Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The 1B prefix

Yesterday I worked 1B1AB on 17m without recognizing his country prefix. When I later checked the call sign I found that the 1B prefix is used by the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", a country not recognized by UN or any other countries except Turkey. The 1B prefix is not recognized by ITU and does not count towards the DXCC award.

It seems to me that Soyer is only using the call sign given to him by his telecommunications authorities and that they are the ones to blame.

When I checked my eQSL account today I found a waiting QSL from Soyer with the Authenticity Guaranteed by eQSL. The country information shows Cyprus.

I'm pretty mixed up here and I'm not sure whether I should confirm the QSL or not.

3 comments:

  1. What does your heart tell you?

    73 Andre'

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  2. This is one of those things where politics and ham radio can't be separated. Turkey invaded the north part of Cyprus in 1974 after years of argument with the Greeks. The international community considered this illegal, which is why the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is not recognized by any international body, however they did nothing about it. The Turks of course believe what they did is perfectly legitimate.

    1B1AB is doubtless operating within the terms of his Turkish license, which eQSL appears to have validated as genuine. However many would argue that since the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is illegal, so is any amateur radio license issued by them, and working a 1A station is the same as working a pirate. Many would also argue that working (and confirming a contact with) 1A1AB is condoning Turkey's illegal occupation of Northern Cyprus.

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  3. Hello Mads, I've heard the 1A1 call a few months ago. I couldn't work him. 73, Paul

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