[CQ-Contest] An answer to Stateside QSL's??

[D. R. Evans]

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On 30 Aug 00, at 11:31, TOMK5RC at aol.com wrote:

> 
>  <A HREF="http://www.eqsl.cc/qslcard/index.cfm">Click here: eQSL.cc Home Page 
> - eQSL.cc</A> 
> 
> I just discovered this web site. Anyone have any experience with it? Is 
> anyone accepting their e-qsl's? I haven't played with it yet, but if I could 
> upload all my logs and not worry about answering cards, I would be a happy 
> puppy.
> 

Funny you should mention this. I have a specification for an electronic QSL 
format that has been submitted to most of the major national societies and 
is coming to the close of a sixty-day comment period. I expect the draft  
to become a released specification late next week.

The issues surrounding electronic QSLS, especially if they are to be used 
for award applications, etc. are not at all as trivial as some people might 
expect. I refrain from commenting in detail on the method that is 
apparently used by this site, but I would state that an image that can be 
printed on a printer is not a very secure mechanism for generating 
unforgeable QSLs.

If anyone wants to look at and make TECHNICAL comments on the draft 
specification, please drop me a note privately. Policy issues are not 
addressed by the specification. Those will be addressed in a forthcoming 
draft.

Please note that I am not interested in participating in a debate about 
whether electronic QSLs are a good thing, etc. I just want to make sure 
that they are implemented according a secure standard that makes them 
effectively portable, copyable, and printable but also unforgeable and 
verifiable.

  Doc  N7DR


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D.R. Evans N7DR / G4AMJ                      N7DR at arrl.net

The last of the Chronicles of the Three Lands, "Phendric", 
has been published:
     http://www.sff.net/people/N7DR/drevans.htp
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