On Sat,8/8/2015 9:24 AM, Oliver Dröse wrote:
To my mind it's plain theft, sri. I've done quite a number of projects
myself, published in magazines and on the web, etc. I do this for my
own pleasure (remember, it's a hobby), not to get paid via QSL
contributions and people sending QSLs in good faith not even knowing
they get robbed
My qrz.com page has plainly stated my position for two years. If you do
not put your log on LOTW, I will not send you a card. Period. If you
ignore that and send me a card and money, that's YOUR choice. I have not
"stolen" your money. From 2006 to 2011, I have sent many hundreds of
cards via the Bureau and not received a card in response, and I NEEDED
those cards for an award.
I have taken an even more extreme position with JA cards. If you contest
from the west coast, you receive many hundreds of JA cards 18-21 months
after every contest. More than a few stations send a card for every
contest with 3-6 QSOs, some even send a card for every QSO. There are
MANY JA stations from whom I have received 50-100 QSLs listing 3-6 QSOs.
DL5AXX sends me several QSLs every year -- I have dozens of them. I no
longer bother to log any of this crap.
Until about three years ago, I responded to all these stations, sending
thousands of cards. I pay about $100 per thousand to print them, a day
or so to print address labels and put on cards, another day to record
the QSLs as I received them. More dollars to buy the labels. Because I'm
a member of a fine DX club, NCDXC, they send my cards to ARRL no charge,
as part of my dues to them.
I'm in CA, a VERY big state, with LOTS of active hams. They don't need
my card for any mainstream award. Plainly, these stations are abusing
the Bureau system, flooding it with cards that they generate
automatically on cheap paper, spit out of their computers. And the
objective, for the JAs, at least, is some award based on the sheer
volume of cards they receive. THAT'S a big part of why the Bureau system
is broken! Because I'm a 9 call living in CA, the 9-bureau gets blown
away by my cards. You guys on the east coast and EU don't get that
onslaught, but in CA, we do.
Until about three years ago, I was a sucker, sending my cards to DX
stations and their QSL managers via the Bureau, many of whom make good
money on the green stamps they receive. My cards sent through the Bureau
yielded ZERO response. When i sent them green stamps via the mail, often
for more than their postal costs, I got cards. FROM THE SAME MANAGERS.
That stinks, and is a big part of why I have taken the position I have
stated.
I can show you dozens of QSL manager websites and websites from DX
stations who say that the Bureau is useless, takes forever, and so on
This includes some QSL managers in G, EA, I. As a DXer and contester,
all I know is that I am getting taken advantage of.
I am quite happy to send dollars to DXpeditions via PayPal to support
their efforts. Indeed, the statistics I have seen for many major
DXpeditions show that the overwhelming amount of their support comes
from US hams by ratios on the order of 4:1 as compared to EU, and ratios
that are much worse from the rest of the world. And yet those EU
stations demand the QSOs. Here's but one example.
http://www.intrepid-dx.com/vp8/donors.php I've also contributed to one
DXpedition by negotiating the purchase of very high quality coax at a
large discount, and building their cables from that coax from Amphenol
connectors that I soldered. I spent several days doing that.
73, Jim K9YC
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