[Dx-qsl] Why QSLing still lives

[lwloen at myclearwave.net]

>
> Larry,
>
> This is the major advantage of electronic media.
> They do not have concept of 'closed log'. Once
> QSO records are in the el.media, they stay 'forever',
> or the Hydro bill not paid, whichever happens earlier.
>
> The QSO records live longer then the originator.
>
> 73  Nenad   VE3EXY ....
>
>

Nenad, I don't disagree with anything you said.  I do LOTW myself and hope
for more success using it in the future.

But, the question was "why is the QSL volume in the buros still so high?"


Another reason, which is slowly losing importance as LOTW rises in
popularity, is that you have to have _both sides participating_ before it
means much.  If only one side of a QSO participates, that QSO upload is
just a dead record and means nothing -- until the other half uploads, if
ever.

Because of that, the _match_ rate will be lower than the _participation_
rate.  And, one must conventionally QSL to make up the difference.

I don't have the data or inclination to do the real math, but a "lazy
man's" not-really-right calculation based just on the QSO count and total
QSL record count as published by LOTW leads me to suspect that the LOTW
participation rate is somewhere between 20 and 40 per cent of all DXers
world-wide.  And, we shouldn't expect a _match_ rate much better than 10
to 20 per cent on our own QSOs if I'm right about that.  My own current
rate is around 15 per cent, for both DX and stateside QSOs I've uploaded.

So, with only a 10-20 per cent _match rate_, then QSL volume will continue
high regardless of LOTW participation levels until participation is very
high.

Why the buro volume is actually going up, as reported by some here, is a
bit of a mystery.  However slowly, it should be going down.  But, perhaps
that's just a bit of statistical flux or perhaps the reasons I gave before
matter.



Larry Wo0Z