Author: Alan, 5B4AHJ


Since WWII, the political status of Eritrea, and consequently its status in amateur radio, has changed several times.

The table below summarises the changes with respect to amateur radio in the post-war era.

Eritrea is a whitelisted DXCC entity. Please advise any missing Eritrean callsigns, to Alan, 5B4AHJ, email address on QRZ.COM, or via the Help Desk.


Start dateEnd datePolitical statusCounts for
DXCC entity
PrefixCommentStations known to have been QRV
1945-11-151952-09-15British Mandated TerritoryEritreaI6, MD3, MI3, MI6The deadline for termination of British administration of Eritrea,
imposed by the UN General Assembly, was 1952-09-16.
The British were still administering Eritrea in March, 1952.
The actual date that British administration ceased (between March and September) is not known. Club Log uses an end date of 1952-09-15 for mapping these prefixes to Eritrea, and a start date of 1948-03-01 for mapping MI3 prefixes.

M0XBF advises: "According to Short Wave Mag in March 1939, page 28, none of the many Italian stations active were officially licensed. Presumably the same was true of the I6 operators in Eritrea".


RSGB Bulletin, November 1947, carries the following:

RSGB Bulletin,February 1948, carries the following:

RSGB Bulletin, March 1948, carries the following:
G3ZJ/I6, I1AHC/I6, I6AB, I6USA ,I6ZJ, W6VKV/I6,
MD3AB, MI3DA, MI3DF, MI3DU, MD3MB, MD3MD,
MI3AB, MI3AT, MI3BC, MI3BHMI3CDMI MI3DD MI3DW, MI3DX, MI3EP, MI3FG, MI3FS, MI3GG, MI3GH,
MI3HC, MI3IM, MI3JB, MI3JV, MI3KEMI3KV, MI3KW, MI3LB, MI3LK, MI3LV, MI3LZ, MI3MK, MI3MM, MI3MX, MI3NA,
MI3NJ, MI3RC, MI3RH, MI3RP, MI3RR, MI3SC, MI3SI, MI3SL, MI3TM, MI3US, MI3US, MI3UU, MI3VB, MI3VG, MI3XX, MI3ZJ, MI3ZX, MI3ZX, MI3ZZ, MI6AB, MI6BC, MI6ZJ

1952-09-16
1954-04-30 Loose federation with Ethiopia
EritreaMI3 Some existing MI3 stations continued to be QRV after Eritrea formed a loose federation with Eritrea. These callls were all held by US operators. 

MI3AT was QRV until at least `953.

MI3KV was QRV as late as April 1954 

(entry from the SWL log of BSWL 3423).

MI3KW  was QRV until at least April 1953.

MI3LK was QRV until at least May 1953.

MI3MK was QRV until at least December 1952.
MI3SL was QRV  until at least October 1952. 
MI3US was QRV until at least May 1953.


1952-09-161962-11-14Loose federation with EthiopiaEritreaET2Club Log maps the ET2 prefix to Eritrea between the given dates.ET2AB, ET2AG, ET2BP, ET2CG, ET2FM,
ET2HM, ET2KY, ET2LB, ET2LV, ET2MZ,
ET2NG, ET2OP, ET2PA, ET2RC, ET2RH,
ET2TO, ET2US, ET2US/ET2, ET2US/P,
ET2VB, ET2WK/AM, ET2XX, ET2VD, ET2ZZ, ET3AF/2
1962-10-01 1962-11-14 Loose federation with Ethiopia
Eritrea ET3 The Ethiopian Telecommunications Bureau started to issue ET3 calls to Eritrean operators in October 1962, prior to Eritrea becoming an administrative region within Ethiopia. 
ET3RC, ET3USN
Possibly also ET3AM, ET3HP
1962-11-151991-05-23Administrative region within EthiopiaEthiopiaETEritrea became a deleted entity, see statement from ARRL below. 
1991-05-24 1993-05-23Independent state Eritrea9ER"de facto"  independence:
1991-05-24.
9ER is an Ethiopian prefix.
9ER1TA, 9ER1TB, 9E3FMA, 9E3USA, 9F3FMA, 9F3USA,
9F2CW/A was QRV from Eritrea (which is stated on the QSL) in January, 1993, but the documentation received by ARRL states Ethiopia, so that's what it counts for.
1993-05-24

Independent state
EritreaE3 "de jure" independence: 1993-05-24.
E30AA, E30BA, E30CA, E30DA, E30EA, E30FA, E30FB,
E30GA, E30HA, E30IA, E30JA, E30LA,
E30MA,E30MA/P, E30NA, E30OA, E30TA, E31A,
E31AA, E31FAO, E3A30, E35X
E39DI, E3/N3RF

ARRL statements on Eritrea
The March, 1963 issue of QST announces the deletion of Eritrea from the Countries list. QST says: "Eritrea: This is a deletion from the Countries List. Only those contacts made with stations located in Eritrea before November 14, 1962 will be creditable toward the Eritrea listing. Contacts made November 14 (5B4AHJ: and after) will be creditable as Ethiopia. On November 14, 1962, a plebiscite held by Eritrea determined that Eritrea would unite with Ethiopia."

Related Article
British military & civilian prefixes, North Africa and Middle East from 1947


Acknowledgements

Anthony Quest, G4UZN

ARRL/QST

Donald Murray, W4WJ

Hamgallery Eritrea, Africa E3 

LNDX MI3 - ET2 Erythrée

Mick,M0XBF and his father BSWL 3423

QSL card collector Patrick Rigg

Radio Amateur Callbook, Fall 1952

RSGB Prefix Guide

Wikipedia: Eritrea 

Wikipedia: History of Eritrea 

Email Group: QSL Card Collectors


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