Author: Alan, 5B4AHJ


These are research notes for the 4L prefix in the period 1990-94, which have been compiled in order to establish an appropriate date for the start of mapping the 4L prefix to Georgia.


August 1994 to date


The 4L prefix was allocated exclusively to Georgia from 1994-08-01.   From OPDX #319, dated 1997-08-24: Mamuka Kordzakhia, The President of the National Association Radio Amateurs of Georgia (NARG) reports to OPDX that <snip> "The Georgian Republic prefix of 4L has been in effect since August 1, 1994."


DXNS #1762, dated 1997-04-01, reports:

4L GEORGIA: Mamuka, 4L2M, President of The National Association Radio Amateurs

of Georgia (NARG), reports the following stations are pirates: 4L2DX, 4L3Q, 4L44N,

4L50K, 4L55K, 4L611MC and 4L7F. Licensed stations using 4L prefixes (4L1, 4L4,

4L6, 4L7 and 4L0) have only two letters in their suffix, while Extra Class and club

stations have one letter in the suffix with one number (eg. 4L4L, 4L5O, 4L0B).


USSR special event and Georgian personal calls 1990-94 using suffixes starting F, O, Q, V

Before the 4L prefix was allocated exclusively to Georgia in 1994, the 4L prefix was used as a special event prefix for USSR stations. and also for some personal calls from Georgia. The prefix could be used for SES calls by any USSR republic, including Georgia. 


From 1970, until July, 1994, the normal prefixes for Georgia were RF6 & UF6, with the first letter of the suffix signifying the oblast. (Before 1970, the prefix was still UF6, but there was no system to indicate the oblast) Thus, personal calls were of the form UF6F, UF6O, UF6Q, UF6V followed by zero, one or two additional characters, where:

UF6F =  Georgia, oblast 012

UF6O = South Osetian, oblast 015

UF6Q = Adzhar, oblast 014

UF6V = Abkhasia, oblast 013


Thus, one may have expected the Georgian 4L special event calls to use the prefixes 4L6[FOQV]. This turns out not to have been the case. However, the digits other than 6 were  used, so the prefixes could potentially be 4L[0-9][FOQV]. However, this could lead to conflicts, for example, in theory, 4L1F could have been used from Leningrad oblast (UA1F), 4L0F from Sakhalin (UA0F), etc. In fact 4L1FS was used from Leningrad in 1989.


The following 4L[0-9][FOQV] prefixes are known to have been used from Georgia before 1994-08-01. This data is largely based on the QSOs in the Club Log QSO database, with the QTH being manually verified via various internet resources. This is almost certainly not a complete list, as it is based only on QSOs that have been uploaded to Club Log. Several thousand QSOs have been reviewed in order to compile this data. Callsigns with just a single QSO in the period of interest have been ignored. Callsigns of the form 4L[0-9]F[A-Z] are personal calls.


4L0F - 4L0FQ (1993-94), 4L0FWW (1992-93), 4L0FXC (1992-93). 

4L0[OQV] - no known operations.


4L1F - A large number of stations were QRV, commencing December, 1991. Many of these were personal calls of the form 4L1Fx.

4L1O - no known operations

4L1Q - 4L1QBA (1992). 4L1QRQ was QRV from European Russia

4L1V - no known operations


4L2F - A large number of stations were QRV, commencing January, 1992. Many of these were personal calls calls of the form 4L2Fx.

However, not all were QRV from Georgia, eg 4L2FA.

4L2O - 4L2OA (1992), confirmation required that this was Georgia

4L2Q - 4L2Q (1992-3), confirmation required that this was Georgia

4L2V - no known operations


4L3F - no known operations. 4L3FRM (1992) is believed to have been QRV from European Russia

4L3O - no known operations

4L3Q - no known operations. 4L3Q (1992-93) is believed to have been QRV from European Russia, although has also been reported as a pirate.

4L3V - no known operations


4L4F - Several stations with a two letter suffix, ie 4L4Fx, were QRV (from March, 1993).

4L4O - no known operations

4L4Q - no known operations, other than 4L4Q (October, 1992) which may have been Georgia or may have been region R4Q, European Russia. Info required. 

4L4V - no known operations


4L5F - no known operations

4L5O - no known operations other than 4L5O (1993-94), which may have been Georgia or may have been Moldova. Info required.

4L5[QV] - no known operations


4L6F -  4L6FU. probably ex UF6FU, (from December, 1993 or earlier). Not an SES.

4L6O - no known operations

4L6Q - no known operations other than 4L6Q (October, 1992) which may have been Georgia or may have been region R6Q, European Russia. Info required.

