[ADXA] DXPedition Funding _ GREAT JOEL!!
HamOP
k5yy1 at cox.net
Fri Mar 29 10:00:40 EDT 2019
I must say this is one of the best written summations I have ever seen and I totally agree with his inner feelings and about our “hobby” in general, definitely an individual game but not one that should force payments every time you turn around.
I posted my earlier 3Y0 / DXCC comment to our ADXA 5 minutes before I read Joel’s posting. Glad I did because his thoughts did not change my wording about our DXCC program in general. I never in all my solo DXpeditions asked for money on the front end of my trips. I spent my OWN money, my choice to determine if worth it or not. In many cases, gone from my “hourly” paid job at Social Security Disability for 4-6 weeks, losing a large % of our income, about 1/12 of my annual income. It hurt my family’s standard of living, not having extra money to spend on things for the entire family because I spent it on my hobby trips. I should never been gone for so long, being away from my young kids and wife, etc. On return I had a few donations, NOT solicited by me through the DX Yellow Sheet we had back then. Did not make phone calls to clubs or foundations. My only donation was NCDXC paying for my QSL cards for one of my African trips when I was the first operator to put on D6A Comoroes and /FH8 Mayotte, new DXCC countries. Back in those days I did a lot of speaking all over the USA, fortunately having my airfare and expenses paid for, otherwise I could not go. It was sorta like being paid on the back end… not the front end.
As Joel said, things have changed and some DXpeditions think the vast majority of support should be paid by clubs/ foundations/individuals before they leave and hoping that the trips come off well. K4UEE and K0IR were successful leaders because of careful planning and the fairness of the operators putting up ½ the money up front … as it SHOULD be. And refunding some money was the ethical thing to do if anything failed. And the operators MIGHT have gotten some refunds back if a good job was done and people donated on THEIR OWN volition. Doing what you feel is right is one thing, but being told how and what to do by someone else is not my cup of tea. It is a hobby and I can quit any part I do not like. My personal DXpedition losses were my undertaking. In addition to losing a month’s salary at SSDD, I spent $4000 ( lot of money in the 1970s ) on the first AF trip and got $900 in donations from individuals, some of whom did not even send me an SASE! HI HI Average donation was about $2, some gave $5 and one ( our own Larry Woolsey W5HJA ) gave me $50. The majority only sent an SASE and many sent by the buro only…
My final thought in a nutshell is that if you can’t afford to go on a $400-700,000 trip, don’t go!! You want the accolades and to be on the speakers/banquet circuit and to have your name in lights, then take financial chances. The DXped plannings of Bob UEE and Ralph IR are always the BEST of anyone out there. Others should follow suit, and I promise they will get some pretrip donations from many sources. The DXCC and DXing part of our hobby is undergoing changes, much of it brought on by rapidly changing times and we have to make our own decisions on how much we can put up with.
GOOD comments, Joel. Good leader of the ADXA during this volatile time.
Sorry being so long with my email, but I could have said a LOT more!! HI Will be away for two days at a medical conference and will read comments when I return.
San Hutson K5YY
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: w5zn at w5zn.org
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2019 7:42 AM
To: adxa
Subject: [ADXA] DXPedition Funding
Sitting in the shack this morning pondering amateur radio in general
with OH2BH and N7NG's "The Weekly DX" op-ed in my head has pushed me
across a line that I said I would not cross, and that is to voice to my
fellow ADXA members my opinion about the cost of a QSL.
In the more than 100 year tradition of amateur radio, the amount of
money you have has never been a requirement to enjoy the rewards it
offers. Amateur radio has always been a reflection of our society. You
have to put forth a personal effort to earn the privilege of holding a
license in order to operate a radio transmitter on the air. True, over
the years those requirements have changed but so has society, for good
or bad, whether we like it or not.
One thing that has not changed is an individual's level of financial
investment in their station in order to enjoy some very gratifying
moments. You will invest what spare money you may in order to enjoy
something you love. There is no minimum financial requirement. As a true
radio amateur, the more money you have the more you will spend on radio
however that is no different than if you were in to Bass fishing,
hunting, golf, motorcycling or whatever your love beyond family is.
DX'ing is an upper scale activity within amateur radio. The time and
money required to build an effective station is above that of someone
who simply wants to ragchew on 75 meters however to state the obvious
once again there has never been a minimum financial requirement to play
the game of DX. To be shockingly blunt, size does NOT matter! We have
members with modest stations who have been exceedingly more excited
about working a new one than some of our big gun members. That, my
friends, makes the effort we put forth in ADXA worth every minute of our
exchanging operating tips, technical ideas and practical applications
worth it.
