What use is an F-call?

When you get introduced to Amateur Radio, your likely first step is to get a Foundation License. That's not always been the case. The Foundation License has only been in existence since October 2005. I say only, because Amateur Radio has been around for over a hundred years. For example, the Wireless Institute of Australia, the WIA celebrated its centenary in 2010.

There are currently more than 2300 Foundation Licenses active, said in another way over 14% of Amateur Licences are Foundation Licenses.

My question is this.

If there are more Foundation Licenses as there are Standard Licenses, why don't we hear more of them on-air?

Recently I participated in a contest as a QRP station. That means I halved my allowable power from 10 Watts down to 5 Watts to participate to see what the impact might be - given that I'm aiming to contact 100 countries using my F-call and 5 Watts. During the 16 hours I participated in the contest I made contacts with 45 different stations. 80% of those were Advanced Calls, only 9% of those call signs heard were Foundation Calls.

Sure, you might argue that because an Foundation Licensee is only allowed 10 Watts, they cannot be heard, but I made 185 actual contacts across 4 states - hardly the mark of someone who could not be heard. Perhaps my set-up was better than those of other Foundation Licensees, but I don't think that this is what makes the difference. I think they're just not on air.

Perhaps you're an F-call and you're not on-air. What's stopping you from using your call and making your contribution to the airwaves? Perhaps you hold another license - perhaps you might ask F-calls you meet if they're on-air or not.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB