AMATEUR RADIO
Amateur Radio license plates began in 1950 in recognition of "Hams" who provided wireless communication during times of emergency. (Some special plates with radio call letters were also issued in 1938 in Oklahoma and 1939 in Michigan.) By the end of the 1950's, 45 states had already passed laws providing for these unique plates. In CA, MA, NE, NY, RI and VA, plates were issued on bases with an older baseplate date.
U.S. radio calls started with a country code (W or K), a zone district number (1 to 9 and 0), followed by the specific station (2 or 3 letters). Originally, W began at AA-ZZ (= 650) and all other prefixes began at AAA-ZZZ (= 16,900), with XA-XZ and XAA-XZZ omitted. The regional system ended 3/31/1978, after which any call could appear in any zone and many exceptions to the original system appeared.
New prefixes appeared as follows: K9 1947, WA2 1958, WA3 1964 (the last zone to issue WA), WB2 and WB6 1962, WB4 1965, WB8,9,0 reported 1969, WC not issued, WD2,4,6,8,9,0 1976.
Optional Bicentennial prefixes were used optionally in 1976 only, listed below as "76".
Novice radio calls began 7/1/1951 with WN,WV,KN (WN seen 1955, KN seen 1960).
Novice became N 10/1/1976 although N0 seen 1967 and N5 seen 1974.
STATES ASSIGNED BY DISTRICT, WITH DATE BEGAN: (Earliest state in each district)
1 = CT 1956, ME 1962, MA 1965, NH 1957, RI 1958, VT 1958
2 = NJ 1968, NY 1963
3 = DE 3-31-54, MD 3-31-57, PA 56
4 = AL 1952, FL 1950, GA 1951, KY 1973, NC 1951, SC 1956, TN 1951, VA 1952
5 = AR 1954, LA 1951, MS 1951, NM 1953, OK 1953, TX 1954
6 = CA 1954
7 = AZ 1955, ID 1957, MT 1958, NV 1951, OR 1953, UT 1955, WA 1957, WY 1960
8 = MI 1954, OH 1953, WV 1960
9 = IL 1956, IN 1954, WI 1-52
0 = CO 1958, IA 1954, KS 1954, MN 1952, MO EXP JAN 53, NE 1953, ND 1951, SD 1953
EARLIEST PREFIX SEEN BY DISTRICT: (Earliest district with that code)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1976
W 1956 1963 1953 1950 1951 1954 1951 1953 1/52 1951 AC
K 1958 1963 1961 1956 1958 1954 1961 1957 1955 1958 AD
WA 1966 1963 1968 1962 1962 1960 1966 1963 1963 1963 AA
WB 1977 1963 1977 1967 1972 1962 5/79 1968 1973 1973 AB
WD 1979 1978 1984 1978 1975 AE
U.S. TERRITORIES: (When started)
KL7 = AK 1952 (KL7AAA 1952) AL7
KH6 = HI 1955 (KH6AAA v1968, WH6AAA v1976) AH6
KG6 = GU v1964 (KG6AAA v1964)
KZ5 = CZ v1951
CANADA:
VE1 = NB v1961, NS 1959, PE v1959 (VE1AAA v1965)
VE2 = QC 1952 (VE2AAA v1956)
VE3 = ON 1976
VE4 = MB 1964
VE5 = SK 1960
VE6 = AB 1959 (VE6AAA v1962)
VE7 = BC 1963 (VE7AAA 1963)
VE8 = NT v1962, YK 1973-78
VO1 = NF 1962 (VO2 = Labrador v1970)
VY1 = YK 1979
CITIZENS BAND RADIO
Earliest seen 1964 (Georgia, New Mexico and Guam).
From September 1958 to December 1960, call signs were in
the format 12W1234 with the first two digits representing the
state/region, and "W" the U.S. In 1960 and 1961, "A" and "Q"
were substituted respectively when "W" exhausted.
KAA 000 and KAA 0000 formats began 7/1/1961, numbers assigned
sequentially. KAAA 0000 began 7/1/1978; KAAA00000 seen by 1985.
Known states and when they began (only up through 1979):
AL 1976
CA 1970
FL 1973
GA 1969 (1964 also seen)
LA 1967
MN v1974
NH 1968
NM v1964
NC 1972
UT v1970
GU v1964
PE v1968
