The Enigma of Japanese Call Sign System
[ General ]   [ Prefix ]   [ Suffix ]   [ Special Operation ]   [ 7J-8N ]   [ Designator ]   ( callsign.jp )

Rimmei "Rin" Fukuda, JG1VGX / M0CFF / N1MH, the writer of the original version
Ryota "Roy" Motobayashi, JJ1WTL / AC6IM

  1. JA Call Sign Rules — Summary

    2.  Area 2-5, 7-0Area 6Area 1
    MainlandOkinawaMainlandOgasawara
    DXCC Entity JA-JS Japan JD1
    Minamitorishima I.
    JD1
    Iwo Is.,
    Ogasawara Is.
    Individuals JA#AA-ZZ
    J[A,E-S]#AAA-XZZ    		 JA6AA-ZZ
    J[A,E-Q]6AAA-XZZ

    JR6AAA-QQZ    		 JR6AA-NZ


    JR6QUA-XZZ
    JS6AAA-XZZ    		 JA1AA-ZZ
    J[A,E-S]1AAA-XZZ

    7[K-N]1AAA-XZZ
    7[K-N]2AAA-XZZ
    7[K-N]3AAA-XZZ
    7[K-N]4AAA-XZZ
    JD1AAA-XZZ
    Clubs J[A,E-O,Q-S]#YAA-ZZZ J[A,E-O]6YAA-ZZZ J[R,S]6YAA-ZZZ J[A,E-O,Q-S]1YAA-ZZZ JD1YAA-ZZZ
    Repeaters JR#WA-WZ, VA-VZ
    JP#YAA-YZZ    		 JR6WA-WZ, VA-VZ
    JP6YAA-YZZ    		 JR6YA-YZ
    JQ6YAA-YZZ    		 JR1WA-WZ, VA-VZ
    JP1YAA-YZZ
    Remote Controllers
    for Repeaters    		 JP#ZAA-ZZZ JP6ZAA-ZZZ JQ6ZAA-ZZZ JP1ZAA-ZZZ
    Foreigners
    (First Licensed 1985-1999)    		 7J[2,3]AAA-CZZ
    7J[4,5,7-0]AAA-BZZ    		 7J6AAA-BZZ 7J6CAA-CZZ 7J1AAA-DZZ
    Foreigners' Clubs
    (First Licensed 1993-1999)    		 7J#YAA-YMZ 7J6YAA-YMZ 7J6YNA-YQZ 7J1YAA-YMZ
    Special Event Stations, and
    ARISS School Contact Stations    		 8J#$, 8J#*$, 8J#**$, 8J#***$, 8J#****$;
    8N#$, 8N#*$, 8N#**$, 8N#***$, 8N#****$

    Exceptions:
    - Antarctica: 8J1RL, 8J1RF
    - Satellites: 8J1JBS, 8J1JCS
    JARL Stations JA#RL
    JA[2,3,5,7,9]YRL
    JH4YRL
    JH8ZRL
    JR0ZAX    		 JA6RL
    JH6ZRL    		 JR6RL JA1RL
    JA1YRL
    JA1YAA

  2. Tips

    3. PREFIXES

    SUFFIXES

    DESIGNATORS

    • /JI#—Island Expedition
    • /SO2005—Commemorating Special Olympics

    But the below will take you tons of exceptions!

  3. Regulatory Bases

    4. Each Japanese amateur call sign has a two-letter prefix and two- or three-letter suffix, separated by a numeral(1-0) indicating the geographic region (1-0, Okinawa, Ogasawara). "Somusho," or "Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC)" — the FCC equivalent — maintains Japan's call sign system in "Assignment Criteria of Identification Signals," in "Radio Law Related Screening Criteria," defined by MIC for their internal use as Instruction No. 67, Jan. 2001.

    Radio Law Related Screening Criteria
    (Not Internet available but sold)    		 Appendix 3 in it:
    Assignment Criteria of Identification Signals

  4. Assignment Systems (Comparing with the US)

    5. No Vanity Call Signs

    Currently we cannot reserve any 'wished' call sign (vanity) for either an individual or a club station, although it had been allowed in some cases in the past (very early years).

    However, special call signs for special event stations are available on request. (e.g. 8J1HAM for the event station at Tokyo Ham Fair in our past.)

