Hi, I am Tony I0JX
Almost everything on the Italian ham-radio callsign assignment system

Let us firstly review the current situation:

• Italian calls with a three-letter suffix:

• calls with prefix I (e.g. I2ABC) are old calls that were issued after WWII until about 1980, in no particular order (before 1972 the prefix was I1 for everyone, no call-area). After 1980 no such calls were issued any longer (there is no vanity call program in Italy)

• calls with prefix IK (e.g. IK3DEF) are fairly old calls issued between 1980 and 1995, in strict alphabetical order

• calls with prefix IZ (e.g. IZ4GHI) are the most recent calls, issued since 1995 in strict alphabetical order. They are still today being issued to new hams

• calls with prefix IW (e.g. IW5JKL) belong to the VHF/UHF-only licensees (recently also allowed to operate HF). They can be either old or new calls, as they were issued between 1972 and 2005 in strict alphabetical order, and are now no longer issued as, after the liberalization, all new hams get the IZ prefix

• calls with prefixes IS0 and IT9 (e.g. IT9MNO, IS0PQR) can be either old or new calls, as they are being issued since WWII to stations living in the major Italian islands, in no particular order (before 1972 the prefix was IS1 or IT1). They are still today being issued to new hams living in the major islands

• calls with prefixes IA5, IB0, IC8, ID8, IE9, IF9, IG9, IH9, IL7 and IM0 (e.g. IB0STU, IH9VWX) can be either old or new calls, as they are being issued since WWII to stations living in the smaller Italian islands, in no particular order (before 1972 the prefix was  I1 or IS1 or IT1). They are still today being issued to new hams living in the minor islands

• calls with prefixes IN3, IV3 and IX1 (e.g. IN3YZA, IV3BCD, IX1EFG) can be either old or new calls, as they are being issued since WWII to stations living in the special-statute regions, in no particular order (before 1972 the prefix was I1). They are still today being issued to new hams living in the special-statute regions

• calls with other prefixes: in general these are not permanent calls. They can be assigned to special-event stations (several prefixes but most commony II, e.g. II6HIJ), to operations from very small islands (e.g. IJ7KLM), or to contest stations (anyone can use the IO prefix during contests, e.g. IO8NOP), or to data nodes & clusters (the IR prefix is almost reserved to them, e.g. IR1QRS)

• Italian calls with a two-letter suffix:

   

  • calls with prefix I (e.g. I2AB) are old calls that were issued after WWII until about 1970, in no particular order (before 1972 the prefix was I1 for everyone, no call-area). After 1970 no such calls were issued any longer (there is no vanity call program in Italy)

  • calls with prefix IW (e.g. IW3CD) belong to the VHF/UHF-only licensees (recently also allowed to operate HF) who randomly got a two-letter call in the strictly alphabetical assignment sequence (e.g. IW4BZY, IW4BZZ, IW4CA, IW4CAA, IW4CAB). They can be either old or new calls, as they were issued between 1972 and 2005 in strict alphabetical order, and are now no longer issued as, after the liberalization, all new hams get the IZ prefix

  • calls with prefixes IS0 and IT9 (e.g. IS0EF, IT9GH) are old calls that were issued after WWII until about 1970 to stations living in the major Italian islands, in no particular order (before 1972 the prefix was IS1 or IT1). After 1970 no such calls were issued any longer (there is no vanity call program in Italy)

  • calls with prefixes IA5, IB0, IC8, ID8, IE9, IF9, IG9, IH9, IL7 and IM0 (e.g. IB0IJ, IH9KL) are old calls that were issued after WWII until about 1970 to stations living in the smaller Italian islands, in no particular order (before 1972 the prefix was  I1 or IS1 or IT1). After 1970 no such calls were issued any longer (there is no vanity call program in Italy) After the death of IB0JN of Ventotene island, no calls of this type exist any longer

