Should we sign /P

mu0chn · Thu 17th Nov 2011, 20:59

I think that we should, but as I understand it there is no requirement to do so now.
Just wondering what other people think.

**G6NHU** · Thu 17th Nov 2011, 21:19

The UK licence no longer has any requirement to use any suffix at all so it's really your decision. The licence does recommend /A, /P or /M though and I think most people still follow those recommendations.

I use them. It feels wrong not to sign /M when in the Feekmobile.

**M0WAO** · Thu 17th Nov 2011, 22:05

personally yes, i use it just to be clear so that the other person knows i'm mobile, portable etc

**M6PAP** · Thu 17th Nov 2011, 22:54

Looking at the paperwork from my foundation exam April 2010 it still applies!!

**G6NHU** · Thu 17th Nov 2011, 22:57

This is what the current licence document says:

So it's recommended and you may use the prefixes. It's not compulsory any more.

**techiesteve** · Fri 18th Nov 2011, 06:43

Originally Posted by M6PAP

Looking at the paperwork from my foundation exam April 2010 it still applies!!

In the last few years I had questions relating to call sign suffixes in all 3 exams, but it's use is recommended not compulsory. I personally use /p and can't see why it ever should have changed from being compulsory. Can anyone enlighten me why the change to recommended was made?

**M0WAO** · Fri 18th Nov 2011, 08:41

Originally Posted by techiesteve

In the last few years I had questions relating to call sign suffixes in all 3 exams, but it's use is recommended not compulsory. I personally use /p and can't see why it ever should have changed from being compulsory. Can anyone enlighten me why the change to recommended was made?

good point steve. as it might be important to know for the person you talk to, to know that you are mobile (/m). say you drive around and the person you talk to has a vertical yagi beam when he knows you are mobile he can switch to vertical...

**M6PAP** · Fri 18th Nov 2011, 09:33

Steve,
Just to make sure it works I'll be /M, P & A over the weekend in the Thames Valley & Oxfordshire!!
Very close to you and even closer to Peter SQL!!

**2e0sql** · Fri 18th Nov 2011, 10:35

Originally Posted by M6PAP

Just to make sure it works I'll be /M, P & A over the weekend in the Thames Valley & Oxfordshire!!
Very close to you and even closer to Peter SQL!!

Invading Oxford again?

**M6PAP** · Fri 18th Nov 2011, 11:02

Originally Posted by 2e0sql

Invading Oxford again?

Oh Yes!
RAF Benson so in Oxfordshire not just the Thames Valley!!
Trouble is your all so inviting up that way!!

mu0chn · Thu 23rd Feb 2012, 23:00

Ok so the next question is if you sign /P and and use LoTW do you have to have a certificate for your /P call and also have 2 logs running. I am starting to think the old paper log is the best way to go.

**Orion** · Fri 24th Feb 2012, 17:59

I shouldn't think people will chastise you whatever you use. After all, no one seems to bother when /QRP is added to a callsign and I have yet to see that as a "correct" suffix.

**2e0sql** · Fri 24th Feb 2012, 19:29

Worth remembering that /QRP isn't a official (legal) suffix and if someone calls me using it they will get logged without it.

**2E0CPX** · Sun 16th Sep 2012, 19:11

What about using a hand held whilst walking? Lots of confusion here: Some say you should be /M others /P and somehow the RSGB two years ago was say pedestrian!

**G6NHU** · Sun 16th Sep 2012, 19:32

I'd go with /P in that situation. Like Pete, if someone calls me using /QRP as a suffix, that bit doesn't go into the log.

**M0PZT** · Tue 18th Sep 2012, 22:18

Interesting. I would use /P if I were at a fixed location, eg: in a car parked-up or in a tent, sitting on the beach etc with a physical "station". I'd also give my location to whatever the "rules" say I should, but more so because it's usually an interesting part of the QSO exchange. "operating from the longest pier in the world, Southend sea-front", for example. I would use /M if I were walking with a handheld or in a car. Essentially, if the radio and aerial were moving with me. If I were being even more "proper", I'd use /A when staying at a friend's QTH, and probably also if it were a fixed caravan/chalet thing.

/QRP is daft, it really is. If you think you can be heard with that suffix, why feel the need to announce it unless it's part of the QSO topic?! It doesn't bother me whether you run QRP, QRO, 5w or 400w. All that matters is that I can hear you.

**M6PAP** · Wed 19th Sep 2012, 07:26

Charlie,
You are correct going by an email I had from Ofcom.
The reason for the email was to answer the question: If I take my flask and sandwiches to operate from my car on a hill top am I portable or mobile, as I was told by a couple of senior stations that I should be calling mobile!
One got a right strop on as it could affect his points claim for whatever he was doing and he came back a couple of QSO's later to tell me this, hence my question to Ofcom!
So bottom line from Ofcom: if you are in your car parked for a period of time for the purpose of running your station You Are Portable!!

**techiesteve** · Wed 19th Sep 2012, 19:59

If I'm parked in the car operating using an HF antenna on a mag mount up Dunstable Downs, I simply state I'm stationary mobile, i.e. stationary with the transceiver and antenna in/attached to the car. If I'm parked, but utilising an external antenna such as a fibreglass fishing pole strapped to an adjacent fence post and supporting a vertical or an inverted V, then I'm M0SVB portable.