[Dx-qsl] Bureau works well again! QSLs received today and questions.

[Steven Wheatley KU9C]

Ron,

I'm not sure what another manager's motive is...I can only judge from my
personal experience, which is:

I fund:
-all QSL cards, labels, printing ink, and of course, my own time is donated.
-I answer ALL requests sent direct...and all bureau requests that have not
already been answered direct (sadly, a lot of folks use the bureau as a
'second try' as well as a direct request.....and they go straight to the
trash can.  I always answer multiple requests for band modes that are made
direct (i see this a lot of the contest stations I manage)...sometimes I do
the same via the bureau, but it's more of a 'mood du jour' thing in that
case.
-I tend to apply for the awards for the stations I manage, such as DXCC, etc
as it makes sense.

Bottom line, I pay for everything, and thanks to the many donations I get,
I'm cash flow positive on EACH station I manage.  What does this mean?  It
means that, when you work a CO ham I manage on 6 meters, the rig and
amplifier were covered (try to get a rig to CO from the USA...that's another
story!).  When you work WP2Z on the WARC bands, it's an antenna that was
sent down, etc etc.  The YA5T funds are being collected and returned to the
WFP per the operators' request

Now, I have to admit, I think part of the reasons I get donations is that
folks know I'm not funding my beer habit with them (i have other means,
thank you very much!).

Heck, I just had a guy drop a relatively substantial donation to buy 3 cent
stamps.  Totally on it's own, without any QSL request.

These are the facts.  I do mail bureau cards direct to the bureaus, rather
than to the ARRL to save money, and I also offer this service at cost to
other QSL managers...to help them out.

So.....should a QSL manager be able to do Bureau cards...I say yes.  It's a
pain in the butt....it is THE LOWEST priority thing I do in QSL managing,
but it gets done.    Oh.....and I tend to answer somewhere between 80K and
100K QSO's per year....so it's not a time thing either (although I do spend
a lot of time at this,b ut that's my choice....and thankfully I've got a
supportive family!)

73
Steve