  • calls with prefixes IN3, IV3 and IX1 (e.g. IN3MN, IV3OP, IX1QR) are old calls that were issued after WWII until about 1970 to stations living in the special-statute regions, in no particular order (before 1972 the prefix was I1). After 1970 no such calls were issued any longer (there is no vanity call program in Italy)

  • calls with other prefixes: in general, these are not permanent calls. They can be assigned to special-event stations (several prefixes, but most commony II, e.g. II5ST), or to contest stations (anyone can use the IO prefix during contests, e.g. IO6UV), or to operations from very small islands (e.g. IJ7WX), or to stations of the Italian Radio League - ARI (the IQ prefix is reserved to them, e.g. IQ8YZ), or to repeaters (the IR prefix is almost reserved to them, e.g. IR1AB)

   

• Italian calls with a one-letter suffix:

• calls with a one-letter prefix (e.g. I0A) were given to beacons (practice now disconitinued). They are now discussing whether to assign such short calls for contest operations

• calls with a two-letter prefix (e.g. IG7R) are generally special calls for contest operations, but there also are (very few) beacons using calls of that type (e.g. IT9X)

Please keep in mind the Italian prefixes allocation:

• prefixes of DXCC country Italy:

  • mainland I0 ... I8, IK0 ... IK8, IZ0 ... IZ8 (I9, IK9, IZ9 do not exist)

  • special-statute regions: IN3, IV3, IX1

  • major islands (that also are special-statute regions): IT9

  • minor islands, IA5, IB0, IC8, ID8, IE9, IF9, IG9, IH9, IL7 (note: IG9 and IH9 are in CQ zone 33)

  • very minor islands: other two-letter prefixes beginning with I (fairly random)

• prefixes of DXCC country Sardinia: IS0 (island mainland), IM0 (smaller islands)

• prefixes of DXCC country Antarctica: IA0 (Baia Terranova base)

• ambiguous and general-purpose prefixes:

  • II (any number): the II prefix has become rather standard for special-event stations (even in Sardinia)

  • IO (any number): the IO prefix can be used by all stations during contests (e.g. I1XY becomes IO1XY, IK0ZAB and IS0ZAB both become IO0ZAB !!)

  • IR (any number): the IR prefix is almost exclusively used for repeaters, data nodes and clusters

  • IQ (any number): the IQ prefix is standard for the ARI club stations (some IQ0s may be in Sardinia). Many beacons now use the call of an ARI club station followed by "/B"

  • IW (any number): the IW prefix is for VHF/UHF-only licensees (the IW0Us are in Sardinia). Those prefixes are now no longer assigned (no more VHF/UHF-only licenses are issued)

  • IA, IB, IC, ID, IE, IF, IG, IH, IL, IM (followed by a number different from that of the minor islands), IJ, IP, IU, IY (any number): all such prefixes are mostly used for operations from very small islands (that could even be in Sardinia) or by special-event stations.

All that said, what follows is for those who wish to more precisely understand the rationale (?) behind the quite complex Italian ham-radio callsign assignment rules. A bit of history first...

In Italy, ham radio callsigns were initially assigned, on legal basis, only after WW II. At that time only one type of license existed (what we will here call the full license, that offers full operating priviledges), and there were yet no call-areas. At that time all stations used the glorious prefix I1, with suffixes assigned in alphabetical order: firstly they gave out all the two-letter suffixes (calls I1AA to I1ZZ), after which they started assigning the three-letter suffixes (I1AAA, I1AAB...). Note that stations located in the two major islands were allowed to replace prefix I1 with prefix IT1 (Sicilia island) or IS1 (Sardegna island). After a few years this assigment rule was no longer strictly enforced, and hams could select the suffix they liked most among those still available, including suffixes that had been previously assigned to other hams (either deceased or resignees), even the old 1-by 2 ones. This is the reason why, today, a 1-by-2 call (or 2-by-2 for Sicilia / Sardegna) may not necessarily be older than a 1-by-3 call (or 2-by-3 for Sicilia / Sardegna).

