Thanks to all who have sent me comments on my original post. Most were in
agreement with me, but some continued to argue economics, so I find it
necessary to quantify the problem, which, since I keep precise QSL records,
it is easy for me to do. Here are my statistics for the most recent
domestic or majority-domestic contests. Granted, a few more QSLs will
trickle in over time, but experience shows that I have just about all the
QSLs I will get for these contests already:
1997 CW SS: 1169 QSOs, 7 QSLs received:
Percentage of QSOs for which QSLs were received: 0.6
Postage cost for direct replies: $1.40
Cost of QSLs themselves: .28
-------------
K3ZO total QSL cost for CW SS $1.68
1997 Phone SS: 1808 QSOs, 41 QSLs received:
Percentage of QSOs for which QSLs were received: 2.2
Postage cost for direct replies: $8.20
Cost of QSLs themselves: $1.64
------------
K3ZO total QSL cost for SSB SS $9.84
1997 10 Meter Contest: 1275 QSOs, 26 QSLs received:
Percentage of QSOs for which QSLs were received: 2.0
Postage cost for direct replies: $5.20
Cost of QSLs themselves: $1.04
---------
K3ZO total QSL cost for 10M Test: $6.24
Methinks there are some out there who doth protest too much!
73, Fred
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