SINCE January 1, Cornwall’s radio amateurs have been able to go on the air, making contacts worldwide, using their ‘K’ callsigns, to denote Kernow, in a celebration of the national minority status granted to Cornish people in 2014.
This is thought to be one of the first tangible results of the new status and has been welcomed by MPs, by the leader and by members of Cornwall Council, and by the Grand Bard of Gorsedh Kernow, Merv Davey.
A procedure known as a ‘NoV’ – or Notice of Variation – was agreed with Ofcom after months of negotiations by members of the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club, acting on behalf of all Cornwall’s amateurs.
Details are on the club’s website and all of Cornwall’s hundreds of radio amateurs are being encouraged to apply for the ‘NoV’ so they can add the letter ‘K’ to their sign, regardless of whether or not they are members of clubs or the Radio Society of Great Britain.
More than 50 of Cornwall’s radio amateurs have taken out their ‘K’ callsigns with Ofcom.
They will be valid throughout 2016 and this is the first time that an English county has been granted a unique amateur radio identification.
The publicity is likely to enhance the standing of Cornwall worldwide. For example, more than 6,000 Americans have already viewed details of the identification on a website.