However no 1-by-2 calls were reassigned after 1970; so any existing 1-by-2 license (or 2-by-2 for Sicilia / Sardegna) is dated back to at least 36 years. Obviously, 1-by-2 calls are gradually getting out of the scene. 

In 1971 the big call-area revolution took place, by assigning each Region its own prefix.

In practice, hams did not do else than just changing the number 1 in their prefix with the number corresponding to their Region (e.g. I1AA into I8AA, or IT1AAA into IT9AAA, or IS1BB into IS0BB). As a matter of fact, call-areas are associated to Regions, as better explained later. At the same time other ad-hoc prefixes (namely IB0, IA5, IB0, IC8, ID9, IE9, IF9, IG9, IH9, IL7, IM0, IN3, IV3) were introduced, in addition to the already existing IT9 and IS0, to identify other non-major islands or special-statute Regions.

However, neither the call areas nor the new ad-hoc prefixes increased the number of available calls, because suffixes were never repeated (i.e. if I0AAA existed, neither I2AAA or IT9AAA or IV3AAA could exist). In other words, there still was a single basket of suffixes, that we here call the first lot. The total number of possible calls were:

26 * 26 = 676 (1-by-2 calls or 2-by-2 calls)

26 * 26 * 26 = 17,576 (1-by-3 calls or 2-by-3 calls)

676 + 17,576 = 18,252 (total full license calls of the first lot)

This decision revealed to be a very poor choice, because, after a while, there were no more calls available for assignment to new hams.

In the meanwhile, in 1972, they introduced the special license (VHF/UHF/SHF only, today also granting 50 MHz operation), with prefix IW. For such special licenses they used a completely different suffixes assignment criterion:

• IWs have their own suffixes lot, completely separate for that of full licenses (i.e. if I0AAA exists, IW0AAA can also exist)
• the same suffix can be allocated to different call areas (i.e. if IW0AAA exists, also IW1AAA can exist)
• suffixes are partitioned in geographical groups (e.g. the group IW0AA - IW0PZZ is reserved to Region Lazio)
• within a group, suffixes are assigned in alphabetical order, also encompassing two-letter suffixes (a possible assignment sequence is IW0BZY, IW0BZZ, IW0CA, IW0CAA, IW0CAB and so on; therefore a 2-by-2 call, e.g. IW0CC, may not be older than a 2-by-3 call, e.g. IW0BBB; just a matter of luck!)
• suffixes are not reassigned when becoming available (deceased hams or resignees)

With the above approach, the total number of possible special license calls is very high:

26 * 26 * 10 = 6,760 (2-by-2 calls)

26 * 26 * 26 * 10 = 175,760 (2-by-3 calls)

6,760 + 175,760 = 182,520 (total special license calls)

Plenty of calls, aren't they? Yes, but for densely-populated areas the geographical partitioning criterion could anyway represent a constraint with regard to calls availability. In practice such problem will never show up, because in year 2005 they decided that special license owners have the same operating priviledges as the full license owner. So we expect that no special licence will be issued any longer, and they will then cease assigning IW calls to new hams, who can now directly get a full license call.

Going now back to the full licenses, around 1980 the first lot of full license suffixes was going to be exhausted, and they then decided to introduce the new prefix IK. The assignment criterion was:

• only three-letter suffixes are used in conjunction with prefix IK (e.g. IK0AA cannot exist)
• IKs have their own suffixes lot, here called the second lot, completely separate from the first lot (i.e. if I0AAA exists, also IK0AAA can exist)
• the same suffix is not allocated to different call areas (i.e. if IK0AAA exists, IK1AAA cannot exist)
• suffixes are assigned in alphabetical order
• suffixes are not reassigned when becoming available (deceased hams or resignees)

 In total, the number of possible full license so becomes:

26 * 26 * 26 = 17,576 (total full license calls of the second lot)

18,252 + 17,576 = 35,828 (total full license calls of the first and second lot)

