[Dx-qsl] Bureau

[Carl -K8AV-]

I predict the LotW will be used primarily by contest stations who would rather not
deal with QSL cards in any manner. They have no use for our cards and would
rather not get involved in sending cards out. They are well aware that many of us
snag " new ones " for DXCC during contests so the LotW will be ideal for satisfying
that need for QSL credit and in turn lessen the QSL workload for the contest station.
Their logs, for the most part, get submitted the the ARRL or CQ anyway for the contest.

Time will tell.
73,
Carl   K8AV

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Notarius WN3VAW" <wn3vaw@fyi.net>
To: <dx-qsl@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: [Dx-qsl] Bureau


> Steve's point about the indirect effect of Logbook of the World on major
> DXpeditions is a valid one.
> 
> Setting aside for the moment the point of whether or not handling QSL cards
> should be a revenue source for the DXpedition... the fact remains that if
> the demand for physical QSL cards is reduced by LotW, then yes, I suspect
> that many major DXpeditions of the future will probably decline to
> immediately upload their logs to the LotW system.
> 
> Let me be more specific, though:
> If a particular DXpedition, be it a one-man vacation DXpedition or a major
> mulit-person effort to activate a rare or new entitiy, decides or determines
> that the net amount of money & IRC's taken in by QSL requests is a wash
> (when factoring in QSL printing costs, bureau cards & related handling fees,
> and other misc. costs related to handling QSL's), or even a net money loser,
> then I suspect that the on-line logs will be posted to LotW in relatively
> short order.
> 
> On the other hand, if a particular DXpedtion determines that there is a net
> revenue gain, then you may not see those logs posted for months after the
> DXpedition is over -- possibly even a year or two.  Sadly, this will
> partially defeat one of the purposes of LotW, since LotW will depend on logs
> being uploaded.  But I can understand why a DXpedition, in this case, would
> hold off on uploading the logs to avoid cutting down the revenue stream.
> The key concept to keep in mind here is that I think that this case would
> only occur IF a DXpedition organizers think that they'll make money on QSL
> handling requests... and this also starts getting into the dangerous
> situation of allegations of "buying" QSL cards without legit contacts, but
> that's another story.
> 
> I don't know if there's an easy answer to this one, either.  I don't see how
> you can arbitrarily compel a DXpedition to upload their logs online
> anywhere.  But you may see some of the organizations that make major
> donations to these DXpeditions insist, as part of their grant, that the logs
> be uploaded (somewhere) after a reasonable time.
> 
> 73, ron wn3vaw