[SEDXC] VP6DX QSL Status Report

[John Laney]

For Immediate Release
News #29 - 2008 Oct 08

Highlights:
... QSL cards confirming 78,286 QSOs mailed to 11,363 stations ...
... LOTW confirmations for these stations have also been uploaded to the 
LOTW server ...
... For comparison, the total log contains 183,503 QSOs with 38,502 
callsigns. ...
... When to inquire about your "missing card" ...
... and other information about QSL processing ...

1. QSLs sent:

During the last three months the volunteer QSL team made significant 
progress on the backlog of requests:

a. All requests made on-line by donors, and received through Aug 1, have 
been processed. Note: We recently discovered that a batch of on-line 
donor cards for donations made after Aug 1 had not been processed, and 
are working on those cards now.

b. All postal requests for direct-mailed cards (donors and non-donors) 
received through Sep 30 have been processed.

c. All postal requests (donors and non-donors) for SWL cards received 
through Sep 30 have been processed.

d. The website home page now contains a link to a list of callsigns for 
which QSL cards have been sent. We will try to update this list every 
few weeks. Check the VP6DX website home page for updated versions of 
this list.

e. LOTW: We recently discovered 2360 callsigns to which QSL cards had 
been sent, but an LOTW confirmation had not been uploaded. The QSOs for 
these stations will be uploaded to LOTW in the next few days.

2. QSL backlog status:

The next groups of QSL requests to be handled are:

     * Recent on-line donors.
     * Requests made on-line for a QSL via the bureau: about 5000 
requests received to date.
     * Requests received via post with insufficient postage or no return 
envelope (to be answered via the bureau): less than 50.
     * Research on QSL requests which do not match the log or appear 
fraudulent. Note: Information about QSOs which appear to be fraudulent 
is sent to the ARRL DXCC program administrator for appropriate action.

3. E-mail inquiries:

About 1000 emails have been received containing a message similar to: 
"My friend has his QSL card. Where is my card?" These inquiries fall 
into three categories:

     * 60% of email inquiries are about QSL cards which are already in 
the mail or in a group not yet processed. Answering these messages has 
taken over 40 man-hours away from the job of preparing QSL cards. 
Beginning today, through the link on the vp6dx.com website home page 
mentioned above, anyone can check when a QSL was prepared.
     * 40% of these messages are from people who did not include their 
callsign with their donation. As of Sep 30, 662 names remain in the 
"unknown callsign" database. The website home page now contains a list 
of sponsor names without callsigns. We will update this list 
occasionally. Note: We have a backlog of about 95 additional email 
inquiries from Sep 5 forward on which we are working. Some of these 
emails provide calls for these sponsors. If you have notified us 
recently of your callsign, there is no need to re-transmit your 
information. We are catching up!
     * Less than 10 people had their postal QSL request, donation, or 
QSL card lost in the mail.

4. What to do if you have requested a QSL, but have not received it:

Please follow the suggestions according to your category:

Your name is on the list of "donors without callsigns":

     * Send us your name and callsign on-line here.
     * If you have not requested your QSL on-line, please enter the QSO 
data on-line here.

You requested that your QSL card be sent via the bureau:

     * The volunteer QSL team has not yet started work on these 
requests. Work begins next week. Please wait.

You made a donation and requested your card on-line, or
You requested your card via the post, and mailed your request before Sep 1:

     * Your QSL request almost certainly has been processed. Please 
check the list of QSL cards sent for the preparation date of your card. 
Many cards are still in the postal system. If you do not receive your 
card before Nov 1, please send us a note via the web here.

5. What to do if you want a QSL card, but have not made a request:

There are three choices:

QSL card mailed direct to you - fastest method:

     * Use the on-line QSL request procedure here.
     * If you have not made any donation in the past, please make a 
donation of at least US$5 or €3. On-line donation is the fastest and 
easiest to process:
       Donation in US$ or Euro via PayPal
       Donation via European bank transfer
       Donation via German "Spenden"
       Donation via credit card (not a PayPal member): Send us a message 
via the website. Include your name, callsign, email address, and the 
amount you wish to donate (US$ or Euro). You will receive a message from 
PayPal with instructions for credit card processing. PayPal membership 
is not required to use credit card payment.

These requests will be processed in groups once each week.

QSL card mailed direct to you - slow method:

     * Send your card with SASE via the post to the address listed here. 
These requests will be processed in groups once each week.

QSL card sent via bureau to you:

     * Use the on-line QSL request procedure here. That is all you have 
to do. These requests will be processed in groups once per month.

6. Protect your computer log!

We have received about 30 emails from operators who lost their log 
because of a computer hard disk failure. Unfortunately, to protect the 
integrity of the QSL process, we cannot provide detailed log 
information. We are sorry to hear about these problems.

Please backup your log files today!



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