[Dx-qsl] A Scoundrel in our Midst?

[Alan Zack]

marinxs at webtv.net wrote:

> Reading all the e mails
> My immediate reaction
> We should not be expected to be a welfare agency for every one in the
> third world
> Uncle Sam does not mean Uncle Sucker!
> The facts in this case clearly suggest this is no poverty situation!
> So we should judge each case on its own rather than making excuses for
> this kinda of morally deficient behavior   
> 73
> Brian
> KI6HT
> 
> 
Brian,
Since you sent this directly to me (CC: to the reflector) I will 
defend my original post below.
Do you have any facts to back up your accusations that LY5A/LY2ZZ is 
some rich person scamming poor, unsuspecting Americans like yourself? 
  Do you have first hand knowledge of his financial situation?  I do 
not have first hand knowledge of LY5A but I do of other DX Stations. 
I am a sponsor for a school club station in the Philippines.  They use 
a used rig donated by a ham who is a school alumni.  The antennas are 
are hand made, including a quad made using native bamboo pieces 
mounted on a pipe on the rooftop.  Many of the operators of this 
station are new to Ham Radio and are learning from the more senior 
students.  Some of the families of these 15, 16, and 17 year old 
students really struggle for the tuition to send their kids to this 
school.  These kids either walk or ride the Jeepney public 
transportation to school.  Some can only afford one piece of siopao 
and a couple of spoons of rice for lunch.  Then, after school they 
visit the ham shack.  They have the misfortune of working you who now 
wants that QSL card with that exotic DX1 prefix.  So off goes your 
card.  Now, at the club station your card arrives and the club trustee 
looks in the log to see who made the contact with you.  He gives your 
card to this young student who must now decide if he will purchase the 
stamp to send you his card and skip his lunch or to find the means to 
otherwise get you your card.  Mind you, he could just toss your card 
into the round file but instead finds a fellow student who is going to 
the Post Office to mail a QSL card of his own to another ham in CA and 
asks for his card to be mailed in the same envelope.  After all, one 
ham in CA should be willing to help out another CA ham, shouldn't he? 
  Isn't that the ham sprit?  At least he made the effort to get the 
card to you.  So what do you do?  You complain someone is getting rich 
off your lousy dollar!  I doubt if you have ever gone hungry, or 
haven't been able to get medical care for a loved one because you 
couldn't afford it, or not been able to afford Christmas presents for 
your kids.  Maybe you need to take a trip to some third world country 
and see young kids digging through garbage piles for something for 
their families to eat, or some of the medical deformities these kids 
have that the parents can't afford to get fixed, or the beggars on 
street corners in rags.

Here is my original email that you take issue with:
Like it or not, this is a fairly common practice with some DX 
stations.  I don't think any DX station is getting rich off the GS 
they receive from us.  In the case of club stations, some may be at 
schools with very limited funds and may need our GS to pay their 
electric bills.  I may get several piggy backed QSL's in my SAE's 
every month or so and gladly send them along to their rightful owners.
Maybe they think we are all one big happy family here and are willing 
to help each other out.  Your email proves otherwise.
I am very much disturbed with the comment you made that you were going 
to dump the piggy backed QSL for another U.S. ham in your return 
envelope into the round file, especially after your difficult 
experiences in getting your card.  That thought should have never 
entered your mind, you should have just forwarded the card to the the 
other ham no questions asked without sending him an email asking about 
how many GS he sent the DX station.
Quite frequently I get someone else's card piggy backed in my envelope 
and just automatically place a 37 cent stamp on it and send it along 
as I would expect another ham to do the same for me.  In this case, 
YOU are the scoundrel if you would take the other guys card and trash 
it.  It takes much less time to just put the stamp on the envelope and 
send it along than to write the other guy an email and ask how much 
money did he send with his request, etc.  What if he replies that he 
only sent one GS (when two might have been required) or that he sent 
no GS at all.  You are then going to take it upon yourself to decide 
he does not deserve said card and trash it?  When I forward a piggy 
backed card I just place a little note telling how I got it in the 
first place and am sending it along as requested by the DX station. 
Quite often I get an email back thanking me and sometimes a short 
letter of thanks returning my 37 cent stamp although I have never 
requested same.
If you can't afford the 37 cent stamp to forward a piggy backed QSL to 
another U.S. ham then send me an email next time and I'll mail you one.
> 

-- 
__________________________________________________________________________ 

Alan Zack
Amateur Radio Station K7ACZ
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Quality Engineer, The Boeing Company, Retired
Aviation Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Coast Guard, Retired
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Every hour, Every day, Around the Clock and Around the World
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