One of the Amateur Radio weblogs I read is Ars Telegraphia by Paul Evans, VP9KF. He recently made a post regarding the legality of identifiers after your call sign.
The licence issued by “authorities” defined your callsign – read it!
If you are running low power you can’t sign AA1AA/QRP
If you are 14 years old you can’t sign AA!AA/14
If your reciprocal licence says to sign after your call you can’t use VP9/AA1AAAll this extra glorification/gratification adds to confusion, slows down pile-ups and isn’t LEGAL,
Now, I was confused, as I was pretty sure that this was legal in the US. Paul is in Bermuda, but he used American call signs, so I looked into the legality of having identifiers associated with calls. I donned the ceremonial robes and consulted the tomes of Part 97. After some searching, I came across the relevant text. Let us open our rulebook to Part 97, Section 119, Paragraph C
(c) One or more indicators may be included with the call sign. Each indicator must be separated from the call sign by the slant mark (/) or by any suitable word that denotes the slant mark. If an indicator is self-assigned, it must be included before, after, or both before and after, the call sign. No self-assigned indicator may conflict with any other indicator specified by the FCC Rules or with any prefix assigned to another country.
OK, I breathed a sigh of relief when I read that as I do occasionally sign with “Mobile” or “Portable” and I do try to be a legal beagle. However, that’s not to say Paul’s statement is without merit. In pile ups, the less superfluous information the less of a chance of muffed exchange. I do think there are two distinct exceptions to this rule: If you are out of your call sign’s section you should sign with the area you are in. I’ve done this the few times I’ve operated outside of my own section, even in situations where it was obvious I was local. When I am working a satellite pass, I especially dislike to hear a call sign with a 6 (California, for you non-hams) in it, only to find out the station is in Ohio. As for QRP stations, I always yield to QRP and portable when I hear them on satellites. Of course, the only way I know they are QRP is if they sign with /QRP or /Portable.
Paul is entitled to his opinion, but I think that signing with certain identifiers is helpful for conveying information. I am more inclined to work a QRP then a non-QRP station, and I am more inclined to work a station in 6-land then 2-land (NY/NJ). Simple identifiers attached to the call sign allow stations to get a better feel for the pile up and more accurately pick the stations “they want.”
Note to Paul if he reads this: Turn on comments! 
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