Here's something for all you dxers out there.

73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ, Big Rapids, MI


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ARRL Web site" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: <Subscribed ARRL Members:>
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 9:28 AM
Subject: ARLX008 New Prefix for Bosnia-Herzegovina Officially Announced


> SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX008
> ARLX008 New Prefix for Bosnia-Herzegovina Officially Announced
> 
> ZCZC AX08
> QST de W1AW  
> Special Bulletin 8  ARLX008
> From ARRL Headquarters  
> Newington CT  December 27, 2007
> To all radio amateurs 
> 
> SB SPCL ARL ARLX008
> ARLX008 New Prefix for Bosnia-Herzegovina Officially Announced
> 
> In response to a request from the Ministry of Communications and
> Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina in August, the International
> Telecommunication Union (ITU) withdrew the call sign prefix
> allocation T9A-T9Z for Bosnia and Herzegovina and made a new
> allocation, E7A-E7Z.  The change was made initially on a provisional
> basis under authority of the ITU Secretary-General and was confirmed
> by the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference to be effective
> November 17, 2007.
> 
> According to International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Secretary
> David Sumner, K1ZZ, the Ministry of Communications and Transport
> (BiH) held a press conference in Sarajevo on December 18 to formally
> announce the change.  Minister Dr Bozo Ljubic explained the
> desirability of changing a prefix that initially was allocated
> during wartime and how it was now being replaced with one that has
> no connection to that troubled time; similar steps have been taken
> with regard to passports, drivers' licenses and automobile
> registrations, he said.  Ljubic also observed that the costs
> associated with the change were minimal compared to the benefits.
> 
> Amateur Radio station licenses bearing E7 prefixes will be issued
> beginning in January 2008, and the use of other prefixes will be
> phased out.
> 
> Sumner and IARU Region 1 President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, of Norway,
> were invited to speak at the press conference.  Accompanying them
> was IARU Region 1 Executive Committee member Nikola Percin, 9A5W, of
> Croatia.  They expressed congratulations and support for the change,
> eliminating an issue that has complicated relations among the radio
> amateurs of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
> 
> Also invited to speak was Miroslav Nikse, President of the Union of
> Radioamateur Associations of Bosnia and Herzegovina (URAS), a
> recently formed umbrella organization of amateur radio associations
> based in different parts of the country.  He thanked those involved
> in promoting the change.  In his remarks, Dr Ljubic pledged support
> from the Ministry of Communications and Transport to the umbrella
> organization for the development of Amateur Radio repeater and
> digital networks that would cover the whole of the country,
> enhancing emergency communications capabilities.
> NNNN
> /EX
>