International Call Sign Handbook e-book now available at Amazon

The reviews are in and the International Call Sign Handbook is a huge hit.

5 Star Rating 100% rating on the deal of the century! By Barry L. Williams

"After 20 years of reading the columns, reviews, and advice of Larry van Horn in Monitoring Times magazine, it was a no brainer that he is an expert on military / civilian communications on shortwave and high frequency radio. He has always been the go-to expert for what military and civilian radio calls you were hearing on the HF/SW frequencies. Now, the decades of experience and research is in his new book. It has an excellent table of contents itemized by service, country, etc. Each entry is clickable for navigation. And, the list is huge! This is the most complete list of units, boats, aircraft, units, etc that I've seen. It is also more than just a list as the book also explains the organizations and services with details and explanations.

"The other great thing about this must have book is the price- $6.99. There is no reason for anyone to not have this book at that price. This is the first book with this much information that I've seen that doesn't cost $25 and up. There just is no reason to not buy it right now."

5 Star Rating Updated classic By Hugh D Stegman, The Spectrum Monitor e-zine columnist: "You won't go wrong with this one. Larry is the go-to guy for this kind of information in the hobby, and his lists have always been full of names and call signs that you'll actually hear on the air, plus all manner of other arcane military codes and rotating IDs. I don't know how I'd identify most military stations without it. At this garage sale price, it may be the best deal in utility radio."

Ask any radio monitor what information they consider important during any monitoring session, and usually two items will top their list: frequencies and call signs. If you can hear activity on a particular frequency, unless you can fully identify the participants transmitting on that frequency, you can’t fully appreciate or document the traffic you are hearing.

With millions of radio stations furnishing a variety of communication services throughout the world, it is necessary that their transmissions carry distinctive call signs or identifiers. Call signs have a four-fold purpose: They may identify the nationality of the station, the agency operating a particular station, the type of station, and the identity of each individual station being heard on the monitored frequency.

The need for station identifications/call signs can easily be illustrated here in the United States, which leads all other countries in the use of the radio spectrum, that now has some 85 different kinds of radio services operated by the government, military and civilians entities, providing air, sea, land and space communication services. There are hundreds of thousands of stations on the air and call signs and other forms of identification help the radio monitor sort through the various stations that are heard.

A call sign is defined as any combination of alphanumeric characters or phonetically pronounceable characters (trigraph), which identifies a communications facility, a command, an authority, an activity or unit. To aid the radio monitor in their listening endeavors, the International Call Sign Handbook series of books/e-books has been published.

Teak Publishing is pleased to announce their latest Kindle e-book -- the fourth edition of International Call Sign Handbook by Amazon Bestselling author Larry Van Horn, N5FPW. This e-book represents the most comprehensive collection of military and government station identifications ever published for the radio listening hobby. It is the result of year’s research, study and monitoring the HF/VHF/UHF radio spectrum, by the author. Many different radio monitoring disciplines have been used to compile the listings in this book. If you monitor the HF, VHF or UHF radio spectrum, there is something in this book for you.

The information presented in this book has also been gathered through personal correspondence, material published in the former Monitoring Times magazine, various radio publications, newsletters, public domain government and private internet web sites, but most have been gathered the old fashioned way via on-the-air monitoring. In addition, we have received generous support and contributions from many individuals in the radio hobby.

In addition to international and military/government tactical call signs, other types of identifiers such as Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) and Mode-S aircraft addresses have been included in this e-book. There is a chapter that had basic introductory material, as well as chapters devoted to call sign / words used by the Department of Defense including the US. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. There are sections that cover the various Military Auxiliary Radio Services and the U.S. Air Force Civil Air Patrol auxiliary service.

There is also a chapter that covers call signs and ALE identifiers for the U.S. Coast Guard service. Sections in that chapter include a Coast Guard aircraft fleet list, miscellaneous U.S. coast guard calls, and also their international call signs.

Another large chapter covers various U.S. Government call signs. Sections in this chapter include the U.S. Custom and Border Patrol COTHEN radio system and ALE address list, plus call signs from the following department and agencies - Department of Commerce (DOC), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of State, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Federal Communications Commission, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), General Services Administration (GSA), Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD), Miscellaneous Listings, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Communications System (NCS), and U.S. Marshal Service (USMS) service.

One of the larger chapters is devoted to an international / worldwide call signs list. We have a sampling of government and military call signs from 75 counties and international agencies.

The latest craze in aircraft military is decoding Mode-S/ICAO24 radio signals and is included in this book. Our list in this edition covers primarily government / military aircraft and introductory material on Mode-S monitoring.

The last chapter of this book contains a large list of resource information, useful in interpreting the individual entries listed in the book. Sections on U.S. Navy ship/squadron classifications; U.S. Coast Guard cutter designators; a massive list of abbreviations and acronyms that appear in the book; a comprehensive country abbreviation list; and the latest Table of Allocations of International Call signs from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) are included in the last chapter on the e-book.

