16 Jun
2024
16 Jun
'24
3:44 a.m.
On 2024-06-15 21:51, Dan Cross via 44net wrote:
Indeed that is correct. We can change callsign
whenever we like, and previous callsigns
will remain bound to our identity and will not be issued to others. So I could change
from PE1CHL to PE1CH and when after a while I don't like that I can go back to
PE1CHL.
(this is a callsign from the days when they were issued sequentially, but some 20 years
ago a new system was implemented where one can just pick any available callsign. Many
Dutch
hams who picked 4-character callsigns e.g PE1C then in actual use noticed that it was not
as convenient as they thought it would be, and changed back or picked a 5-character one)
Anyway, I think the limit of 5 should not be that strict. With a reasonable database
design it could be made settable per user or organisation, in case they hit the limit
and want to exceed it for a reasonable purpose.
Rob
On Sat, Jun 15, 2024 at 12:24 PM Chris via 44net
<44net(a)mailman.ampr.org> wrote:
I agree with that. I would think that with the usual database design, there would be
no real limit on the number of callsigns for a user or organisation. Callsigns just
have to be in a different table, joined to the user table on user ID and with some extra
key for the callsigns that would just be a sequence number.
I hope it is not implemented as callsign1..callsign5 fields in the user table...
I can understand that some limit is set to the number of callsigns per user or
organisation
just to prevent abuse or mishaps, but not because adding additional callsigns would
require
changes in the code.
When this limit is really wanted, it would be a field in the user or organisation record
that is initialized to some value (like 5) and it can be requested to set this higher
when
the need arises.
I think for our club (Hobbyscoop), 10 callsigns would be enough to squeeze the currently
active callsigns in, because some have changed after the rules changed.
We used to have different callsigns on everything, e.g. PI2xxx for 70cm repeaters, PI3xxx
for 2m repeaters, PI6xxx for SHF repeaters, PI1xxx for digital voice modes, PI8xxx for
data,
etc etc but now we can use PI1xxx for everything. And as the registration fee is per
callsign,
we are migrating towards that.
However, I think to accomodate everything we have used, 10 would not be enough. 20 would
be.
We are taking on board these great suggestions.
We currently have the following feature requests at the top of the TODO list:
- Allow organisations to “own” call signs as well as individuals;
- We can increase the maximum allowed for organisations, as Rob seems to have the most
:-) how many would be appropriate? 10 maybe?
Reading between the lines of Rob's post, it sounds like this could be
an almost arbitrary number.
From a technical perspective, I wonder why there has to be a limit at
all? Couldn't this just be done with a join table that maps callsigns
to users and/or organizations, using an OID or something to uniquely
identify the latter? I know nothing about the structure of the
database used by the portal, however, so I freely admit that I'm
speculating. - Individuals would still have a limit of 5 as I
haven’t heard anyone mentioning they have more personal call signs than 5. Unless anyone
knows different?
What are the use cases for an individual having multiple call signs? I
can think of two.
First, a user who holds calls from multiple licensing authorities. For
example, it's not too uncommon for US amateurs to have callsigns
issued by OfCom in the UK, or by the Canadian licensing authorities,
etc. I suppose the number someone has is a function of how industrious
and how much of a traveler they are.
Second, a user who has changed their callsign, either due to a license
upgrade or acquisition of a "vanity" callsign. One imagines that the
user would like some kind of grace period to transfer things from the
old to the new. In any case, I can't imagine there would be too many
such callsigns at any given time.