Is it me? I always thought M1 was my prefix and EYP was my suffix. Now it seems we are describing /P, /M, /QRP etc as the suffix. And I guess now there’s nothing to stop me signing as M1EYP/MM from home…?
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If you live in a houseboat…
73 Armin
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and on the tidal side and not in a river?
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I think that’s more aimed at typical VHF/UHF mobile rigs with just three or four power levels. The spec of my FT7900 gives the levels available as 50, 20, 10 and 5 watts, so it would obviously have been fine with the original 20 watts, but maybe others don’t…
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Especially if they missed a different letter out for each contest.
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Must get into training to lug my 1KW amp up the hill!!
73
Rob GM3YTS
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I suspect the battery might be a bit big too!
But Ofcom helpfully tell us (3.107):
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Doesn’t DXCC require confirmation? The QSL card or the LOTW certificate will confirm the DXCC entity. There are many examples worldwide in which the prefix is insufficient to determine the location.
I supported the proposal. It was clear that Ofcom had an itch to scratch on the principle of avoidance of over-regulation. What was on offer this time was much better than an earlier proposal, in so far as it allows us to carry on just as before.
Sometimes you have to pick your battles.
Martyn M1MAJ
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We all know that 400W limit meant 1kW in practice. So when 1kW becomes legal, people will need to lay on a 
cooker supply to the shack to power their ACOM 2.5kW PA 
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Doesn’t say they have to be alphabetic … how about G0XYZ/…???,!!!
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The idea was for VHF/UHF mobile rigs I believe, with set power levels. HF rigs are usually different with variable power output.
It was just a change that I spotted, it doesn’t really affect me as I don’t use mobile rigs and I have a full licence anyway.
73, Colin
There seems to be an unfortunate ambiguity of terminology here. But it seems very odd English usage to have a prefix and a suffix which are affixed to nothing in the middle!
If you believe Wikipedia (Amateur radio call signs - Wikipedia), your prefix is M, your separating numeral is 1, and your suffix is EYP.
Then later on they hedge their bets by saying “Sometimes the prefix plus separating numeral is together referred to as the prefix.”
Later on they describe the bits separated off by / characters as secondary or ancillary prefixes and suffixes.
It’s all a bit Humpty Dumpty. I think we all know what Ofcom mean.
Martyn M1MAJ
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Er - shouldn’t a national regulatory body be rather more unambiguous?
“Think we all know what Ofcom mean” doth butter no parsnips.
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Ideally, yes. The proposed new licence terms do seem to make it clear at the point where it matters:
“26. Any suffix, following the ‘slash’ symbol (‘/’) may be added to the transmitted call sign.”
(I wasn’t keen on this proposal, by the way - too tempting to silliness as has been amply demonstrated in this discussion!)
“Suffix” is a plain English word and I think they are using it appropriately.
Martyn M1MAJ
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It is a plain English word yes - but one that has been long adopted and established to have a specific meaning in the context of amateur radio callsigns. I find it, at best, clumsy that the same word is now being used for a different thing in the context of callsigns.
Chat rooms would be a lot emptier if we had nothing to argue/complain about. I have no plans (nor am I compelled by any of the changes) to alter how I operate.
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Yes but it’s nothing new. Just Google for something like “amateur callsign suffix” and you’ll find any number of uses of suffix in the sense of “part after a /”. This isn’t something that Ofcom have just invented out of nowhere.
Contraiwise, I find it odd that something which is such a fundamental part of a callsign that we often use it as a nickname for the holder can ever be referred to as merely a “suffix”.
Martyn M1MAJ
I think it is quite clear, Martyn, its an adaptation of the latin “suffixum” meaning attached, so the suffix is attached to the country identifier and - er - the suffix is attached to the suffix. Perfectly clear and no worse than you could expect from the bastardisation of a borrow word! 
Frankly, other than the RSL issue I find nothing much to concern me about the proposals and I’m sure our FL and IL friends will be pleased. I have no intention of using a linear but at least if I change my mind there will now be a choice of legal limit linears available! As for the RSL issue, a concerted write-in campaign would be quite painless since it would require nothing more than an email pointing out the international ramifications of the change. As for GE (and ME) I have no intention of using it, adding a redundant letter is not my thing. I’m sure DXCC chasers overseas will realise that G and GE are the same in meaning and is just typical official BS!
I am watching this discussion develop and go nowhere.
I’ll still be Mike Mike Zero Echo Foxtrot India Portable, running 10 watts from my kx2 or 5 watts when the battery is on the way out. Sometimes I’ll use my QDX (5 watts), or a VHF handheld (5 watts) and very occasionally I’ll fire up the FT-857d and maybe push out 45 watts on 2m SSB.
The vast majority of this will be from a hilltop. Every contact will be precious.
Nothing has changed.
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But you could be MM0EFI/SOTA
How about that?
I am faily certain that this “generosity” is not in match with ITU recommendations. But I am no expert in that field so 
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