[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] QSLing and LOTW

[Ian]

Worth discussing at a club meeting.  Would be interested to know if anyone
else is using eQSL.  I don't - I've always been an ARRL guy.  John -
definitely QSL the HZ - that's not a common card!
73, Ian N8IK 


-----Original Message-----
From: AlexandriaRadioClub
[mailto:alexandriaradioclub-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of JOHN
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 12:48 PM
To: Tom Kirby
Cc: alexandriaradioclub
Subject: Re: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] QSLing and LOTW

Tom, Ian et al,
I'm new to HF and honestly LoTW (It isn't a logbook and the whole world
doesn't use it) has proven very Mac unfriendly so I'm not currently using
it. I understand it is the quickest way to DXCC and WAS but those will take
me a very long time for me. I'm going to make 1 more try at setting up LoTW,
I understand the newer version has been improved and is more Mac friendly. 
I do direct QSLing and so far all my efforts have been domestic. I'm
requesting direct cards from Special Event Stations first. I'm preparing my
first small batch of direct DX QSL cards now. 
I also use eQSL and I find opening the program and finding that DX eQSL card
pretty neat, it won't help with ARRL awards but they can be used for CQ and
their own awards.Some of the domestic cards are pretty nice to and a whole
lot cheaper then direct. I've gotten e cards from England, Scotland, South
Africa, Honduras, Brazil, Canada and Saudi Arabia. I was very happy to get
the Saudi e-card because it confirms the contact that was a 4-4 at best. I
was debating doing a direct card but hesitating on investing $5+. Now I know
I'm in his log so I'm going for the paper card so one day it will count for
DXCC. 
I believe ARC should use eQSL. While a basic account is free it cost about
$30 a year to do the better e Card. Since I'm not in the immediate area to
easily help I'm willing to commit $60 to fund 2 years of eQSL. That should
be long enough to see what we think of the results. 
I believe someone has a copy of the Club Logo to use on the card and we have
a few very computer savvy members who could get it uploaded and the card
created. Rich would need to take a photo of the club license with his cell
phone and e-mail that to get the authenticity guaranteed status that makes
the eCard more valuable. AG confirms the validity of the account and plays a
part in eQSL awards. 
eQSL isn't a log book either, it is a contact confirmation service that
provides an electronic version of a QSL card and I believe makes a good
complement to LoTW. Many logging programs will upload directly to both LoTW
and eQSL making the whole process pretty seamless. 
Let me know what you think, 73 John 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Tom Kirby" <achaios at cox.net>
To: "alexandriaradioclub" <alexandriaradioclub at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 11:53:55 AM
Subject: Re: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] QSLing and LOTW 

On 2/17/2015 11:40 AM, Ian wrote: 
> Logbook of the World (LOTW), 
> <http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world>
> http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world, is a great way to save some 
> postage on QSL cards from stateside and abroad. Doesn't cost anything 
> to upload your electronic log and there are lots of DX stations that uses
LOTW.
> Everyone like real QSL cards, however, a lot of the rarer DX live in 
> countries where the postal system is, how shall I put this politely, 
> less than reliable. You want that rare country confirmed but not sure 
> if you should try mailing directly? Check out 
> <http://wd5eae.org/HB9BZA_LoTWUsersList.html>
> http://wd5eae.org/HB9BZA_LoTWUsersList.html first to see if the DX 
> uploads to LOTW! If they do then it might be a whole lot easier to get 
> a confirmation on LOTW than to take a chance with their post office.
> 
> 73, Ian N8IK
> 
> 
Seconded. 

While I love paper QSLs, LotW is great. Yesterday, I worked UT7UJ (Kiev,
Ukraine), and he's confirmed already. This is not to say the postal service
in the Ukraine is unreliable. I've had better results from them when buying
some 17th century silver coins than from our own USPS. I just used them as
an example of how fast LotW is. 

73, 

-- Tom KJ4FUU
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