Author: Alan, 5B4AHJ


Argentina uses the first letter of the suffix to specify the area the station is located in.
If the first letter of the suffix is 'Z', the station is located in one of the Antarctic entities.


In the case of callsigns with a two-letter suffix, the Antarctic entity is then specified by the second letter of the suffix, as follows:


Antarctica: B, D, E, F, H, J, K, L, N, P, Q, R, U, V, W, X
South Orkney: A, G, M
South Sandwich Is: Y
South Shetland Is: C, I, O, S, T


The callsign possibilities are summarised below:


ADIF Entity NameADIF DXCC CodeCallsignsWhitelisted
Antarctica13L[O-W][0-9]Z[B, D, E, F, H, J, K, L, N, P, Q, R, U, V, W, X]
South Orkney Is238[AY, AZ, L[O:W]][0:9]Z[A, G, M]
South Sandwich Islands240[AY, AZ, L[O:W]][0:9]ZY
South Shetland Islands241[AY, AZ, L[O:W]][0:9]Z[C, I, O, S, T]


The above information is taken from the DX NEWS-SHEET, No. 193, dated 1965-11-30, published by Geoff Watts.


Club Log maps all the above callsign possibilities by a set of software rules, or by callsign exceptions in the case of whitelisted ( ) entities.

The mappings performed by software rules are not reflected in cty.xml.


CQ Magazine, dated March, 1962, has more detailed information:

SuffixBaseDXCC Entity
ZA, ZG, ZMLaurie IslandSouth Orkney
ZC, ZI, ZODeception IslandSouth Shetlands
ZB, ZH, ZNObservatory Island, MelchiorAntarctica
ZE, ZK, ZQAlmirante BrownAntarctica
ZF, ZL, ZR, ZU, ZVBahia EsperanzaAntarctica
ZWGeneral Belgrano, Terra del CoatsAntarctica
ZY

South Sandwich


There is a small number of exceptions to the above rules, which Club Log handles in the usual way.
Known exceptions are:


           LU1ZA (March 1975)

Some callsigns only have a single letter (ie Z only) suffix.
There is also a small number of callsigns with a three-letter suffix, e.g. LU1ZAB.
Club Log maps these by default to Antarctica.


The callsign possibilities are summarised below:


Default ADIF Entity NameADIF DXCC CodeCallsigns
Antarctica13[AY, AZ, L[O:W]][0:9]Z
Antarctica13[AY, AZ, L[O:W]][0:9]Z[A:Z][A:Z]


Club Log uses callsign exceptions to map callsigns with one or three letter suffices if they are not in Antarctica.


Acknowledgements

CQ Magazine

DX News Sheet, published by Geoff Watts