  5. Regions and Numerals

    6. The figure below represents the location and the population of each call area.


    Call Areas and Populations

    This tells you how easy to make contacts with some areas and how difficult to do with the others (e.g. Area 9). Area 1 is the most densely populated area. It is amazing nearly one third of people are there. i.e. One out of three contacts with JA may be with a 1 area station. The real number of amateur stations is as follows:

    Number of Amateur Stations
    Total 508,238 Stations as of Mar. 31, 2008
    DistrictNumber of
    Amateur Stations    		Call sign Reissue
    1Kanto135,484Yes, Twice
    2Tokai71,142Yes
    3Kinki61,340Yes
    4Chugoku36,525 
    5Shikoku22,542 
    6Kyushu46,549Yes
    7Tohoku50,375 
    8Hokkaido45,250 
    9Hokuriku14,129 
    0Shin'etsu22,226 
    JR6Okinawa2,582 
    JD1Ogasawara94 
    Source: http://www.tele.soumu.go.jp/j/musen/index.htm

    Population and major cities are HERE for those interested.

  6. Area Definition Changes in Our Past — Birth of Area 0 and 9

    7. From 1952 — when amateurs re-opened in Japan — to 1954, JA0 and JA9 didn't exist. Instead of that, JA1WA-ZZ, JA1WAA-ZZZ and JA2WA-ZZ, JA2WAA-ZZZ were allocated to these areas respectively. But the authority changed their mind to establish Area 0 and 9 at last, on Nov. 27, 1954:

    Transition from JA1W and JA2W to JA0 and JA9
    Year \ DistrictShin'etsuHokuriku
    AllocatedIssued as Provisional LicenseIssued AllocatedIssued as Provisional LicenseIssued
    1952 
    JA1WA-ZZ,
    JA1WAA-ZZZ    		 JA1WA-ZZ,
    JA1WAA-WAF    		 JA2WA-ZZ,
    JA2WAA-ZZZ    		 JA2WA-ZZ,
    JA2WAA-WAF    		 JA2WA-ZS
    ....
    1954
    JA0 JA9
    ....

    Existing JA1WA-ZZ, JA1WAA-WAF and JA2WA-ZS were permitted to change to JA0AA-DZ, JA0EA-EF and JA9AA-DS respectively.

    After that, vacated JA1WA-ZZ, WAA-WAF and JA2WA-ZS ware recycled in the current first and second call areas as follows:

    Consequently current JA1WA-ZZ stations are at least four years younger than the other two-letter suffix stations in Kanto (i.e. JA1AA-VZ, licensed 1952-54), and in addition, younger than the beginning part of JA1AAAs. When JA1WA-ZZ was re-issued — the authority gave them to applicans after January 1, 1958 — the three-letter suffix call signs had issued at least as JA1B$$ already in the first (Kanto) area. On the other hand, in the second (Tokai) area, still JA2M$s were issued when JA9 was defined.

  7. Area Border Changes in Our Past

    8. We have had four merging of municipalities which crossed the call area borders.

    In the case of Fukuura-area, one station had to change his call sign from JA4BVQ to JA3JRP, about two years after the merger. Yamaguchi-village's case is as follows.

    Former Yamaguchi-village

    On Feb. 13, 2005, Yamaguchi-mura (or -village), in JCG#09004 Kiso-gun, Nagano-pref. was merged with Nakatsugawa-city (JCC#1906), Gifu-pref. across the call area border from Area 0 to Area 2. But for 29 hams in this area, the authority permitted to maintain their original 0 area call signs.

    Each licensee was able to chose to change his/her call sign to a new one of Area 2, or not. In consequence, twenty hams kept their original 0 call signs, while nine hams switched their call signs to new ones as JQ2PIN-PIV.

