[Dx-qsl] LOTW vs paper QSL's

[StevekZ2i]

And for those that don't know Fred and his slightly fascinating history, let me just say that his words carry a little more than average weight. His qsls were quick and sure whether it was from Argentina, southeast Asia or elsewhere.

Just want to say thanks, Fred.

73 de steve kz2i




On Mar 17, 2011, at 9:28, Alfred Laun <hs0zar at gmail.com> wrote:

> Having been the manager of the USA Third Call Area Bureau for the past five
> years, I am well aware of people who are not interested in receiving QSLs.
> They are usually DX contesters who work thousands of DX stations per year
> and don't seem to care that this will, no matter what they do, result
> automatically in the generation of lots of bureau QSLs.  In most European
> countries and Japan, the national radio societies make it easy for members
> to QSL via the bureau, and they do.  Putting a note on your QRZ.com page
> that you don't wish to receive bureau QSLs, as many do, doesn't make much
> difference because to send a  card via the bureau there is no need to look a
> call up on  QRZ.com
> 
> In this respect LoTW has at least made it possible for awards chasers to
> confirm some contacts they would otherwise not be able to confirm.  I myself
> do not use LoTW because I am no longer an awards chaser except for my basic
> mixed DXCC.  And that's just so I can stay in the good standing of my local
> NCDXA club.   I don't want to give anyone an excuse not to send me a paper
> QSL.
> 
> Eqsl.cc also has a value that is not always understood by many.  Especially
> in Latin America, there are cases where the QSL bureau service provided by
> the local IARU member society is practically useless, or not provided at
> all.  At least Eqsl.cc has given amateurs in these countries a way to work
> around this difficulty.  Otherwise it would be very expensive for them to
> QSL every contact.  I don't use eQSL.cc because I like to have a piece of
> paper confirming contact with every new station I work, and to print out
> 90,000 QSLs would take forever.  But with the availability nowadays of
> inexpensive USB stubs on which I could store the data and selectively print
> out the cards I want, I am starting to think I might join.
> 
> What annoys me as a bureau manager more than anything else are the people
> who don't want their cards but will not answer when I ask them.  We can live
> with people who are straight up about their not wanting cards and tell us
> so, though of course it is sad to see so many cards go unclaimed.
> 
> It has been my effort over the past five years to try to contact everyone
> who has five or more unclaimed cards to let them know about the bureau and
> how it works.  It is true that a surprising number of people who work DX are
> not familiar with the bureau system, and so this effort has had some
> success.  However, an effort to contact people like this takes too much of
> my time, so we are returning to the regular way of operating a bureau in
> which the individual letter sorters decide how long they want to hold on to
> unclaimed cards.   The ARRL mandates 45 days after a person has been
> notified.  Beyond that it will be up to the individual sorter.
> 
> You can find on our web site the list of people who have told us they do not
> wish to receive bureau QSLs.   We update it regularly.
> 
> 73, Fred Laun, K3ZO
> Manager
> NCDXA/ARRL Third Call Area Incoming QSL Bureau
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