The Teak Publishing 4^th International Call Sign Handbook is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VV7NR1U.

The price for this e-Book edition is US$6.99. This book is being released internationally. Amazon customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia can order the e-Book from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

You do not need to own a Kindle reader to read Amazon e-book publications. You can read any Kindle book with Amazon’s free reading apps. There are free Kindle reading apps for the Kindle Cloud Reader, Smartphones (iPhone, iTouch, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry); computer platforms (Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 and Mac); Tablets (iPad, Android and Windows 8), and, of course, all of the Kindle family of readers including the Kindle Fire series. A Kindle e-book allows you to buy your book once and read it anywhere. You can find additional details on these apps at this link on the Amazon website at www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771.

For additional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books, monitor the company sponsored Internet blogs – The Military Monitoring Post (http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/), The Btown Monitor Post (http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/) and The Shortwave Central (http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/) for availability of additional e-books that are currently in production.

Information on other publications by the author is available on the author’s page at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00G1QMO4C.

The Spectrum Monitor Review of the International Call Sign Handbook, 4th Edition

Blog Editor Note: This is a review of my new e-book that appeared in the May edition of The Spectrum Monitor e-zine. The Spectrum Monitor ® is published monthly by Ken Reitz KS4ZR at 1403 Holland Creek Road, Louisa, Virginia 23093. You can order your subscription to TSM at http://www.thespectrummonitor.com/.

New International Call Sign Handbook: Government and Military EditionBy Larry Van Horn N5FPW
Teak Publishing $6.99
Fourth Edition Kindle e-book 608 pages
Reviewed by Ken Reitz KS4ZR

Anyone who had read Monitoring Times magazine over the last few decades will be familiar with the topic of government and military radio call signs that appeared every month in the Milcom column, written by Larry Van Horn N5FPW. While MT ceased publication with the December 2013 issue, Larry maintained his interest in this subject and has just released the massive fourth edition of the International Call Sign Handbook (Government/Military Edition).

And, if you’ve been reading Hugh Stegman and Mike Chace-Ortiz’s columns in TSM, you’ll know that there are hundreds of frequencies on which you might hear any of these call signs. You can’t tell the players without a scorecard and Larry’s just published the definitive call sign scorecard.

At more than 600 pages, he has left nothing out. And, if you are not familiar with this fascinating subject, he includes a thorough tutorial on the subject to bring you up to speed. Call signs for every branch of the US military, known and arcane federal agencies, and many nongovernmental organizations are also listed. He has also included international call signs for other countries.

You’ll also learn how to set up your listening post to be able to monitor Mode-S ADS/B, a data stream that is sent automatically by most civilian and military aircraft, that IDs each craft as it comes within communications reach of your receiver; a hobby within the air monitoring hobby. Larry includes active links to all the websites you’ll need to go to for software downloads and detailed instructions on tuning in.

It’s difficult to emphasize what a bargain this book is: $6.99 (that was the cost of one issue of Monitoring Times, if you could find it on the bookstore shelves!) for 600 pages of military and federal call signs (in its last year the entire MT magazine was only 62 pages each month and the Milcom column was only two pages each month!).
This book has an active Table of Contents that makes finding your way around in this enormous publication a breeze.

The International Call Sign Handbook is available only as a Kindle e-publication, but you don’t need a Kindle product, iPad, or smartphone to read this publication. Any desktop or laptop computer can display any Kindle e-book. Just download the free app for your device, order the book and start reading. Go here to find out more about Kindle apps: https://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/kcp-landing-page?ie=UTF8&ref_=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd

Go here to buy or read a sample of this book: http://www.amazon.com/International-Call-Sign-Handbook-Government-ebook/dp/B00VV7NR1U/ref=zg_bs_tab_pd_bsnr_2

And, while you’re at it, check out the other publications released recently by Teak Publishing (also found on the TSM Bookshelf):

Teak Publishing 2015 Air Show Guide (By Larry Van Horn)
International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (By Gayle Van Horn)

QSLing the World (By Gayle Van Horn)
And, don’t forget Larry and Gayle’s excellent blogs for up to date information on shortwave listening and military communications:

Milcom Monitoring Post http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com and Shortwave Central http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com

International Callsign Handbook v2 Now Available

This blog is supported and sponsored by Teak Publishing, and the sale of its radio hobby publications. We appreciate your support by purchasing our publications that keeps our radio blogs operational.

"I’m impressed. This is a comprehensive collection of worldwide radio identifiers likely (and even some less likely) to be heard on the air. Over the years the Van Horns have earned the well-deserved respect of the monitoring community. Accurately assembling a collection like this is a mammoth undertaking. Congratulations on a job well done." Bob Grove - December 2008 Whats New Column, Monitoring Times magazine

"The International Callsign Handbook is a concise world directory on CD-ROM of thousands of various types of radio station identifications covering military, government, maritime, aeronautical and fixed radio stations." Popular Communications magazine - January 2009 - In Gear Column.