DXPedition history is fascinating in how it has transitioned from a one
or two person adventure to the "mega operations" of today. K5YY has been
on many DXPeditions and has related some of his past experiences. In all
of these....ALL of these there has never been a mandatory "Pay to Play"
scheme. The DXPedition members have always, very willingly, invested
significant personal funds to go to a remote location, some on the order
of $20,000 or more per person. Why? because they had no pecuniary
interest whatsoever in making a profit from amateur radio. They invested
their own money to enjoy yet another level of adventure in amateur
radio. Very few of us would chunk in $20K to allow someone else to enjoy
a QSO with a distant land. Their fund raising beyond that was voluntary.
We were NEVER required to financially support the DXPedition. Thankfully
there were some of us who would throw in a few extra bucks to help the
group out or your organization, the Arkansas DX Association, would throw
in some money to support the op. There is nothing, absolutely nothing
wrong with this scenario and it has worked extremely well over several
years without issue and still does!
Then enter the Bouvet effort last year, the result of a major funding
effort by a group of accomplished DXPeditioners who had very
successfully pulled off several expensive efforts before. While standing
on the deck of their boat and staring at Bouvet they had to abort their
effort! A first in the modern era of major DXPeditions. If this group
would have completed their mission, a QSL would have cost you only a few
bucks, sure. That is expected and the cost would have been reasonable.
With a failed effort did the contributors get their money back?? Not all
of it, we got 48% back but the men on that trip who chunked in $20K each
got nothing, absolutely NOTHING back from that personal investment other
than to say "I saw Bouvet as we circled around and headed to South
Africa!" Did they demand we all fork over more money to support them?
NO! Now, all of a sudden, something is supposed to be dead wrong with
this approach?
All of a sudden we have a new concept of funding a DXPedition. A "Pay to
Play" concept if you will that is being promoted as "fair" to all. So,
what is fair? Let's assume for a moment, and this is just an assumption
for discussion based on nothing other than a number out of my head, that
a group pulls of a DXPedition to a remote area without soliciting any
advance funding and then charges $50 for a QSL for one QSO. You work
them on 4 bands that's - $200. Assume you have a modest income and the
only investment in your station you could afford is $500 but because you
were smart, an effective operator and knew how to snag that new DXCC you
now have to fork over almost 50% of what your entire station cost in
order to get that confirmation! Assume also that you are a dues paying
member of a great group like ADXA who would have sent in some money to
help fund the op, or you had fellow members who had some extra financial
resources to send in a donation and would have however now your
confirmation is being held hostage for a ransom! What is fair about
that?
Will the DX community receive a financial report from such a group? The
big DXPeditions of today are very honest and open about their
finances....they have to be in order to receive funding from the DX
foundations and groups such as ADXA.
I very well understand a venture such as Bouvet is very
expensive......VERY expensive in both money and personal time invested.
I understand and fully agree that financial support is needed in order
to make this happen. How that funding is acquired is the real question.
I am not aware of any funding effort put forth by the Rebel DX Group.
Maybe they have but I'm not aware of it. I know they have it advertised
on their website however I do not believe they have put forth an
organized effort to solicit funding from DX foundations or DX clubs such
as ADXA. ADXA has not received any such request as we have from other
groups. Now with the postponement of the 3Y0I venture and a return to
Cape Town if they do make another attempt at Bouvet their cost will
increase significantly thus increasing the price of a QSL in order to
pay their expenses.
We have had unscrupulous individuals scam money via dishonest QSL
practices in the past, more than one, however these bad actors are very
well know among the DX community.
I am opposed to this concept of DXPedition funding. There is absolutely
nothing fair about it whatsoever as it eliminates those with very
limited financial resources and that has never, NEVER been ethical in
amateur radio, period! When there are plenty of avenues in which to
garner financial support for a DXPedition worldwide, especially for an
entity such as Bouvet, it is unnecessary.
So, for a DXPedition (any DXPedition) that is considering funding an op
by charging a very high price for a QSL I would like to know the
following, as a bare minimum, up front:
1. What individual or organization is providing the up front seed money
for the operation?
2. What collateral is provided in order to secure financing?
3. If a "profit" is expected from the operation, what is the target
margin?
4. Is there a minimum return expected from the financial underwriter in
the event of a failed effort?
5. If ADXA were to make, say, a $500 donation would you send all of our
members QSL's no additional cost?
At this point Forrest Gump would say "That's all I have to say about
that" however something tells me I will have more to say as this saga
evolves.
There is a ton of DX on that will send you a QSL for nothing via LoTW,
or no more than $3 to cover postage for a paper card. GET ON THE AIR AND
WORK THEM!!!!
73 Joel W5ZN
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