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The SELCAL (Selective Calling) system has been a staple of the airliner flightdeck since HF radio became common on long range routes. It enables the crew to mute the radio, alleviating the need to listen to high levels of background noise for long periods of time. When needed, the ATC unit can transmit their unique code, which triggers a warning on the flight deck alerting the crew to listen to the radio. For more on the system see this Wikipedia article. The table below shows the SELCAL codes for most of the VC10 airframes. Whenever a VC10 was sold, the new owner would have to apply to get a new code allocated but in some cases the airframe kept the same code. As the Gulf Air VC10s stayed registered to BOAC/BA initially, they most likely kept their SELCAL codes. If you know of any codes that I have not listed below, please get in touch.

The original SELCAL placards showed the unique code and the registration of the aircraft. Photo J. Hieminga

In contrast, some of the converted tankers sported Dymo labels next to the SELCAL attention lights. Photo J. Hieminga

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