[50mhz] Re: QSL's

[Peter Markavage]

I guess after almost 50 years of operating 6 meters I somewhat jaded in
terms of contact documented activity. I don't collect grid squares, I got
WAS back in 78, still need Asia for WAC, worked over a 100 plus
countries, so now for sporadic E, aurora, tropo, and scatter type
contacts, I'm just there for the short term thrill when the band opens. I
will admit that during the last peak and secondary peak, I did log (on
desk scratch pad sheets) all my DX contacts which I still have. Plan was
to transfer the info on the pile of sheets to a regular log but just
never got around to it.

I can envision in a few years, communicators using computer controlled
and/or interfacing rigs, sending each other a digital burst
authentication code to confirm the contact which then can transferred
electronically to an e-QSL type confirmation or read off a computer
screen as a type of log and also stored for future viewing. When the
cards are printed or submitted for an award, the authentication code
could appear as a bar code, so if the verifier questions the QSL data,
they just merely have to scan the bar code to confirm the data.

Pete, wa2cwa

On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:29:06 -0600 "Bill W5WVO" <w5wvo at cybermesa.net>
writes:
> Heck, Pete, I must say I don't know anybpody else who "logs" (or 
> doesn't log, 
> I guess) the way you do. I maintain a computer log in front of me 
> constantly 
> when I operate so I'll have a record of QSOs from which to derive 
> information 
> about my operating and band conditions at various times, etc., in 
> addition to 
> QSL requests. I've sent back more than one QSL card request with the 
> notation 
> "not in log", because I know that if it isn't in my log, it didn't 
> happen. 
> Most of the people I talk with on 6M claim to keep logs as they 
> operate, 
> either on paper or on computer -- about 50-50, seems like.
> 
> I'm sure it's true that some guys never log anything (well, I know 
> at least 
> one now!), or that the occasional QSO won't get logged on the other 
> end if the 
> guy is mobile or something -- but I do believe most hams continue to 
> keep 
> regular logs, especially if they know they are recceiving QSL 
> requests 
> regularly. Even ongoing proliferation of computer log software leads 
> me to 
> conclude that logging is far from extinct in amateur radio.  :-)  
> For similar 
> reasons, no one is seeing CW disappear as a communications mode just 
> beause 
> the FCC is no longer reqiring people to pass exams on it.
> 
> Bill W5WVO
> 
> 
> Peter Markavage wrote:
> > A thought just crossed my mind in regards to Dan's post. With the
> > requirement that logs don't have to be kept, how does the QSL 
> receiver
> > truly know he/she actually made a two-way contact. Sometimes in a 
> band
> > opening, I can make lots of contacts but I don't logged them 
> except
> > sometimes some scratching on a piece of paper. When the paper is
> > full, it gets tossed. The QSL receiver is verifying that they 
> truly
> > made the contact yet he/she has nothing on their end to prove it.
> >
> > Pete, wa2cwa