Radio Amateurs in the United Kingdom will have the option to use the special prefix GO in front of their callsign during the 2012 Olympic Games. This facility will also be available to Amateur Club Licences.
Applications for a Notice of Variation to allow you to use the special prefixes can now be made online at www.rsgb.org/operating/novapp/olympics. After completing the simple web forms your NoV will be immediately e-mailed back to you in PDF format.
Special Event Stations
Also available, for Special Event Stations, will be a range of calls in the series GB2012aaa,
Flagship Stations – 2O12
Four “flagship” Special Event Stations will operate using the prefix 2O12A (where “O” is the letter O, and a is a single letter relating to the location of the station).
One of these stations will be GB2012MV (for “Manchester Venue” – Old Trafford will be a venue for the Olympic football competition) and operated by the Warrington Amateur Radio Club. This station will be located at the Salford University campus and operate on VHF, HF and D-STAR.
The GO Prefix
Special prefix GO, celebrating the 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games will be available to holders of the Amateur Foundation Licence, Amateur Intermediate Licence, Amateur Full Licence, Amateur Full (Club) Licence, Amateur Full (Reciprocal) Licence and Amateur Full (Temporary Reciprocal) Licence for the period 00.00 BST 21st July 2012 to 23.59 BST 9th September 2012
To conform to the requirements of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, each licensee will be required to obtain a Notice of Variation. This will be an on-line process and will be available from 1st March 2012.
The letter O will be added to calls, or replace the regional identifier. For example (where “aaa” represents the final alpha block of the callsign):
M3aaa becomes MO3aaa
G3aaa becomes GO3aaa
GM3aaa becomes GO3aaa
2E0aaa becomes 2O0aaa (Two Oscar zero aaa)
2M0aaa becomes 2O0aaa (Two Oscar zero aaa)
GX3aaa becomes GO3aaa
Using Olympic logos
Although Ofcom has granted permission for UK radio amateurs to use these special prefixes, this permission does NOT extend to use of the various logos associated with the Games on QSL cards etc.
These logos, or Games Marks as they are called, are strictly controlled by LOCOG and are not free for individuals and organisations to use without express permission. You can read about their use at the Frequently Asked Questions on the www.london2012.com website.
Project ECHO, concerned with the two main special stations, is the exception and has been granted permission to use the Inspire logo
in a limited way.
Applications for a Notice of Variation to allow you to use the special prefixes can now be made online at www.rsgb.org/operating/novapp/olympics. After completing the simple web forms your NoV will be immediately e-mailed back to you in PDF format.
