I don’t know of any worldwide call-sign convention. The world needs one - and bear in mind, it doesn’t need to be like the real world’s if someone has some clever idea. Anyone is free to make a proposal.
Like Thunderbird, I’ve made several radio stations, but I haven’t given them any call signs, just names e.g. Radio MajalLibre, Radio Ruífono, 고한문화라디오, etc.
Perhaps we should consider adding a column to our top level domains list, like we have for automotive and telephone codes. I would state that not everyone and everywhere uses K or W as the prefix. Those are allotted to the United States, but Canada has a bunch of scattered C and V prefixes allotted to it. (It also uses CB from Chile for stations associated with the CBC.) Of course, because their international broadcasts do not usually reach other nations, Australian stations don’t use their prefixes in practice. So, more isolated nations might not elect to use their “allotment.” More information can be found here. If someone would like, I’d even be willing to start the new page. I do think, however, that out of courtesy, no one should claim an entire tier (like all Ks or all Ws). No one country is that big in our world, and most of us have fairly developed nations. We combated that with the telephone codes by having everyone select a three-digit one. I would hope common courtesy would prevail here, too. :)
As @Alessa said, no one should claim an entire tier. However, I would like to simply request that I not have to change my existing stations- I actually have made wiki pages and logos already for most of my television and radio stations that start with W or K. It would be a bit of a hassle at this point to have to redo every article and every logo…
@Ernestpcosby We could all share “W” and “K”, there doesn’t have to be a standard or one for each country since there seems to be no world superpower at the moment
@Ernestpcosby and @Thunderbird : I agree, we should have a page for this. I personally disagree with the idea of everyone sharing K and W, however. Here’s my reasoning: I maintain that our respective nations should choose a two-letter call-sign tier (or two, if needed) that is used for television and radio channels. For example, Mauretia might wish to claim MM, like it has for internet, A-code, etc. All call signs must also be at least 4 letters in length to maximize the number of possible channels. (Many places outside the US, where there is a bevy of options because it owns so many tiers, use 5 letters.)
Now, that said, I also think that existing stations that are fully developed on the wiki at present should be grandfathered into a system. Who knows?: These might be among the oldest stations around! Perhaps Freedemia would want to claim a Kx and a Wx (where x is a letter), but those other preexisting stations took call signs before the allotments were locked in–so they’re allowed to exist as is. Basically, existing stations are fine if they can’t be changed, but future stations would fall within a chosen tier. I think that’s only fair to everyone. It avoids the problem we were facing with telephone codes, while still respecting the work that’s already in place. I’d hate for people to have to change what’s been done, but I also think we should have a consistent system going forward.
I should clarify about my previous post that while I have an opinion, I have no thought that it’s the only way to go. I’ll respect what the community wants on this. I am just trying to think of long-term equity. Perhaps someone has a different solution. I’ll keep thinking about how to handle it creatively also. :)
@Alessa that’s fair. :) If it’s a station I haven’t made a wiki page or a logo for yet, I have absolutely no problem changing it. It was just the few that I had already finished in detail with logos, etc that I was worried about. I’m on board if we create a new system for all undeveloped/future stations
I think No Way has a really good idea there. Like the official name of a station like WQTN could be WQTN-FR (for Freedemia). We could do it like the web domains, maybe.
I know I’m way late to the party on this entry, but I think sharing K and W prefixes across many countries would be a significant verisimilitude violation. About the only thing worse would be call signs starting with a Q (which I just fixed in Rhododactylia {cough cough}). That just doesn’t happen in the real world because radio signals don’t care about lines on a map; in the real world some radio stations moved to Mexico to broadcast to a US market (so-called “border blaster”) stations.
It’s the same with phone numbers all starting with 1; in the real world one or two neighboring countries (or maybe three if they are small enough) would share a prefix like that. And arguably, in the real world having US and Canada share 1 already makes a big enough mess.
OpenGeofiction
Discussion
Comment from Thunderbird on 29 October 2016 at 04:11
I was wondering the same thing! I have four radio stations right now on the map (haven’t made wiki pages for them yet)
I’ve just used W*** for them, but this can be changed later.
Comment from Luciano on 29 October 2016 at 04:50
I don’t know of any worldwide call-sign convention. The world needs one - and bear in mind, it doesn’t need to be like the real world’s if someone has some clever idea. Anyone is free to make a proposal.
Like Thunderbird, I’ve made several radio stations, but I haven’t given them any call signs, just names e.g. Radio MajalLibre, Radio Ruífono, 고한문화라디오, etc.
Comment from niels20020 on 29 October 2016 at 09:56
On the page Radio in Balonis you can read how I use radio calls signs.
Comment from Ernestpkirby on 29 October 2016 at 21:03
Like Thunderbird, I’ve basically just used the real world one with K* and/or W*.
