Designator Appended after/before Call Sign

Rules

Currently, in Japan, no legal rules exist on a designator after/before a call sign, while the follows are our customs.

Portable and Mobile Operation — "/(Call Area)"

"/(call area)" — eg. JG1VGX/3

• Fixed Portable
  In this case, the station is not portable or mobile in reality, but a home station having a commercial power source.
• Moved
  The holder used to live in Area 1 had now moved to Area 3, and he wants to keep the original Area 1 call sign rather than getting a new Area 3 call sign.
• Staying at a boarding house, a weekend house, his/her parent's house, etc.
• Portable or Mobile
  In this case, this Area 1 licensee is in Area 3, in his/her holiday or biz trip. He/She would be portable or mobile with batteries or a generator.

NOTE: ANY of the portable/mobile stations MUST run 50W or less output, even if the licensee has the 1st or the 2nd class. In addition, on 23cm, mobile/portable operation must be 1W or less. More limitations exist in SHF and upper.

"/(one's own call area)" — eg. JG1VGX/1

Confusing fact about portable operations by 7K2-7N4 series licensees. e.g.

• 7L3BVB/1 — He/She is WITHIN his/her own call area (Area 1).
• 7L3BVB/3 — He/She is AWAY (in Area 3) from his/her own call area.

"/JR6"

• JG1VGX/JR6 (popular) ,
• JG1VGX/6 (for shorten) or
• JG1VGX/JS6 (rare, but strict...please remind that the first half of JR6 is not used in Okinawa).

"/JD1"

"JD1/"

"/7J1" and "/7J"

"/M" and "/CM"

"/MM"

"/AM"

QRP Operation — "/QRP" and rarely "/QRPP"

The station operating output 5W or less may add "/QRP." Furthermore, "/QRPP" means 0.5W or less.

Commemoration

"/SO2005"

"/60"

Contest — Designating "in the Hosting Prefecture"

• "/KM" ... Kumamoto Contest (Jan.)
• "/MG" ... All Miyagi Contest (Jan.)
• "/ME" ... All Mie 33 Contest (Jan.)
• "/MEJ" ... All Mie 33 Contest, Natives of Mie, outside Mie-pref. (Jan.)
• "/KT" ... Kyoto Contest (Feb.)
• "/GM" ... All Gumma Contest (May)
• "/NI" ... All Niigata Contest (May)
• "/KG" ... Kagoshima Contest (July)
• "/KJ" ... Kagoshima Contest, Natives of Kagoshima, outside Kagoshima-pref. (July)
• "/AT" ... All Akita Contest (Sept.)

Award

"/RS"

"/JI#"

This announcement first appeared on Feb 11, 2005 by JI3DST/JI3. "I" in "JI" stands for "Island." All examples extracted from J-Cluster are as follows. There is no regulations prohibiting these:

Reference

"/P"

"/Q"

"/JB" and "/JB8"

UNOFFICIAL made-up designators were used on Torishima I. in our past (1) as JA7QQ/JB during his stay 1961-1962 and (2) as JA1BRK/JB8, JA1HQG/JB8, JA1KHG/JB8 and JA1WU/JB8 at "Torishima Island '63 Summer DX'pedition."

  

"JA#/(licensing country's call sign)" — eg. JA1/W1AW

NEVER, unfortunately (I'm sorry to say this).

He/She who wants to operate in Japan, has some ways.

+- Japanese Speaker
|  |- National Exam
|  +- Lecture Course
|
+- Others
   |- Reciprocol Agreement -- any nationality but licensed by W,DL,VE,VK,F,HL,OH,EI,OA
   +- Others
      |- Expo Visitor
      +- Others -- sorry, you have no chance

Please also refer to "Amateur Radio in Japan," in http://www.jarl.or.jp/English/0-2.htm.

1. For Japanese speakers
   If you can understand Japanese language very very well, you're eligible to get an operator license through one of the following ways. Any nationality is acceptable.
   1. A national exam
      Held by Japan Radio Insutitute as follows:
      
      

      Class	Cost	Repetition
      4th	5,000 yen	Every month or every quarter, depending on the venues
      3rd	5,250 yen
      2nd	7,450 yen	Three times per year
      1st	8,950 yen

   
   
   
   2. A lecture course
      Held by The Japan Amateur Radio Development Association (JARD).
      However an end-of-course exam exists:-) and only for lower classes at expensive cost as follows:
      
      

      Class	Cost	Course Length			Repetition	Remarks
      		Radio Engineering	Regulation	End-of-course Exam
      4th	22,750 yen	4 hours	6 hours	1 hour	e.g. Every two weeks in Tokyo	Typically 2 full days course in weekends
      3rd	12,750 yen	2 hours	4 hours	1 hour	e.g. Every month in Tokyo	Typically 1 full day course, 4th class licensees only




2. Otherwise —
   1. Reciprocol Agreements
      If you have a license of the following nine countries, the reciprocol licensing agreement is available, according to Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications' Appended Table 1, Public Notice #326 of June 16, 1993. Any nationality is acceptable.
      