It should be noted that IK-series calls were never given to new hams in Sicilia, Sardegna, other islands or special-statute Regions; as a matter of fact they were still getting assigned the original ad-hoc prefixes (IT9, IS0, IB0, etc.), with suffixes taken from the first lot (three-letter suffixes only), and that rule is still valid today. As there were not many first-lot suffixes available for new assignments, they got a brilliant idea on how to overcome this problem: they enforced very stringent license renewal rules so that, if a ham having a one-by-three call (i.e. with a first-lot suffix) forgets to renew his license by the end of its 5-year validity period, he would definitively lose his call the very day after the expiration date, and his suffix would so become available for re-assignment to a new ham in Sicilia, Sardegna, other islands or special-statute Regions. This fact explains why some very old amateurs, who were not timely in renewing their license, lost their call and had to apply for a new call of the IK series. By the way, the license validity period has recently been extended to 10 years.

Sometimes after, they started to also give out special prefixes (such as II, IO, IR, etc. for contests, special events, small islands, etc.) that one can temporarily use in place of his normal prefix. At that time they probably did not realize the inconsistencies starting to appear among the various suffixes lots (this quite complex issue is discussed later).

By 1995, all IK calls were exhausted and IZ calls started to be issued. following exactly the same criteria already adopted for IK calls, i.e. a third lot of three-letter suffixes assigned on strict alphabetical order and not reassigned per call-area. This makes the total full license calls of the first, second and third lot equal to:

35,828 + 17,576 = 53,404 

Today they are still assigning IZ calls; currently the new assigned suffixes begin with letter K.

Let us now briefly talk about transmit power. Since the beginning of legal ham radio (late 40ies), and up to year 2001, the allowed power for a full license was bound to the paid annual fee, i.e:

• 50 W for 3,000 liras (about 1.5 Euro)
• 150 W for 4,000 liras (about 2 Euro)
• 300 W for 6,000 liras (about 3 Euro)

Special licenses were allowed 10 W only, and paid 3,000 liras (about 1.5 Euro) per year. 

Not much really. Believe it or not, the fee has remained constant for about 54 years. Note that "power" was DC input power (plate voltage times plate current), not actual RF power.

Since January 1^st 2002, the legal full license power has been increased up to 500 W; this is actual RF power, no longer DC input power. Tax was raised to 5 Euro for the full license (a 66% increase as a minimum) and 3 Euro for the Special license (a 100% increase). Special license power stayed at 10 W.

Since 2006 hams with a Special license have the same priviledges (bands, power) of those having a full license (and pay the same fee). The IW call holders can either keep it or exchange it with an IZ call.

This concludes our historical review. The future? Noone knows what can happen when organizational matters are left to burocrats.

For those wishing to have a deeper insight on the matter, there is much more text to read below. Some background on our administrative structure and on the mail zip-code system is necessary.

BASICS OF THE ITALIAN ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE

Italy is subdivided into 20 Regions. Note that the island of Sicilia is a Region called Sicilia; the same applies to the island of Sardegna.

Ham call-areas are tied to Regions, as evident from picture below. Please note that Region Basilicata is also named Lucania.

Each Region comprises one or more Provinces. In the picture below the inter-Region boundaries are marked in red, and the inter-Province boundaries in blue (the  map is not up-to-date, it not showing 7 new Provinces that have been recently added, bringing the total up to 110).

The Province name in most cases coincides with that of the Province chief town (e.g. we have the "Roma Province", the "Milano Province", etc.); accordingly the Province two-letter code is an abbreviation of the Province chief town (that you can still see in the old car plates). Click here to see a table in which there is a mapping of codes to Province chief towns.

Provinces are then further structured in Comuni, but this is of no matter for us.

