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[zf8bs at twg.com]

>Unfortunately, CQ magazine is MORE likely to lose your entry than you are 
>to forget to send it in! Be thankful. CQ has repeatedly forgotten to mail 
>out certificates and plaques to contest winners; this is something that 
>has been discussed here before. Their collective desire to accomplish an 
>organized facility just does not exist. I am yet to receive even a 
>simple (courteous) reply to any inquiry I have made to Mr. Bolia, or the 
>CQ local office staff here on Long Island. And this has been my 
>experience in more than one contest. So, contesters beware!
>
>73 de JEFF WA2SYN
>wa2syn at cosmic.com

I think this is totally unfair to Steve Bolia and, if true, represents one
person's experience only.  I suspect there is much more to the story than
this.  I have had multiple exchanges with Steve Bolia over the net and have
always found him to be most responsive.  Not only would he accept WPX
logs over the net, but he also let me send the Northern California Contest Club
roster (for club competition scoring) and acknowledged both.  

Likewise, I know K1AR is right here watching and is also attentive to any
mail he receives.  John has answered promptly any inquiries we sent
him and he has always been very helpful to us.  

Operating a BBS is a larger undertaking than you might suspect.  For at least
the first six months, this is a full-time job.  It easily could continue as a
full time job.  In other words, you're implicitly asking CQ to pony up about 
$80K/year.  That would be nice of them, but I'm not holding my breath.  Just
for grins, it would be interesting to hear what it costs the ARRL to operate
their BBS.  I'd be willing to bet it's at least that--unless they're still
paying their people in glory instead of in cash.

(On the other hand, I have twice written Billy Lunt asking to sponsor 
contest plaques and never heard a word back.  So I guess I'll talk to 
Steve Bolia instead and see if there are still any unsponsored WPX awards.)

                                       Bruce Sawyer, AA6KX