[RTTY] CQ to accept eQSL for Awards..

[Jeffrey Swiger (N8NOE)]

http://www.eqsl.net/qslcard/PR-20090113CQ.cfm

............................................
CQ Communications, Inc. / 25 Newbridge Rd. / Hicksville, NY 11801 /  
Phone: (516) 681-2922 / Fax: (516-681-2926) / e-mail:w2vu at cq-amateur-radio.com

NEWS RELEASE

For more information, contact:
Richard Moseson, W2VU
Editor, CQ Amateur Radio
(516) 681-2922 / w2vu at cq-amateur-radio.com

Dave Morris, N5UP
Founder and Webmaster, eQSL.cc
N5UP at eqsl.cc

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 13, 2009
CQ to Accept eQSL Confirmations for Award Credit

      (Hicksville, NY and Bedford, TX, January 13, 2009) - CQ magazine  
will accept contact confirmations made on the eQSL.cc electronic  
confirmation system for its operating awards effective immediately, CQ  
Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU, and eQSL Founder and Webmaster Dave Morris,  
N5UP, announced today.

      There will be certain limitations and procedural differences for  
different awards, at least to start. Only confirmations from  
"Authenticity Guaranteed" members of eQSL will be accepted, and in  
accordance with existing eQSL policy, a membership level of bronze or  
higher is required in order to participate in award programs via eQSL.

      "This is the first time that CQ has formally accepted anything  
other than traditional paper QSL cards for its awards," said Moseson.  
"We have been working with Dave Morris and his team for several months  
to assure that the integrity of our awards programs will be protected  
and to create mechanisms to make it easy for both award applicants and  
award managers to use eQSL credits toward our awards. All of our award  
managers have been involved in this process and support this action."

      "We want to express our great appreciation to Dave and his team  
for their willingness to do whatever was necessary to make this  
agreement possible," Moseson added. "It has been a pleasure working  
with them and we look forward to a long-lasting relationship."

      "We are pleased to be adding CQ to the top of our list of  
amateur organizations that accept electronic QSLs," said Morris. "CQ  
has some of the most highly sought-after awards, and we have been  
working behind the scenes for years to create credit submission  
mechanisms that would ensure the integrity of their programs without  
introducing any additional labor for the award managers. We believe  
the electronic QSL can drastically reduce costs, and the award  
application mechanisms we have developed will provide for more  
efficient processing at reduced cost for both the applicant and the  
award manager."

      Applicants for the CQ DX and CQ DX Field Awards must print out  
their eQSLs and submit them along with their traditional QSLs to a CQ  
checkpoint or to CQ DX Awards Manager Billy Williams, N4UF. eQSL has  
an automated process in place for applicants for CQ's Worked All  
Zones, WPX and USA-Counties awards. N5UP explains how that will work  
for the applicant:

      "The applicant goes to the My Awards screen. He clicks on the  
particular award he wants to apply for. This brings up a list of the  
credits our system 'thinks' he is entitled to. There are checkboxes  
that allow him to check which ones he wants to use, and we  
automatically pre-fill one credit per category so he doesn't have to  
do anything if he wants to take the defaults. At the bottom of the  
screen are two buttons: 'Submit to CQ' and 'Print Paper Application'."

      The "submit" button will place all the selected QSOs into a file  
for the award manager to access, while the "print" button will  
generate a printed list to be submitted along with the traditional  
application. PLEASE NOTE that ALL applicants must send the award fee  
payment to the CQ Award Manager, regardless of how the application is  
submitted. Some CQ award managers are now accepting PayPal; see  
individual award web pages for details. All awards will continue to  
accept traditional QSLs as well as eQSLs. For the USA-Counties Award  
(USA-CA), applicants must note on their record books (or printouts)  
whether each county has been confirmed traditionally (with an "X" to  
the right of the entry) or electronically (with an "E" next to the  
entry).

For more information on eQSL, visit http://www.eQSL.cc

For more information on CQ awards, visit the awards page on the CQ  
website at http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com. Please note that the award  
rules posted on the website have not yet been updated to reflect the  
acceptance of eQSLs. This will be done as soon as possible, but the  
policy takes effect immediately.