Above is Dan Smith, K6PRK's novice license; KN6ERV issued in 1954. This is our earliest example of a novice license - so far. It is a good jumping off point to discuss the history of the novice callsign. Unfortunately, it appears the FCC does not have records of callsign history. What we hams have been able to piece together is probably fragmentary; incomplete.
We will use the callsigns of the contributors to the Novice Historical Society as a starting point. As we get more contributors we will see if the patterns identified hold or if they need revision.
The novice license started in 1951. Our earliest novice is Bob Rolfness, W7AK. Bob was issued WN7VZX in 1951. Ron Baker, WA6AZN was issued WN8JIA in 1952. Across the country that same year in Memphis, Tennesse, young Quent Cassen recieved WN4YMG in his mailbox. In the fall of 1953, Charlie Lofgren, Ph.D., W6JJZ was given WN7UWO.
In 1954, Dick Zalewski, W7ZR, was granted KN2JSP. Dick recalls in 1954 he and his novice friends in the second call district were issued KN2s while in 3-land the novices still were being issued WN3s. Historically the second and sixth call districts were the largest and quickest to depleted prefixes.
In 1955, Clint Sprott, Ph.D., W9AV was given KN4BOM. Jack Burks, K4CNW was also issued a KN# call, KN4CNW. We do not as yet have any 1956 novice stories.
1957 presents an interesting turn of events. In that year Jim Cadien, KC7ZMV, was issued WN6JRS. However in the same call district, Doug Millar, K6JEY, was give KN6JEY. Both prefixes were issued that year in the most ham populated call district.
Around 1958, the FCC apparently ran out of both WN# and KN# novice callsigns and introduced WV# callsigns. We do not as yet have an WV# novice stories. We have issued several invitations to WV# novices but none have written a story. We do know from our communication with WV# novices, that their prefix started around 1958 and went to about 1960 or even early-1961. Our earliest WN#s during this period are Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, formerly WN9AVT and Bob Roske, N0UF, formerly WN0CLR.
Carl was licensed as a novice on Oct. 11, 1961. Later in 1961 and in the 1962 there are several WV# novices in Carl's novice QSL collection. His last QSL from WV# was WV6TPX on Feb. 17, 1962. Carl's winter 1961-1962 callbook lists many WV# novices. In that period the Callbook was published quarterly, March, June, September, and December. There was a lag time of about a quarter or so between the time someone got their ticket and the time it was published in the Callbook.
Doug Dowds, W6HB tells us that in April 1962 he was issued the novice callsign of WV6ZJG. This is a year or two later than what other ham radio historians thought was the end of the WV# period.
From 1963 to 1976 we have no reports of any novice prefixes other than WN# being used. In 1976, the FCC recinded all WN# callsigns and replaced them, usually with a WA# or WB# with the same suffix. On this site we have posted examples of the last WN# printing style of the novice license as well as its non-distinctive replacement.
Editor's Note: Please talk to your friends who are WV# novices, or anyone who was a novice who callsign does not fit the patterns we identified. Also we woud like to post on this site, other license printing styles. We would like to collect on this site an example of a 1951 novice license.