THE ITALIAN ZIP-CODE STRUCTURE

The Italian for mail zip-code is CAP (Codice di Avviamento Postale). The CAP consists of 5 digits (abcde). For ham radio purposes, it may be sufficient to know that the first digit (a) is bound to a Region or a group of Regions. If you are interested to know more about CAP read bullets below, otherwise skip them:

• a identifies a Region or a group of Regions. For instance 2 is associated to Lombardia only, while 6 is common to Abruzzi and Marche. Basilicata is the only Region having two possible numbers, either 7 or 8 (depending on which Province). Who knows why, five Provinces  (Novara, Mantova, Piacenza, Rovigo and Verbania) make exception to the general association rule, as the a digit of their zip code is different from that of the other Provinces of the same Region
• b uniquely corresponds to a Province within a Region (digit 0 is always assigned to a Region chief town). The rule has some exceptions due to the fact that for some of the newer Provinces no number was available, them all having been used. So, for instance, the Cagliari and Oristano Provinces (both in Region Sardegna) have to share the same number (9) and the distinction between them is in this case left to digit c
• the cde group is normally assigned as follows: 100 generically indicates the Province chief town; values between 100 and 199 indicate chief town quarters (this only applies to relatively large towns); values lower than 100 indicate the smaller towns of a Province. Finally, values of 800 or higher are used to distinguish Provinces having to share the same b digit with another one (see bullet above)

THE HAM-RADIO CALL-AREA SYSTEM

Similarly to the a digit of the zip-code, the Italian ham-radio call-area (0 to 9) indicates a Region of a group of Regions, as shown below:

• call area 0:    three Regions: Lazio, Sardegna, Umbria
• call area 1:    three Regions: Liguria, Piemonte, Valle d'Aosta
• call area 2:    one Region: Lombardia
• call area 3:    three Regions: Friuli - Venezia Giulia, Trentino - Alto Adige, Veneto
• call area 4:    one Region: Emilia - Romagna
• call area 5:    one Region: Toscana
• call area 6:    two Regions: Marche, Abruzzo
• call area 7:    two Regions: part of Basilicata (Matera Province), Puglia
• call area 8:    four Regions: part of Basilicata (Potenza Province), Calabria, Campania, Molise
• call area 9:    one Region: Sicilia.

The above correspondences have no single exception. Call-areas then coincide with the a digit of the zip-code in the vast majority of cases (though, for instance, the Verbania Province which is part of Piemonte Region has call-area 1, despite its zip-code strangely begins with 2).

The call-area is part of the prefix. The prefix plus the suffix forms the callsign. Example:

• prefix: I2
• suffix: AAA
• callsign: I2AAA

PREFIX FORMATION

Prefixes usage is bound to  the license type, which can either be:

• the full license, granting all  HF + VHF operating privileges and full-power operation (500 W)
• or the special license (requiring no code exams), limited to VHF/UHF/SHF (including 50 MHz) and a maximum power of 10 W.

For the full licenses there are:

• normal prefixes
• ad-hoc prefixes, allocated to designated parts of the Italian territory
• special prefixes, for contests, special occasions, etc.

The normal prefixes are either I or IK or IZ plus the call-area number: I was assigned first, then IK and lastly IZ. When all IZ calls will have been assigned, they will presumably start with a new series of calls.

Hams living in islands (i.e. where there are residents) or in the so-called "special-statute" Regions have an ad-hoc prefix (with a number always respecting the call-areas criterion). This is the list of the ad-hoc prefixes:

• IA5: islands of Toscana Region (Elba, Giglio, etc.)
• IB0: islands of Lazio Region (Ponza, Ventotene, etc.)
• IC8: islands of Campania Region (Capri, Ischia, etc.)
• ID9: Eolie and other minor islands of north-east Sicilia Region
• IE9: Ustica island (Sicilia Region)
• IF9: Egadi and other minor islands of west Sicilia Region
• IG9: Pelagie and other minor islands of south Sicilia Region
• IH9: Pantelleria island (Sicilia Region)
• IL7: Tremiti islands (Puglia Region)
• IM0: all minor islands of Sardegna Region (Maddalena, San Pietro, etc.)
• IN3: Trentino - Alto Adige (special-statute Region)
• IS0: Sardegna island mainland
• IT9: Sicilia island mainland
• IV3: Friuli - Venezia Giulia (special-statute Region)
• IX1: Valle d'Aosta (special-statute Region)

To be more clear: all hams resident in e.g. Region Valle d'Aosta must use IX1 (they cannot use I1 or IK1 or IZ1).