Comment from Alessa on 30 October 2016 at 00:59
Perhaps we should consider adding a column to our top level domains list, like we have for automotive and telephone codes. I would state that not everyone and everywhere uses K or W as the prefix. Those are allotted to the United States, but Canada has a bunch of scattered C and V prefixes allotted to it. (It also uses CB from Chile for stations associated with the CBC.) Of course, because their international broadcasts do not usually reach other nations, Australian stations don’t use their prefixes in practice. So, more isolated nations might not elect to use their “allotment.” More information can be found here. If someone would like, I’d even be willing to start the new page. I do think, however, that out of courtesy, no one should claim an entire tier (like all Ks or all Ws). No one country is that big in our world, and most of us have fairly developed nations. We combated that with the telephone codes by having everyone select a three-digit one. I would hope common courtesy would prevail here, too. :)
Comment from Thunderbird on 30 October 2016 at 03:42
@Alessa I agree with everything you said, I think that would do us some good.
I never knew about the top level domains list. I feel like there are a lot of things I only find out about when someone posts about it.
Comment from Ernestpkirby on 30 October 2016 at 18:17
@Alessa, I think that’s a pretty good idea.
As @Alessa said, no one should claim an entire tier. However, I would like to simply request that I not have to change my existing stations- I actually have made wiki pages and logos already for most of my television and radio stations that start with W or K. It would be a bit of a hassle at this point to have to redo every article and every logo…
Comment from Thunderbird on 30 October 2016 at 21:34
@Ernestpcosby We could all share “W” and “K”, there doesn’t have to be a standard or one for each country since there seems to be no world superpower at the moment
Comment from Ernestpkirby on 31 October 2016 at 06:47
@Thunderbird that’s what I was hoping for. :)
Comment from Thunderbird on 31 October 2016 at 20:04
@Ernestpcosby Although we don’t want duplication. Maybe we can create a world list of radio stations + call signs
Comment from Ernestpkirby on 31 October 2016 at 23:54
@Thunderbird That’s a good idea.
Comment from Alessa on 1 November 2016 at 03:51
@Ernestpcosby and @Thunderbird : I agree, we should have a page for this. I personally disagree with the idea of everyone sharing K and W, however. Here’s my reasoning: I maintain that our respective nations should choose a two-letter call-sign tier (or two, if needed) that is used for television and radio channels. For example, Mauretia might wish to claim MM, like it has for internet, A-code, etc. All call signs must also be at least 4 letters in length to maximize the number of possible channels. (Many places outside the US, where there is a bevy of options because it owns so many tiers, use 5 letters.)
Now, that said, I also think that existing stations that are fully developed on the wiki at present should be grandfathered into a system. Who knows?: These might be among the oldest stations around! Perhaps Freedemia would want to claim a Kx and a Wx (where x is a letter), but those other preexisting stations took call signs before the allotments were locked in–so they’re allowed to exist as is. Basically, existing stations are fine if they can’t be changed, but future stations would fall within a chosen tier. I think that’s only fair to everyone. It avoids the problem we were facing with telephone codes, while still respecting the work that’s already in place. I’d hate for people to have to change what’s been done, but I also think we should have a consistent system going forward.
Comment from Alessa on 1 November 2016 at 04:04
I should clarify about my previous post that while I have an opinion, I have no thought that it’s the only way to go. I’ll respect what the community wants on this. I am just trying to think of long-term equity. Perhaps someone has a different solution. I’ll keep thinking about how to handle it creatively also. :)
Comment from Ernestpkirby on 1 November 2016 at 04:12
@Alessa that’s fair. :) If it’s a station I haven’t made a wiki page or a logo for yet, I have absolutely no problem changing it. It was just the few that I had already finished in detail with logos, etc that I was worried about. I’m on board if we create a new system for all undeveloped/future stations
Comment from No Way on 1 November 2016 at 15:01
Perhaps we could share W and K and then maybe suffix the call sign. Such WKRN-CM. CM as an example for Commonmonia.
Comment from Ernestpkirby on 1 November 2016 at 15:15
I think No Way has a really good idea there. Like the official name of a station like WQTN could be WQTN-FR (for Freedemia). We could do it like the web domains, maybe.
Comment from No Way on 1 November 2016 at 21:43
Maybe we should call for a convention.
Comment from Thunderbird on 3 November 2016 at 16:35
I agree with this. Are we still going to create a worldwide table of Radio stations on the wiki? I searched and did not find one.
Comment from No Way on 3 November 2016 at 17:45
I have been planning putting up radio towers for multiple types of radio signals and came across the issue.
Comment from skquinn on 30 November 2016 at 11:31
I know I’m way late to the party on this entry, but I think sharing K and W prefixes across many countries would be a significant verisimilitude violation. About the only thing worse would be call signs starting with a Q (which I just fixed in Rhododactylia {cough cough}). That just doesn’t happen in the real world because radio signals don’t care about lines on a map; in the real world some radio stations moved to Mexico to broadcast to a US market (so-called “border blaster”) stations.
It’s the same with phone numbers all starting with 1; in the real world one or two neighboring countries (or maybe three if they are small enough) would share a prefix like that. And arguably, in the real world having US and Canada share 1 already makes a big enough mess.