[CQ-Contest] Encouraging Casual Participation in Contests

[Jim Brown]

On Sat,4/29/2017 1:38 PM, Ron Notarius W3WN wrote:
> For the domestic 400
> cards, we haven't even gotten into the other 600 DX cards.

My average cost of requesting a card from a DX operator or DX QSL mgr by 
snail mail has risen to $3.50. And I find that in some countries, I have 
to send 3-4 cards to get one return.

I started over on all awards 11 years ago when I moved from W9 to W6. I 
would have felt like a cheater to have done otherwise. I'm up to 320 
countries, 2,400 band-countries, and several hundred islands. The cost 
of paper QSLs for DXCC would be about $1,120, and for those 2400 band 
countries an additional $7,300. Using LOTW, those costs would be $38.40 
and $250 respectively.

Several years ago, W6OAT and NI6T got me interested in the CQ Field 
award. They accept eQSL, with the submission being a screen print of the 
eQSL. When I asked, the manager agreed to accept a screen print of LOTW 
QSL. That allowed me to go through my paper cards, eQSL, and LOTW, and 
prepare a submission for about 165 Fields -- I needed to request only a 
dozen or so more by snail mail to qualify for Honor Roll (175 fields). 
And the coordinator was willing to designate W6OAT as a card checker, so 
I didn't have to mail the submission anywhere.

And don't even think about using the Bureau system -- I gave up on it 
about five years ago, when turn-around times reached 4-5 years, if I got 
a return at all. For about three years, my policy has been to send paper 
cards only for QSOs confirmed by LOTW. At the same time, I stopped 
responding to the mountain of Bureau cards from contesters, nearly all 
in AS, who send a card for every contest QSO. My W9DXC card sorter told 
me several years ago that I got more cards than all the other calls 
combined.

73, Jim K9YC