Characters three and four use the numbers zero through nine to break each of the 324 zones into 100 grid squares.We’re in the 13th zone north from the South Pole, ‘M.’
We’re in the fifth zone east of that line, ‘E.’ The vertical, or second character, starts at the south pole and ends at the north pole. This is positioned in the western Pacific Ocean, just west of Alaska. The horizontal letter starts at the antimeridian of Greenwich with the letter A. The two-digit code breaks the globe into 324 different zones that are 20 degrees wide by 10 degrees high. The first two characters are always in the range of uppercase ‘A’ through ‘R.’ This provides 18 divisions of latitude and longitude.The four-digit code is used for HF contact positioning where the higher accuracy is needed. The six-digit format is typically used for VHF/UHF and higher contacts. A rougher representation of the post office is EM15. For example, the six-digit code for the Norman Main Post Office is EM15ef. The Maidenhead Locator System was developed and adopted in 1980 by John Morris G4ANB to quickly and concisely document a person’s location. Have you ever been asked for your grid square or your coordinates, and you had no idea what these were? I know the first time I had to figure out my location in this strange shorthand notation, it took a lot of effort.
