Call signs in Australia

The International Telecommunication Union has assigned Australia the following call sign blocks for all radio communication, broadcasting or transmission:[1]

While not directly related to call signs, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) further has divided all countries assigned amateur radio prefixes into three regions; Australia is located in ITU Region 3. It is assigned ITU Zones 55, 58 and 59, with the Pacific Islands in Australian jurisdiction in Zone 60.

Australia is assigned CQ Zones 29 & 30.[2]

All radio call signs begin with a single-digit number indicating the state or territory, followed by two or three letters. In most cases, two letters are used for AM stations and three for FM, but there are some exceptions, such as 5UV in Adelaide, which broadcasts on an FM frequency, and 3RPH in Melbourne, which broadcasts on an AM frequency. While some AM stations retained their old call signs when moving to FM, most add an extra letter to the call sign. For instance, when 7HO Hobart became an FM station, it adopted the callsign 7HHO.

Certain ABC radio stations, particularly outside of metropolitan areas, may use five-letter call signs for FM stations: xABCFM for ABC Classic FM, xABCRN for Radio National, and xABCRR for ABC Local Radio – the x being the state number. Also, SBS FM radio stations use a five-letter call sign, xSBSFM. (Sydney and Melbourne's AM stations use 2EA and 3EA, meaning Ethnic Australia.)

There are a number of exceptions:

• For some time, two radio stations used the callsign 4CCC – a commercial station in Charleville and a community station in Warwick, both in Queensland.[3] The Warwick station's call sign was later changed to 4SDB.[4] In addition, a temporary community broadcaster, 4CCC Coral Coast Country Community Radio Inc, uses the name 4CCC, though it does not have a callsign.[5]
• Rebel FM, The Breeze, and Flow FM, which have many transmitters in Regional and Remote Central and Eastern Australia, use the callsigns 4RBL, 4BRZ and 8SAT respectively, regardless of which state their transmitters are located in.[3][4]
• Radio Station 1RPH Canberra, Australian Capital Territory has relay transmitters in New South Wales[3][4]
• The following Victorian stations also have relay transmitters in New South Wales: 3HOT and 3RUM.[3][4]
• The following New South Wales stations also have relay transmitters in Victoria: 2AAY, 2BDR and 2MOR.[3][4]
• The following New South Wales stations also have relay transmitters in Queensland: 2MW and 2TEN.[3][4]
• 8KIN Alice Springs, Northern Territory has a relay transmitter in Pasminco Century Mine, Queensland, and several in South Australia.[3][4]
• 3MBR Murrayville, Victoria has a relay transmitter in Lameroo, South Australia.[3][4]
• The Nhulumbuy, Northern Territory transmitter for triple J has the callsign 6JJJ.[3][4]
• Open narrowcast radio stations have no official call sign, though some stations use one (e.g. 3XY Radio Hellas in Melbourne).

The following are lists of Australian radio station call signs.

• List of radio station callsigns in the Australian Capital Territory
• List of radio station callsigns in New South Wales
• List of radio station callsigns in Victoria
• List of radio station callsigns in Queensland
• List of radio station callsigns in South Australia
• List of radio station callsigns in Western Australia
• List of radio station callsigns in Tasmania
• List of radio station callsigns in the Northern Territory

Australian radios usually had the positions of radio stations marked on their dials.

Australia's postcodes, introduced in 1967, use the same digit as the radio callsigns, followed by an additional three digits (eg. NSW: 2XXX, Victoria: 3XXX, etc.).

