Where it can get real dicey is when someone from…maybe Europe…is portable and operating out of their association and is signing /P like…HB9/S57XXX/P. This is fairly hard for some of the SOTA ops who are not so proficient with CW to decipher, especially when signals are weak. Heck I still have trouble with those at times.
Less is more maybe?
Pete
WA7JTM
Arizona
The /P is the least of the issue there; a call that long is likely to take several repeats to get straight. That’s just the way it is. I’ve operated from Kenya, and 5Z4/M0LEP (with or without /P depending on location) is a difficult one for many folk. whether SSB or CW. However, one year, when operating opportunities were limited, I made exactly one DX QSO, and it was with 12 watts on 17 metres from a /P location. Just to make things more interesting, the Kenya visitors licence requires /P operators to transmit their location.
I do not use /P. Although I don’t send it, a chaser recently appended it to their log of my call. When I look at “Who Chased Me” it does not show as a contact with W1EJ but it shows as a contact with W1EJ/P. I don’t get how adding /P aids in S2S.I send CQ SOTA de W1EJ and if someone is on another summit and copies me they send “S2S” and away we go with the exchange…If I I chase someone that sends /P I log my chase with the bare call sign. I agree with George KX0R that time on summit is often limited by weather etc so keep it simple. If its law, use it, otherwise it is superfluous.
OK SOTA friends, I think it’s time to wrap up this thread. Thanks for all the opinions. I have a better understanding of the position now: in short, it’s a matter of the law (in some cases) or personal choice whether to use /P or “portable”. Fine by me!
73 Gary ZL2iFB
I always use /P when operating portable and I would recommend all SOTA activators to do so. Additional power and time consumption of /P in CW mode is not a real issue, but there is a big advantage that chasers can easily find you on reversebeacon.net using a simple */p filter. When chasing at home I always look at RBN to find if there are any /P station on air. Maybe it is not so important now when have RBNHOLE, but in rare occasions of RBN-hole being out of service, it is the easiest way to find SOTA activators on air.
73,
Mirko S52CU
And sometimes a chaser will get into a ragchew mode while another operator struggling with a very narrow line of sight is frozen like a statute waiting to make a contact. When that signal path has a three inch width, you don’t want to lose it while someone is describing the agonizing millimeter by millimeter progress of the flotilla is moving westward to the giant maw of the great green expanse of open waters I search of the great white shark that was lasted spotted near Las Vegas about 1984.
My callsign sounds better without adding prefixes and suffixes, so I don’t unless the law requires it.
You may be surprised how well /P stands out on the key when there are other several other stations calling at the same time. If I hear a wall of calls and I hear a / or a P then I’ll send ?/P[kn] as it is most likely going to be an S2S QSO and I’ll try and work the activator ASAP so they can move on and work more chasers. The benefit is less so on voice IMHO.
Hi George
Off topic but could you send me a detailed description of your coax and antenna? Your signal is always better than anyone I have ever heard for 10 watts?
I am listed wa6kyr
thanks
Hi Gary. Nice to meet you and thanks for chasing me last weekend - always a thrill to get some DX on a summit!
To /p or not to /p, that is the question. =)
When I’ve spotted my self and working the pileup, I don’t /p. In fact I don’t even send my call unless someone asks for it, or I’m having an S2S. The pileup consists of the A1 SOTA chasers, and they already know my call and my summit! The goal during this ‘bulk phase’ is to work em’ fast! The chasers have other summits to chase, and I don’t want to slow them down with extraneous dits and dahs.
During my ‘Post pileup’ CQing, I will sometimes send /p in order to pique the interest of anyone tuning by.
This is the way my SOTA Elmers taught me to do it. If you don’t like it, blame them 
Hope you are enjoying SOTA. - It’s a lot of fun!! 
-Josh WU7H
I’ve just red the Rules from few CEPT countries: following write explicit to use /P
Lichtenstein, Croatia, Island, GB+NI, Greece, France, Finland, Estland, Germany, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Czech.Rep, Luxenburg, Montenegro…usw
I did not check all …
When I was first licensed you were required to follow your callsign with /P when portable, and it has just become a habit, so I always follow my callsign with /P when operating portable. I also think it is useful for activators, chasers, and other listeners to know.
73’s
David
G4ZAO
In Switzerland, it appears to be optional, as the wording of the law is “kann” (“may”, not “must”). Nevertheless, I think it’s a good idea to use /P during a SOTA activation, as it’s easier to distinguish QSOs made from home, and in CW, hearing even a weak /P in the background immediately catches my attention for a possible S2S.
But then again – When in Rome, do as the Romans do. /P seems to be uncommon in the US, so when activating there a few years ago, I didn’t use it.
Art. 7 VFKV Rufzeichenzusätze
1 Betreibt die Konzessionärin eine bewegliche Funkanlage in einem Land- oder Luftfahrzeug, auf einem Binnenschiff, einem Seeschiff oder an einem anderen Standort, so kann sie ihr Rufzeichen mit einem der folgenden Zusätze ergänzen:
Standort Zusatz für Radiotelefonie Zusatz für Morsetelegrafie Landfahrzeug oder Binnenschiff «mobile» «/M» Seeschiff «maritime mobile» «/MM» Luftfahrzeug «aeronautical mobile» «/AM» Anderer Standort «portable» «/P» …
Hi Erich,
As you will see in item 2, the use of /P is optional in Spain, as well as /M, /MM and /MA.
What we are forced to do is sending our callsign at the beginning and at the end of each transmission as you’ll see in item 1 and every ten minutes at least when transmissions are long. This is not very practical when working a pile up…
73,
Guru
And there’s the rub. If I use QRZ, the /P ist returned as unknown operator. Hopefully there’s only one operator per call sign, but with governments, they can’t be trusted!!!
Sure, we’re supposed to USE /P, but who needs that information? Some things seem to be archaic in the face of miniaturization and the preponderance of HT and Mobile, I think /P has lost is relevance.
Is it so? If I use QRZ, KI7MMZ/p is returned with KI7MMZ information. And /P information in CW is very useful to me, e.g. if activator did not alert his/her activation it will not be spoted by RBNHOLE. By means of RBN with */p filter such activators can be easily spotted. I am using low power 15 W TX, so it is important to find activator before pileup begins. For the same reason /P is very important also for activators in rare occasions when RBNHOLE is out of service.
So activators, please continue to use /P.
73,
Mirko S52CU
Those 2 characters convey such a lot of useful information that I think it’s highly relevant.