A question asked by one of our site visitors: “My father used to be into ham radio, I was wondering if I got my licence, would I be able to get his callsign?”

The answer is “yes”, but there are some additional hurdles, as follows:

Let’s assume your father (or grandfather) had the callsign G3QQQ. That’s a UK “Full” callsign, so to get it, you’d have to have passed the “Full” exam, and you’d also be required to prove that you have a valid claim on that callsign.

The process for inheriting a callsign is as follows:

• Pass the appropriate amateur radio exam
• Contact Ofcom and apply for the old callsign
• Provide proof – potentially the old paperwork for the G3QQQ callsign, and proof that you’re a descendant (a written letter to Ofcom)

Note that you can’t hold two callsigns for the same licence level, so if you already own M0ABC and want to inherit G3QQQ, you would have to give up M0ABC.