      Additional privilage in a club station
      Especially, if you have a license of the following four countires, you may get some additional privilege in a club station, according to Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications' Appended Table 2, Public Notice #326 of June 16, 1993, (1) with a registration to Ministry in advance and (2) under the control of a JA's 1st or 2nd class licensee.
      
      eg. If you're an American Advanced class licensee, you will be restricted up to 200W output regardless of your 1.5kW skills in the home country, under the basic reciprocol agreement which considers you as a Japanese 2nd class licensee equivalent.
      However under the control of a JA's 1st class licensee in a 1kW — the Japanese legal limit — club station, you can QRO up to 1kW.
      (But in this example, some restrictions still remain: only in the US Advanced class sub-bands even inside Japan, and a pre-registration required.)
      
      

      Foreigners Operation in JA

      	Licensed by	Effective on	Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications' Public Notice
      			Obsolete	Obsolate	Effective
      Club Station Operation (Some Privilege Still Remain)	US	Sept. 21, 1970	#816 of Sept. 21, 1970 revised by: #345 of May 1, 1972; #974 of Nov. 30, 1972; #648 of Oct. 8, 1979; #513 of Aug. 4, 1980; #661 of Aug. 27, 1981; #207 of Mar. 25, 1985; #695 of Sept. 6, 1985; #293 of Apr. 26, 1986; #908 of Nov. 10, 1986; #994 of Dec. 22, 1986 (effective on Dec. 28, 1986); #81 of Feb. 18, 1987; #347 of May 14, 1987	#246 of Apr. 27, 1990 (effective on May 1, 1990), revised by: #480 of July 30 ,1992	#326 of June 16, 1993 revised by: #539 of Oct. 26, 1993; #303 of July 1, 1998; #24 of Jan. 11, 1999; #831 of Dec. 25, 2000 (effective on Jan. 6, 2001); #509 of Aug. 11, 2003 (effective on Jan. 13, 2004); #269 of Mar. 29, 2004
      	Germany	Nov. 30, 1972
      	Finland	Oct. 8, 1979
      	Ireland	Aug. 27, 1981
      Reciprocol Operating Agreements	US	Sept. 7, 1985
      	Germany	May 1, 1986
      	Canada	Nov. 16, 1986
      	Australia	Feb. 25, 1987
      	France	May 15, 1987
      	Republic of Korea	Aug. 1, 1992
      	Finland	June 16, 1993
      	Ireland	June 16, 1993
      	Peru	Aug. 1, 1998

   
   
   
   2. Otherwise —
      1. For expo visitors
         The Ministry sometimes permits foreigner hams of ANY country to operate a special-event station during a really BIG events. You can operate it in the scope of your home country license. Any nationality is acceptable.
         
         

         Foreigners Operable Special Event Stations in the Past

         Call Sign	Event	Term	Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' (ex. Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications') Public Notice
         8J1WJ	Boy Scouts World Jamboree	Aug. 2 - 10, 1971	#569 of Aug. 2, 1971
         8J3ITU	The 14th CCIR Kyoto General Meeting	June 7 - 23, 1973	#377 of June 7, 1973
         8N1WCY	World Amateur Radio Conference (in World Communications Year)	Sept. 19 - 25, 1983	#691 of Sept. 7, 1983
         8J1XPO	International Science and Technologies Expo in Tsukuba '85	Mar. 17 - Sept. 16, 1985	#175 of Mar. 15, 1985
         8N1APT	APT Amateur Radio Seminar	June 10 - 17, 1994	#338 of June 10, 1994
         8N3ITU	The 14th ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Kyoto	Sept. 17 - Oct. 14, 1994	#473 of Sept. 5, 1994
         8N0WOG	Nagano Olympic Winter Game	Jan. 24 - Feb. 22, 1998	#650 of Dec. 17, 1997
         8J2AI	The 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, japan	Mar. 25 - Sept. 25, 2005	#277 of Mar. 9, 2005

      
      
      
      2. Otherwise — i.e. (1) no Japanese written exam, (2) without any licenses of the nine countries above and (3) not an expo visitor —, you have no chance.

As the result, an eligible person has three ways to operate in secluded Japan:

• "(his/her call sign in Japan)" — eg. JA1$$$
  A foreigner who established his/her own individual station, contended with the obstacles, including preparation of his/her own Japanese spec rig(s) — sharing a Japanese friend's rig is admitted.
  
  
• "(club's call sign)/(operator's call sign)" — eg. JH1YDR/W3ACE
  A foreigner who joined a club station as a member.
  
  
• "(host's call sign)/(guest's call sign)" — eg. JO3EIP/DJ3KR
  A foreigner who is guest-operating a Japanese friend's station (individual's or club's)
.