[CQ-Contest] Logging question

[Jim Brown]

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