[UK-CONTEST] RSGB Move & QSL

[Tom Wylie]

Personally speaking I am in two minds about the whole QSL 
business.   When I was a Short Wave Listener in the 60s it 
was my dream / ambition to achieve DXCC... now some 40 years 
later with drawers full of QSL cards I have achieved that 
ambition to be on Honour Roll.   Not No 1 yet, but getting 
there.

In the last 10 years we have had the computer / internet 
revolution and I often wonder what the next 10 years will 
bring (apart from my old age pension and more arthiritis).

WE have Logbook of the World an ARRL iniatitive which was 
supposed to make life easier for those collecting cards 
towards DXCC, and I must say, that for me - it has.  Yet, I 
keep getting requests for cards which have already been 
accepted on LOTW - how strange is that.   We have E-QSL (I 
dont use it myself) another electronic medium.   More are 
popping up every other month.

It makes me wonder just how relevant the paper QSL really is 
and for how long it will survive until it becomes just 
another relic....   There are many things we have been 
forced into now a days because of technology and dare I use 
the word progress.

Buro systems throughout the world are bursting at the seams 
with tea chests full of unwanted / unclaimed cards and it 
costs a fortune in trees, time and money to ship these 
around the world.   There are many National Societies who 
require members to pay a fee to use their buro system, 
perhaps this is not a bad idea.   It might reduce the volume 
of unwanted cardboard lying within the buros.  (How many 
times have you received a card from DK0EE ((for example)) 
for a Field Day QSO one 160,80,40,20,15 and 10m     Sure 
some label programmes allow you to enter them all on the one 
label - some dont and you get an envelope full of cards.)
But you get the idea!

With awards schemes, you will always get the odd cheat - but 
then they are only cheating on themselves,  nobody else 
actually cares.   Perhaps now is the time for ARRL to move 
one step further and amalgamate DXCC and LOTW and only allow 
electronic applications.    Hoots of derision I hear, maybe,
but I venture to suggest that the vast majority of DXCC 
users NOW - do have access to a computer and the ability to 
update their DXCC without the use of individual cards.   It 
is up to the ARRL to devise a suitable additional security 
measure to defeat any prospective cheaters.   They already 
have Field Checking - just think laterally and take it a 
step further.

Having said all that - I am a QSL Manager.   I actually 
enjoy searching through that box of cards from the buro just 
incase there is a wee gem lurking at the bottom.

I dont use a sub-manager anymore.  I have my own box at HQ 
due to the volume of cards I receive.   As I dont have 
pre-stamped envelopes lying with a sub-manager, once or 
twice a year I send a cheque to the RSGB Buro to cover my 
postage costs.   Perhaps more people could be persuaded to 
do this also - every little counts.

Providing the service to members doesn't change,  it makes 
no difference to us the member, whether the QSL Buro is in 
house or out-sourced.   But lets cut down on the number of 
unwanter cards flying around.   Dont say at the end of your 
QSO -   "QSL via the buro fer sure 100%".....  I avoid 
mentioning QSLs on ssb and CW and in my digital memories I 
use the phrase:
"My QSL is OK direct / LOTW / or BURO - IF YOU NEED A CARD!"

I dont send a card for every QSO I make.   The final 
courtesy of a QSO is NOT a QSL card.   It is a relic of days 
gone by....

Now, what was the question??

Tom
GM4FDM



gm4fam at tiscali.co.uk wrote:
> 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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