    Survived "0" Call Signs into Area 2 — 20 Licensees
    JARL Member? Operating HF? Call Signs
    Member Operating HF JA0DTF, JA0GQP, JA0QWO
    Not Member JE0GEX, JH0CBL, JJ0JXI, JR0SRS
    V-UHF Only JE0JED, JF0VKE, JG0EHF, JG0SIA, JG0SIB,
    JH0JIA, JI0JFZ, JJ0EYM, JJ0GGQ, JJ0GGR,
    JJ0GGT, JJ0GIC, JR0CZK


    Newly Assigned "2" Area Call Signs — 9 Licensees
    From
    ↓
    To
    		 JG0LOX
    ↓
    JQ2PIT    		 JJ0BRW
    ↓
    JQ2PIV    		 JJ0GGP
    ↓
    JQ2PIN    		 JJ0GGS
    ↓
    JQ2PIO    		 JJ0GIF
    ↓
    JQ2PIP    		 JJ0JYI
    ↓
    JQ2PIQ    		 JJ0KPL
    ↓
    JQ2PIR    		 JJ0LIA
    ↓
    JQ2PIU    		 JJ0LNK
    ↓
    JQ2PIS

  8. Operator Licence Classes — No Relations to Call Sign

    9. There are four operator licence classes, but no relations between a call sign and them.

    Operator License Classes
    Class Mode Band Maximum Output Power # of Licensees as of Mar. 31, 2008 Increments in FY2007

    (i.e. Apr. 1, 2007 - Mar. 31, 2008)
    Phone CW 160m80m40m30m20m17m15m and Down Fixed Apart from Station Address
    (even Fixed Portable)
    4th ×   ××   × 10W on HF bands;
    20W on 6m and down    		 2,974,56917,837
    (real new comers)
    3rd × × ×××  ×× 50W 180,03310,884
    (almost upgraded)
    2nd × × ××××××× 200W50W 74,462315
    (almost upgraded)
    1st × × ××××××× 1kW50W 25,427742
    (almost upgraded)

    i.e. We have about

    Of course, the ordinary upgrade pass is 4th -> 3rd -> 2nd -> 1st (you know, in this case, he/she is counted as "4 licensees" in the above table). On the other hand, some professional radio licensees can establish a ham radio station without any of these four amateur classes.

    Allocated bands in Japan are HERE for those interested.

    Code Test

    We still have a Morse code test for the 3rd grade and higher. But it gradually became easy:

    Transition of JA's Morse Code Test (and Classes)
    Elements
    \
    Effective on    		 Japanese English (No Code)
    TXRXTXRXTXRXTXRX
    June 30, 1950
    (Radio Regulatory Commission
    Rules #6
    of June 30, 1950)    		 1st   (Old) 2nd  
    50 CPM for 5 min. 60 CPM for 5 min. No Code
    Nov. 5, 1958
    (Ministerial Ordinance #28
    of Nov. 5, 1958)    		 1st (New) 2nd Telegraph   Telephone
    ↓ ↓ 45 CPM for 5 min. 25 CPM for 5 min. No Code
    Dec. 28, 1964
    (Ministerial Ordinance #27
    of Dec. 28, 1964)    		 50 CPM for 2 min. 60 CPM for 3 min. 45 CPM for 2 min. 25 CPM for 1 min.
    Jan. 1, 1985
    (Ministerial Ordinance #50
    of Dec. 24, 1984)    		   ↓
    Nov. 18, 1988
    (Ministerial Ordinance #70
    of Nov. 18, 1988)    		   ↓   ↓   ↓
    May 1, 1990
    (Ministerial Ordinance #18
    of Mar. 31, 1990)    		 1st (New) 2nd 3rd 4th
      ↓   ↓   ↓   25 CPM for 2 min. No Code
    Apr. 1, 1996
    (Ministerial Ordinance #75
    of Oct. 6, 1995)    		  
    Oct. 1, 2005
    (Ministerial Ordinance #95
    of May 24, 2005)    		 25 CPM for 2 min. 25 CPM for 2 min. (In the "regulation" test part*.)

    Where,
    - CPM = Character per Minute.
      (1 WPM = 5 CPM in English, or 1 WPM = 4 CPM in Japanese.)
    - *: 3rd Class Morse code test examples:
      (1) "How do you describe 7SENDAI using Morse code?" (followed by 4 pickings)
      (2) "If you want to stand-by immediately after your call, what brevity code should you transmit?" (followed by 4 pickings)

  9. Recycled Call Signs

    10. All patterns of the call sign recycling in Japan are as follows:

[ General ]   [ Prefix ]   [ Suffix ]   [ Special Operation ]   [ 7J-8N ]   [ Designator ]   ( callsign.jp )
July 4, 2008, Ryota "Roy" Motobayashi, JJ1WTL