XPost: uk.radio.amateur   
   From: nomail@example.com   
      
   Ian Jackson  wrote:   
   > I don't know how long the present Ms and 2x series will last  - but   
   > there are many other weird UK prefixes that could be use as well.   
   > [Unfortunately, to me the UK is 'G-Land', and even the M and 2x prefix   
   > seems distinctly odd!] However, it's obviously untidy to have a database   
   > sparsely populated with old allocated callsigns - and full of empty   
   > holes and even areas of total wasteland. It's only natural for someone   
   > to wonder why no-longer-allocated callsigns cannot be re-issued.   
      
   I wondered about that as well with car license plates.   
   Here they invent new series every time the old ones run out, resulting   
   in ever weirder sequences of letters and digits.  However, it does not   
   seem to occur to them to just reset the counter to the starting point   
   that was first established in the 1950's, and simply skip the ones that   
   are still allocated.   
      
   Probably there is a vague reason for it that is similar to the reason   
   we would not like it to happen to amateur callsigns.   
      
   (like some long delayed fine coming from a far away country that would   
   be matched to the wrong car, much like a QSL card arriving via the bureau)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)