[Ham-Books] Important information from Al, K3TKJ

[Dan K9ZF]

QSL/QTH Users


It's been a while since I last mailed all users. Things here are slowly 
getting back to normal after the passing of my Father (K3RLW) in 
September. I am now fully retired other than a few consulting jobs at my 
old work place (NASA). I am still swamped with e-mail and it sometimes 
takes weeks to even read them, if you need something urgent the best way 
to contact me is by telephone 302-875-1358  8AM to 11PM Eastern time.

This January we will be starting out 10th year on the Internet. The 
growth of QSL/QTH in the last year has been incredible so much that we 
are using all available bandwidth including some we just added. The 
sites are slow responding. It's obvious by the amount of traffic we see 
that these sites are very popular worldwide. It's time to buy more 
bandwidth, hence the purpose of this mailing.

The cost of another T1 will be $5400 yearly. This is money we don't 
have! QSL/QTH has no income other than donations so you see we count on 
you to help us grow.

Other expensive things that need addressing are the RAID 5 Harddrives, 
(these boxes have 16 80GB drives) 8 being primary storage and 8 being an 
image for data backup if needed. I have had 2 drive failures in the last 
2 months so I need to replace all 16 and increase the capacity at the 
same time. These Raid drives have been spinning 24/7 for the last 3 years.

The QSL FTP server needs to be upgraded both in hardware and software 
soon. It's a 4 year old dual 700Mhz and can barely keep up with the 
demand put on it.

The QTH "Mailman" reflector server is new and has the latest software, 
this was completed a few months ago at a cost of about $1000

Less than 1% of our users have ever contributed, with many who have 
contributed over and over to keep us going. Now is a time we need all of 
you to pitch in a little and help us stay alive and functional for years 
to come. Anything you can contribute will help. I hate to sound like a 
TV evangelist but without hearing from you we will be gone someday soon.


That's the bad news.... Now for some exciting news.

Through the generosity of a long time supporter of QSL/QTH we will be 
giving away another radio to a user who contributes between now and 
January 31, 2005. Not just any old radio this time but a new shiny Icom 
756pro3. Yes you read that right a 756pro3, Icom's newest addition to 
the incredible Pro series. List price on this radio is $3000. I have a 
756pro2 and I can honestly say that in my 44 years as a ham this is the 
best radio I have ever owned. The 756pro3 is even better.

http://www.icomamerica.com/products/amateur/756proIII/


Here are the rules:

1. Only users of QSL/QTH are eligible
2. A $15 donation is one chance, $25 donation is 3 chances $50 donation 
is 7 chances, $100 donation is 15 chances etc.
3. All donations previously made in November/December 2004 are 
automatically entered.
4. Drawing will be January 31, 2005
5. If you do not want the radio the cash value to the winner is $2500




The winner of the previous 746pro giveaway was KB9LIE and K9OT.

Good luck to all and as always thanks for your support.


Donations accepted by Credit Card     https://proxy.qsl.net/donation
                      PayPal          http://www.paypal.com   (account 
k3tkj at qsl.net)



Donations by mail:
                      QSL.NET, Inc
                      34087 Old Hickory Road
                      Laurel, Delaware 19956


73, Al K3TKJ


"It is not the class of license the Amateur holds, but the class of the 
Amateur that holds the license."

-- 
K9ZF /R no budget Rover ***QRP-l #1269
Check out the Rover Resource Page at: <http://www.qsl.net/n9rla>
List Administrator for: InHam+grid-loc+ham-books