prefectual People) Festival2001
    8N6THY
    The 30th anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa to Japan2002
    8N6HAM
    Okinawa Amateur Radio Day2006

    Exception — 8N2000

    Before 2001, one of the AD2000 memorial station 8N2000 is only one exception. It was neither foreigners operable nor in Okinawa.


[ General ]   [ Prefix ]   [ Suffix ]   [ Special Operation ]   [ 7J-8N ]   [ Designator ]   ( callsign.jp )
Oct. 12, 2008, Ryota "Roy" Motobayashi, JJ1WTL