[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] QSLing and LOTW

[Cameron Mackenzie]

John, et al.-

I use LoTW on my iMac without any issues. I was even able to switch callsign certificates without any major growing pains. eQSL is a fine service, but to get any benefit out of it you have to pay at least $5/month. For that reason alone I stopped using it. LoTW is much more widely adopted and it's free. 

My $0.02. 

Cameron


> On Feb 17, 2015, at 12:48, JOHN <JOHNHUCKE at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> 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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