4L6V - no known operations


4L7F - 4L7FB, ext RF6FB (from May, 1993 or before), not an SES. 4L7FO, ex RF6FO, (from February, 1993). Not an SES. 4L7FS (from 1993)

4L7[OQV] - no known operations


4L8F - 4L8FJ (1992).Not  SES.

4L8[OQV] - no known operations


4L9F - 4L9FT (April, 1993) May have been Georgia, or region R9F, Russia. Info required.

4L9[OQV] - no known operations


Other 4L prefixes used for Georgia before 1994-08-01

4L0G - 4L0G (from April, 1993)

4L0J - 4L0JA (from March, 1993)


4L1A - 4L1AA (from April, 1993), 4L1AB (from October, 1992), 4L1AD (from May, 1993), 4L1AW (from October, 1992)

4L1B - 4L1BR (from February, 1993)

4L1G - 4L1GG (fromJuly, 1993)

4L1H - 4L1HI (from October, 1992), 4L1HX (1994)

4L1M - 4L1MFA (from August, 1992)

4L1U - 4L1UN (from October, 1992).

4L1W - 4L1WL (from April, 1993, 4L1WW (from March, 1992)

4L1Y - 4L1YY (from May, 1993)

4L1Z - 4L1ZG (from July, 1993)


4L2M - 4L2M (February, 1993)


4L3 - none


4L4A - 4L4AA (1993), 4L4AB (1993)

4L4B - 4L4BA (from 1993)

4L4C - 4L4CC (from 1993)

4L4G - 4L4GV (from 1993)

4L4K - 4L4KK (from 1993), 4L4KL (from 1993), 4L4KN (from 1993), 4L4KW (from 1993)

4L4L - 4L4L (from 1993), 4L4LA (from 1993), 4L4LG (from 1993)

4L4M - 4L4MG (from 1993), 4L4MM (from 1992), 4L4MO (from 1993)

4L4N - 4L4ND (from 1993)

4L4T - 4L4TL (from 1993), 4L4TZ (from 1993)

4L4Y - 4L4YY (from 1993)

4L4Z - 4L4ZA (from 1993), 4L4ZG (from 1993)


4L5A - 4L5A (from 1993)


4L6D - 4L6DC (1992)


4L7A - 4L7AA (from 1994), 4L7AM (from 1993), 4L7AT (from 1993)

4L7B - 4L7BC (from 1994)

4L7C - 4L7C (from 1994), 4L7CE (from 1993)

4L7L - 4L7LX (from 1993)

4L7M - 4L7MA (from 1993), 4L7MM (from October, 1990)

4L7N - 4L7NN (from 1994)


4L8A - 4L8A (from October, 1990), 4L8AA (1993)

4L8T - 4L8T (from 1993)


4L9A - 4L9A (from 1993)

4L9D - 4L9DM (from 1992), 4L9DZ (1992)


4L calls October, 1990 to July, 1994 not QRV from Georgia

The following calls were QRV in the period of interest, but not from Georgia.

These require callsign exceptions, or, in the case of the 4L3 stations, an additional prefix mapping..


4L0DXC, Ukraine, 1991, 1992


4L19A, European Russia, 1992

4L1NV, European Russia, 1991

4L1QRQ,  European Russia, 1990-94, 4L1QRQ/3 (1994)


4L20A, 4L21A, 4L22A, 4L23A, 4L24A, European Russia, 1992


4L3D, 4L3Q, these are thought to be European Russia, but confirmation required, 1992-93

4L3FRM, European Russia, May, 1992


4L4F, European Russia, 1990-1993

4L4IR, European Russia, 1992

4L4UPA, European Russian, 1992


4L6HMC, 4L6HMC/A, European Russia, 1992


4L1QRQ/9 (1990), 4L9H, Asiatic Russia, 1992


Summary

a) Although the 4L prefix was not assigned exclusively to Georgia until 1994-08-01, many Georgian stations using the 4L prefix were QRV from October, 1990 to July, 1994.

b) There were a few non-Georgian stations using the 4L prefix that were QRV in the same period, but these were far out-numbered by the Georgian stations.

c) Therefore, Club Log maps the 4L prefix to Georgia from 1990-10-01. Callsign exceptions are used to map 4L calls from other entities in the period 1990-10-01 to 1994-07-31, except for 4L3 stations, which are mapped by the 4L3 prefix.

 

Acknowledgements

F6GCP QSL Infos 1987-1998

HAMLOG.EU

Ohio/Pen DX Bulletin #319

The DXNS USSR Oblast Guide published by Geoff Watts

RSGB DX News Sheets