Mexican Radio call signs


The International Telecommunication Union has assigned Mexico the following call sign blocks for all radio communication, broadcasting or transmission:

Call sign block

XAA - XIZ

4AA - 4CZ

6DA - 6JZ

While not directly related to call signs, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) further has divided all countries assigned amateur radio prefixes into three regions; Mexico is located in ITU Region 2.   Mexico is in ITU zone 10 and CQ zone 6.

Call sign assignments for amateur radio

The Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones issues call signs in the XE and XF series for amateur use, the latter mainly for offshore use.

The separating numeral is used to identify the region in which the amateur is licensed:

Call sign prefix Region

XE1: Central Mexico Colima, Distrito Federal (Federal District, most of Mexico City), Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico (the state surrounding the Distrito Federal on 3 sides, includes some parts of Mexico City), Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Puebla, Queretaro, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz

XE2: Northern Mexico Aguascalientes, Baja California (northern half of the peninsula), Baja California Sur (southern half of the peninsula), Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas

XE3: Southern Mexico Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Yucatan

XF1:  Islands around the Baja California peninsula in the Pacific Ocean or the northern part of the Gulf of California

XF2:  Close central islands off the Pacific coast of the Mexican mainland, in the Gulf of Mexico, or in the southern Gulf of California, generally west of 90°W.

XF3:  Caribbean islands Carribean islands, generally east of 90°W.

XF4, XFØ:  Revillagigedo Revillagigedo island group, in the Pacific Ocean
Call signs for foreign hams

Typically a permit to operate in Mexico will state the call sign you are to use, and can be one's home call sign with a further XE prefix. For instance if your home call sign is WA1ZZZ, you might be assigned XE1/WA1ZZZ.

Further, if you operate outside of the XE1 area, you would add a further identifying suffix - for instance XE1/WA1ZZZ/XE2 if you were operating in northern Mexico.  The call sign must be given always as enumerated on the permit, and the operator's location must also be stated in Spanish.

The permit does not automatically allow operation in XF island areas. Special permission must be sought for island operation.

Special Events

Call signs in the 6DA-6JZ block have been used for special event call sgins on a temporary basis. In 2007 6G1LM was assigned to Federacion Mexicana de Radioexperimentadoes for their 75th anniversary as was 6F75A.

6H1 also replaced the XE1 prefix, 6I2 replaced the XE2 prefix, and 6J3 replaced the XE3 prefix. 6E4 replaced XF4 for the Revillagigedo island group.

URL: http://links.assetize.com/links/c0b231 has further information.