[Elecraft] Signing QRP

Fred Jensen k6dgw at foothill.net
Thu Jul 27 13:31:55 EDT 2017


No, it is not illegal or non-compliant in the USand never has been. 
47CFR97 permits *any* self-assigned indicator(s)beforeor after the call 
sign, or both, *except* an indicator that duplicates an FCC assigned 
indicator [AG, AA, AE, KT], or any indicator that duplicates an 
ITU-assigned prefix.  Indicators are *not* confined to islands or 
locations, they can mean anything you want.  There can be more than one 
before and/or after:

QRP/QSX7027R5/K6DGW/6OVER6OVER6STACK ... I'm running less than 5 W, 
listening on 7027.5and I'm using a 6over 6 over 6 yagi stack is 
compliant ... incredibly stupid and foolish, but compliant.

Common non-compliant indicators are:

/M - I'm a mobile.  All the M's belong to the UK
/R - I'm a repeater.  All the R's belong to Russia
/PM - I'm a pedestrian and I'm on the air.  PM belongs to Indonesia
/MM - I'm afloat.  See /M
/AM _ I'm aloft. AM-AO belong to Spain

Possibly compliant:

/P - I'm portable.  The P's are split and all ITU "P" prefixes have more 
than one letter/digit.

Compliant:

/Q<anything> - There are no prefixes beginning with Q, that sequence is 
reserved for the International Q-signals, of which QRP is one.

The custom is to log mobiles in State/Province QSO parties as /<county 
abbrev>to permit working a mobile in different counties on the same 
band.  The FCC doesn't care how you log a station.  The mobile can be 
compliant simply by not making the county abbreviation an "indicator" 
[i.e. no "/"]

Last time I checked, no one has ever gone to jail or paid a fine for 
violations to this regulation. One question that has always nagged at me:

If a station running 5 W or less needs to send /QRP, whyshouldn't 
everyone running over 5 W [or some arbitrary power] send /QRO? This 
thread will end, probably soon, but it will also recur... it always does.

73,

Fred ("Skip") K6DGW
Sparks NV USA
Washoe County DM09dn


On 7/27/2017 5:16 AM, Charlie T, K3ICH wrote:
> Don't forget, signing WX1XXX/QRP is ILLEGAL.  You are NOT operating portable
> on the isle or QRP.
> Chas
>



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