Please note that the Italian bases in Antarctica use the ad-hoc prefix IA0.

Finally there are also the special prefixes which can be requested for several reasons, for instance: 

• operations from very small islands (where, in most cases, there are no residents), e.g. IL3, IL4, IJ7, IP1, IJ9, ... Some of these prefixes seem now to be permanently assigned  to certain islands (like the ad-hoc prefixes)
• any station operating in a contest can, by default, use prefix IO: this was a poor choice as e.g. I3AAA, IK3AAA and IZ3AAA would so all use the same call, i.e. IO3AAA
• individual stations can permanently get a short call just for contest use; such calls have a two-letter prefix different from those allocated to the very small islands (e.g. IU2, IR7, etc.)
• on special occasions, stations may collectively be allowed to use a special prefix; e.g. for the Jubilee year-2000, stations living in Roma were allowed to replace their prefix with II: this means that I0AAA, IK0AAA and IZ0AAA, if existing, would all become II0AAA. What a mess!
• special-event stations are also temporarily allocated special prefixes, though always in the form of 2-by-2 calls, such as II0CV. Normally, special-event stations sponsored by our amateur radio league (ARI) use prefix IR (in this case they also often use the ARI suffix, e.g. IR0ARI).

Passing now to the special licenses, these have just a normal prefix, i.e. IW followed by the call-area number (however in a very few cases, e.g. when all amateurs of a city are temporarily and collectively granted a special prefix, such prefix can often also be used by the special licenses, this further increasing the chances of an ambiguity to occur).

SUFFIX FORMATION

Let us start with the full licenses first. For these the following suffixes are possible:

• one-letter suffixes: these are used by contest stations who can get 2-by-1 calls such as IU2V. Occasionally, such 2-by-1 calls have also been used by other kinds of special stations (e.g. lighthouse stations such as IQ3V). Only the special prefixes should be used in conjunction with one-letter suffixes; no IK, IZ or ad-hoc prefixes (though some ad-hoc prefixes were also assigned, e.g. IG8R. Probably that was just a mistake). Unfortunately, they also seem to sometimes assign the IR prefix (e.g. IR7G) which, in conjunction with one-letter suffixes, is also used for the VHF/UHF repeaters (as discussed later). The call-area criterion is always respected. The same letter can be re-used as many times as the prefixes (e.g. IU2V and IU4V could both be assigned)
• two-letter suffixes: these suffixes are used by personal or club stations, in conjunction with prefix I (no IK or IZ then) or any of the ad-hoc prefixes. Therefore there can either be 1-by-2 calls (e.g. I4EE) or 2-by-2 calls (e.g. IT9DD). Suffixes are not repeated for call-areas: if I6GG exists, neither I7GG nor IT9GG can exist. Two-letter suffixes are not being reallocated when they become available (an exception is sometimes done for the close relatives of a deceased ham). As mentioned before, two-letter suffixes are also being temporarily allocated to special-event stations, but only in conjunction with a special prefix. These are then always 2-by-2 calls such as II0CV. Hopefully they should select the suffix after verifying that it is not assigned to anyone (though I have proof that sometimes they did not). Recently they have decided assigning local ARI clubs 2-by-2 calls with prefix IQ (e.g. IQ0RM for the Rome ARI club)
• three-letter suffixes, first lot. This is the lot used by personal stations only in conjunction with the I prefix or the ad-hoc prefixes. There can either be 1-by-3 calls (e.g. I4EEE) or 2-by-3 calls (e.g. IT9DDD). Suffixes are not repeated for call-areas:  if I8HHH exists, neither I7HHH nor IT9HHH can exist. Suffixes allocation was random, in no special order. The suffixes of the first lot are being reallocated still today when they become available, as this is the only way to create new callsigns for areas having an ad-hoc prefixes (remember that e.g. in Sicilia they can only use IT9, no IK or IZ escape)
• three-letter suffixes, second lot. This is the lot used by personal stations in conjunction with the IK prefix. Only 2-by-3 calls are then possible, e.g. IK1CCC. Suffixes are not repeated for call-areas:  if IK8HHH exists, IK7HHH cannot exist. Of course the second lot overlaps the first lot (both I3JJJ and IK3JJJ can exist). Suffixes were allocated in strict alphabetical order. IK allocations have now all completed and their suffixes are not reallocated when they become available
• three-letter suffixes, third lot. This is the lot used in conjunction with the IZ prefix. Same approach as above. Tird lot suffixes are currently still being assigned. Overlaps such as IZ7LLL, IK7LLL and I7LLL are clearly possible.

