British Columbia Amateur (Ham) Radio License Plates

"Ham: a poor operator. A plug."
Simply put, an amateur radio operator is a person holding written authorization to be the control operator of an amateur station. A central facet of this communications system is the call sign. As a member of the Empire, Canada, along with other Colonies, were issued signs beginning with the letters "V" shortly after the Great War. In Canada, the three-character prefixes ranged from VE1 to VE0 and were assigned to the provinces on an east-west basis. Therefore, the Maritimes were VE1, Quebec was VE2 and British Columbia was VE7, and so on …
The first license plates with amateur radio call signs on them were issued by Michigan in 1939. Legislation there allowed for a maximum of 3 letters and 3 numbers, corresponding with the operators sign, but the format proved too complicated for officials administering the program and Michigan discontinued the plates the following year. Support for the plates would remain dormant until the 1950s and the beginnings of the Cold War. The need to quickly identify experienced ham operators in the event of an emergency became an important public safety issue. Florida would issues the first true, or modern ham plate in 1950 to be followed quickly by other state’s, while the first Canadian plates would be issued in 1952.
In British Columbia, the impetus to authorize ham plates can be traced back to the 1948 flood of the Fraser River, when 16,000 people were evacuated from the Upper Fraser Valley, 2,300 homes destroyed or damaged and all rail, road and air connections to the east severed.
Lacking any special markings, ham operators with mobile equipment in their cars were turned away by police and other authorities at the flood zone, unable to get to their allotted positions and aid in the rescue operations. For years afterwards, Stanley Carnell, the M.L.A. for Peace River and a ham operator himself, lobbied the Legislature every spring during license plate renewals for a special ham plate. Only belatedly, after Carnell had shamed the provincial government by declaring that every other Canadian province and forty-six of fifty states had the plates did B.C. institute their own in 1963. Attorney-General Robert Bonner was quoted at the time as saying that; “if we are in fact the last province, I think we should review our position.”
It was estimated that of British Columbia’s 1,500 amateur radio operators in 1963, about 120 would apply for the special license plates. As the province’s designation was VE7, this would appear as the first prefix on all ham plates, to be followed by the users own two or three letters to complete the sign. More importantly, ham radio license plates would be the first specialty plates ever issued in British Columbia. Recently (1999), B.C.’s three-letter prefix has been expanded to include VA7. This was done in order to accomdate the growing number of Ham Radio operators in the province (who were also apparently complaining that all the good suffixes were taken). If you would like to see a list of the remaining call signs avaliable in both the VE7 and VA7 format, just following this link: http://www.rac.ca/acl/bc/all.html
1963: First Issue
1964 - 1969: "Beautiful" Slogan
   
1970 - 1978: Decal Renewal Introduced
1973
1979 - 1986: "Blue" Base Plate
1986 - 2013: Flag Graphic
2003
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2003 - Bill Hobbis Collection

The plate shown above is actually a valid British Columbia Ham plate despite displaying a "VE3" prefix, which is one the call signs for Ontario. Despite the ICBC web site proclaiming that "amateur radio operators moving to B.C. from another province must apply to Industry Canada for a B.C.-prefixed call sign", it would appear that this has not always been the case (or that the rule is loosely enforced).
Sources
Mike Ludkiewicz, "First Year of Issue Amateur Radio (HAM) Call Sign Auto License Plates", http://www.pl8s.com/hams.htm (October 25, 2001).
City of Vancouver, "The Great Flood of 1948", http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/greaterdot/gv2000/episode3.htm#link3 (October 25, 2001).
Vince H. Seward, "cFlat's Ham Radio License Plates", http://plaza.powersurfr.com/vseward/lplates_ham.html (Ocotber 25, 2001).
Joeseph Sallman, "Ham Radio License Plates", http://www.canplates.com/hamradio.html (Ocotber 25, 2001).
Victoria Colonist Newspaper.
Victoria Times Newspaper.

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