Regional ID’s and trackers, I think I know the answer but second guessing myself.
As M7RTB I used M7RTB-1 and never bothered adding the regional identifiers.
Now I am 2E1RTB when at home and atm until M8/9’s are released I must use 2W1RTB when in GW land.
What do people think is the best approach different profiles with different callsigns?
Having just searched APRS I can see several stations never bother changing the regional ID when in GW…
Confused.
as a 2*1 i suspect changing the RSI would involve a second login number for aprs.is! I have often wondered this myself as a 2E0, but no-one else seems to bother, so neither do I!
Alan
It is acceptable to leave your callsign as-is and to use an RSL in the comment. Not such an issue in the UK where RSL’s aren’t mandatory.
Abroad? Eg. I’ve had W7/M0EFI and HB9/M0EFI and that’s all too long to fit anyway! Same rule applies. Put it in the comment.
Unless you have a 2 callsign.
…and they’re on borrowed time.
yes and no, you dont have to change them if you dont want too… im in 2 minds if im going to change my callsign or not when the M8/M9s are released…
Alan
Very appropriate!
@2E0JWA I was told “It will be mandatory that the Intermediate call signs are changed to M8 and M9, this will be done automatically” last week when I was sorting out getting my 2E1RTB.
This might be incorrect information from the Ofcom member of staff I was chatting to online but they seemed to know their stuff and managed to get me 2E1RTB, it does seem to go against everything else I have read and also the video released by them via YouTube. So it is all rather puzzling.
It is also not clear if 2E0’s will be M8 or M9’s and 2E1’s the other or if it will be a fight to get an M8 or M9 for each.
if i HAVE to change, then change I will… as it stands so much is my 2E! even the domain for my website is my callsign!! POTA, SOTA, HEMA, WAB trigs, my QRZ logs, ETC ETC ETC… its too much hassle to change it all for no reason!!
I guess we wont properly know till ofcom decides what they are going to do… I just wish they would hurry it up!
Alan
Agree, I was shocked when they said what they did as I always thought it was choice hence why I thought I would give you the heads up 
yea appreciate it buddy!
Alan
This is not correct.
From Updating the amateur radio licensing framework:
It is important to note that this is not mandatory and those who wish to continue using their existing ‘2’ call sign can do so
A while back there was clarity, in that 2#0 would map to M8 and 2#1 to M9 for those who wished to change prefix but keep the same suffix. They also said they’d only reserve allocated suffixes for a certain time (two years?), so if you didn’t take yours within that time then it could end up going to someone else.
Of course there have also been some delays in the necessary system changes, so no sign of any M8 or M9 calls yet…
There is the confusion I agree with what you have said about the time limit but I was told “It will be mandatory that the Intermediate call signs are changed to M8 and M9, this will be done automatically”
I built my first Packet radio TNC 3 months before I got my licence in 1990. Back then the callsign in the packet data your TNC sent was not considered valid to identify you especially as you could use whatever you liked to identify nodes/services etc.
i.e. MYCALL=MM0FMF or MYCALL=SOTANODE or MYCALL=EDINB21 etc. etc.
As you could use whatever you wanted, callsign or node name you had to identify your station with a Morse ID sent every 15mins or so. Now Morse ID was dropped a long time (20+ years) back and rules on station identification where changed in recent licence updates.
But Ofcom are clear on station identification by saying
“3.6.3.5 Identification
A station’s unique identity is the call sign that we assign, and this is the identity that must be
transmitted. The call sign can also include a Regional Secondary Locator (RSL) 2 or suffix, on an
optional basis. For more information see section 5 on call signs.”
Ofcom Amateur Radio Guidance 21/Feb/2024
So for FL and Full holders, you can ignore the RSL and put your call in. For IL holders using 2 calls you are stuffed to some degree. Adjust the call in the device to use the RSL with incumbent issues that this entails. Or upgrade to a Full licence.
Until Ofcom revokes the lower licences an intermediate licence holder could use their foundation licence without RSL.
But is that in an official document? I suspect someone at Ofcom doesn’t know what they are talking about.
They wrote the consultation document so as not to upset anyone but perhaps have an internal desire to get rid of 2 callsigns. Presumably for arbitrary reasons much like how they decide other calls are or aren’t available for use.
Like not authorising 2LO for the BBC’s birthday. Why? Who knows.