"When browsing through the chapters my first reaction is that the ICH is a useful book. It hosts quite an impressive list of tactical and official callsigns of fixed service stations, aeronautical, maritime, civilian, military and government stations, and amateur propagation beacons. The book covers utility stations from all over the world, but the majority of the callsigns in the book, both tactical and official, belong to stations in North & South America which makes the ICH especially interesting for dxers with a focus on the America’s...This book is a valuable asset to the hobby. I am sure that many dxers will enjoy it." Review by Ary Boender for the Utility DXers Forum.

Teak Publishing is proud to announce the release their second eBook – International Callsign Handbook, 2nd edition, by Gayle and Larry Van Horn.

Radio hobbyists interested in receiving and identifying radio stations in the HF/VHF/UHF radio spectrums now have a new whopping 1414 page CD-ROM publication to aid them.

International Callsign Handbook is a concise world directory of various types of radio station identifications covering the military, government, maritime, aeronautical, and fixed radio stations on CD-ROM. Thousands of callsigns and other types of identifiers have been collected from our own personal log book, official sources and dedicated hobbyists who contributed their material.

The 12 chapters of this new eBook cover the following subjects:

● Chapter 1 – Introductory material

● Chapter 2 – Extensive lists of resource information useful in interpreting the individual entries for each identification listed in the book. We have included sections on U.S. Navy ship/squadron classifications; U.S. Coast Guard cutter designators; a massive list of abbreviations and acronyms that appear in the book; a comprehensive country abbreviation list; and the latest Table of Allocations of International Callsigns from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

● Chapter 3 – Special chapter devoted to monitoring ACARS communications. For the aviation buff, we have included an extensive list of the abbreviations and a sample message type used by aircraft when communicating using this digital radio system.

● Chapter 4 – Comprehensive lists of internationally assigned callsigns.

● Chapter 5 – Worldwide listing of airline callsigns and ICAO codes.

● Chapter 6 – Covers the new field of decoding ICAO24 codes from aircraft. Our list in this edition will primarily cover military aircraft.

● Chapter 7 – Provides a large sample of military Selcal codes that have been recently decoded by on-the-air monitoring.

● Chapter 8 – Civilian Marine Vessel Callsigns.

● Chapter 9 – Introductory material on monitoring the marine GMDSS frequencies with coastal and ship MMSI identifications.

● Chapter 10 This chapter covers the new and exciting field of Automatic Link Establishment or ALE monitoring in the HF radio spectrum and includes a very large list of ALE addresses.

● Chapter 11 – The largest chapter in this book is an extensive listing of Tactical Callsign and Code Words. This chapter covers government and military tactical calls and selected code words for services and agencies worldwide.

● Chapter 12 – is a collection of U.S. military call words that change, usually on a daily basis. The call words presented in this chapter are usually used by various elements of the Strategic Forces such as airborne command post, TACAMO aircraft, GEP or ground entry point stations, and other units worldwide.

The International Callsign Handbook is published in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) electronic format and is fully searchable/printable. It can be run on any computer platform and uses the Adobe Acrobat reader program (a free Internet download).

CD-ROM System requirements:
Autorun function supported on Microsoft Windows 98 or later for PCs (Adobe Reader Versions 6, 7 or 8 must be installed to view publication). Publication PDF files can be view on any Apple Macintosh computer that has Preview or Adobe Reader versions 7 or 8 installed (no Autorun function supported on Mac platforms). Vista platform users have special instructions included in order the view the eBook on the CD-ROM.

The book is written by MT QSL Report columnist Gayle Van Horn, W4GVH, and Larry Van Horn, N5FPW, MT's Assistant Editor/Milcom columnist. If you want to identify who you are hearing on your radio, then this book should be on your radio shack shelf.

International Callsign Handbook, 1414 pages. 2nd Edition. © 2008, by Teak Publishing of Brasstown, North Carolina. (ISBN: 978-0-9796311-1-5).

Cost:
United States US$19.95 plus US$3.00 shipping and handling
All International Orders US#19.95 plus US$5.00 shipping and handling

You can order your book directly from Teak Publishing using check (must clear the bank first), money order or via PayPal

If you want to order via credit card, please contact one of our two dealers - Grove Enterprises or Univeral Radio. There are links to these fine companies on our blog resource guide to the right of this article.

To contact Teak Publishing directly write to P.O. Box 297, Brasstown, NC 28902 USA or via email at teakpub@brmemc.net.

If you are a dealer and would like to carry our books we have dealer pricing available. You can see information on our first book at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/2007/09/world-qsl-book-now-available.html