There is an urban myth that call signs were based on Australian military districts but this incorrect as the following list of military districts show: 1 = Queensland; 2 = New South Wales; 3 = Victoria; 4 = South Australia; 5 = Western Australia; 6 = Tasmania; 7 = Northern Territory; 8 = New Guinea, and Papua.[6]

Television station call signs begin with two letters usually denoting the station itself, followed by a third letter denoting the state. For example, NBN's call sign stands for Newcastle Broadcasting, New South Wales. There are some exceptions:

• Many ABC television stations outside of state capitals add a fourth letter (and in rare cases a fifth) between AB and the state. This is used to denote the area, e.g. the Newcastle station is known as ABHN, standing for Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Hunter Valley, New South Wales. Some state capital stations follow the same rule as commercial stations, also using AB as the first two letters; for example, ABV is Melbourne's ABC television station.
• Many ABC television stations now have the call sign ABC, regardless of which state or territory they are in.
• SBS television stations all use SBS in their call signs, regardless of the state.
• Commercial station Imparja Television uses IMP, even though they are based in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.
• CTC's stations in southern New South Wales also use CTC as their call sign.
• CBN and WIN also use CBN and WIN as their respective call signs for stations in the Australian Capital Territory.
• GLV/BCV, AMV and VTV use GLV, BCV, AMV and VTV as call signsin for their respective stations in border areas of southern New South Wales (e.g., Balranald, Deniliquin, Albury North).
• NBN, NEN and NRN stations that serve Murwillumbah, New South Wales, use the call signs NBN, NEN and NRN respectively, even though their transmitters are located in Springbrook, Queensland.
• NBN, NEN and NRN stations in south-east Queensland also use these call signs (e.g., the Gold Coast).
• Central Digital Television stations have the call sign CDT despite only a small fraction of its licence area covering parts of Tasmania.
• Southern Cross Central stations in regional and remote central and eastern Australia use QQQ even for stations outside Queensland.
• Various indigenous community television stations in regional and remote Australia have the call sign ACT (for Aboriginal Community Television) even though they're not in Tasmania.
• Open narrowcast television stations have no official call sign.

Amateur radio in Australia has its own set of call signs, managed by the Australian Maritime College, normally starting with the prefix VK, the state identifier, and then 1,2,3, or 4 letters.

As of July 29th 2020 - the following AR callsign structure is in place in Australia: [7][8]

Advanced VK$aa, VJ$a, VK$a, VL$a

Advanced/Standard/Foundation VK$aaa-VK$zzz

Repeater / Beacon VK$Raa-VK$Rzz

'It is also no longer necessary to change one's callsign should the amateur move states within Australia or advance to a higher licence class'.

Amateur radio or ham radio call signs are unique identifiers for the 19,500 licensed operators in Australia. Call signs are regulated internationally by the ITU as well as nationally by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) which is Australia's regulator for broadcasting, administering spectrum use through the provisions of the Radio-communications Act 1992. ACMA is also responsible for amateur radio licensing. The Wireless Institute of Australia had the responsibility for the management of amateur station call signs from 2 March 2009 until February 2019 .[9]

Letters and numbers used by Australian stations:

* Originally, radio callsigns in the ACT had the format 2xx(x), like those in New South Wales. However, newer stations in the territory have been allocated callsigns with the format 1xxx. See List of radio station callsigns in the Australian Capital Territory for more information.

** Formerly 9. Radio stations in Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island now use the same call sign format as New South Wales. Radio and television stations in Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island now use the same call sign format as Western Australia.

• Christmas Island: ZC3 (pre-1940), Japan (1940 to 1944), 9V (1945 to 1958), VK9X (since 1958).
• Cocos Keeling island: ZC2 (pre-1940), VK9Y (1955 to 1992), VK9C (since 1992).
• Papua New Guinea: VK4/VK9/P29 (since 1972).
• Nauru: VK9 then C2 (since 31 January 1968).

• List of radio stations in Australia
• History of broadcasting in Australia
• List of Australian television callsigns
• Amateur radio international operation
• List of New Zealand radio station call signs
• ITU prefix (amateur stations)
• Amateur radio

• ACMA's AM/FM/DTV broadcast station listings
• Search ACMA's database
• Radio Broadcasters
• Television Broadcasters
• ACMA Callsign Search
• The Wireless Institute of Australia