With the above assignment scheme, ambiguities become easily possible when operating from a portable QTH. The following rules should then be respected:

• I2AAA could use either I8AAA or I2AAA/8 if he moves to e.g. Calabria, a Region with a normal prefix, no ambiguity being possible (IK8AAA or IK2AAA/8 in the case of IK2AAA moving to Calabria). However using the /8 is highly recommended 
• for operations in areas having an ad-hoc prefix one shall alway use a "/". For instance I2AAA and IK2AAA moving to IB0 must use IB0/I2AAA and IB0/IK2AAA respectively (IB0AAA would obviously be ambiguous)
• the same applies for special prefixes; so I0AAA should sign e.g. IL3/I0AAA and not IL3AAA.

For the special licenses, which only use prefix IW, each Region has its own lot of suffixes to assign, according to the following rule: 

• IW0AA - IW0PZZ: Region Lazio
• IW0QA - IW0TZZ: Region Umbria
• IW0UA - IW0ZZZ: Region Sardegna 
• IW1AA - IW1OZZ: Regions Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta
• IW1PA - IW1ZZZ: Region Liguria, 
• IW2AA - IW2ZZZ: Region Lombardia
• IW3AA - IW3DZZ: Region Trentino - Alto Adige
• IW3EA - IW3PZZ: Region Veneto
• IW3QA - IW3ZZZ: Region Friuli - Venezia Giulia
• IW4AA - IW4ZZZ: Region Emilia - Romagna
• IW5AA - IW5ZZZ: Region Toscana
• IW6AA - IW6LZZ: Region Marche
• IW6MA - IW6ZZZ: Region Abruzzo 
• IW7AA - IW7OZZ: Region Puglia
• IW7PA - IW7ZZZ: part of Region Basilicata (Matera Province) 
• IW8AA - IW8OZZ: Region Campania
• IW8PA - IW8WZZ: Region Calabria
• IW8XA - IW8YZZ: Region Molise
• IW8ZA - IW8ZZZ: part of Region Basilicata (Potenza Province) 
• IW9AA - IW9ZZZ: Region Sicilia

Suffixes, both the two- and three-letter ones, are assigned in alphabetical order (as already mentioned, a possible assignment sequence is IW0BZY, IW0BZZ, IW0CA, IW0CAA, IW0CAB, etc.). As a consequence suffixes are repeated for the call areas (IW3NNN and IW5NNN can both exist). By the above assignment scheme one can easily recognize the stations counting for DXCC country "Sardinia" (i.e. calls IW0UA - IW0ZZZ).

Let us now conclude on suffixes by quickly addressing the VHF/UHF beacons and repeaters.

In the past beacons used the I prefix with a one-letter suffix (e.g. I0A). Beacon calls were assigned by our league (ARI). However, under the new law valid after January 1^st 2002, anyone can set-up a beacon using his own callsign followed by the "/B" suffix (my 50-MHz beacon signs I0JX/B). 

FM repeaters use the IR prefix with a one-letter suffix (e.g. IR0A). Digital repeaters use the IR prefix with a three-letter suffix (e.g. IR6AQA). In all cases the call-area criterion is respected. Suffixes can be repeated for different call areas. 

I believe that's enough...

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