[UK-CONTEST] RSGB Move & QSL

[gm4fam at tiscali.co.uk]

Jim MM0BQI makes good point - 80p a week is ludicrously cheap, and 
that's what members pay. 

If all non-members paid annually, say, half of what their FREE licence 
would have cost them then that would probably swell the RSGB coffers to 
a sufficient extent to fund the bureau alone.

And yes, the subscription is at the upper end of the market compared 
to other national societies - but in how many of those countries is the 
transmitting licence free?  And how many of those amateurs in those 
countries enjoy the extra bands that we do?  The Dutch for example have 
tried for years to get 4m with very little prospect (actually nil) of 
succeeding - and that's after extensive negotiations with the relevant 
Government minister who is actually a licenced amateur!  Similarly I 
frequently hear rumblings from frustrated American operators who cannot 
use CW on 5 MHz, and I know many are envious of the opportunities we 
have been given on LF, etc.

It never ceases to amaze me how people will happily spend 4 figure 
sums on rigs, 3 figure sums on antennas, but baulk at paying the 2 
figure cost to the very organisation which enables them to use it all.

As for QSLs being out dated, if we all kept up with everything 
'progressive' and 'moved with the times' [etc] I am not sure where CW 
would fit in - surely instead we should be focusing communication via 
JT6m, or some other modern sub-audible mode. {urgggh!]

73 Cris
GM4FAM

 




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