[VHFcontesting] [VHF] T Minus 9 and Counting...

[Les Rayburn]

Bob's thoughtful and detailed reply is one more reason to be grateful 
for this reflector. There are some great ideas here that I had not 
considered. While I've been a ham for decades, I've never been a "paper 
chaser". The few awards I have are largely based on going through my old 
logs and suddenly realizing, "Oh, I guess I could put in for _________".

VUCC became a goal for me as means to keep me motivated for something 
that I knew would be a difficult and time consuming challenge. I was 
afraid that I would lose my motivation to stay active on VHF/UHF if I 
simply worked people when the band was open or during contests. VUCC 
gave me the motivation to sit through an hour and half long WSJT 
attempt---and when it failed, to be willing to try again the next night. 
Or to switch off the 6 Meter rig when E skip was blowing up and contacts 
were easy, forcing myself instead to start calling on 2 Meters and 222.

I really wanted to prove that VUCC was possible to earn even with indoor 
antennas. A couple of years ago, I managed to 6 Meter VUCC in a single 
contest weekend (107 grids) using only 100 watts and a three element 
beam inside my attic. That was fun!

Bob-- I'm on LoTW, but will start doing as you suggest and reaching out 
via e-mail to check on missing cards. Not ready to publicly name anyone 
who is slow in QSLing, but I'm make inquires. I didn't think about 
people being ill, etc. Good points there.

73,

Les Rayburn, N1LF
EM63nf




On 10/16/2013 9:18 AM, Bill Ockert - ND0B wrote:
> Hi Les,
>
> First off let me congratulate you on what you have done so far.... 
> just short of amazing.
>
> I am chasing FFMA myself so know all about trying to get QSL cards.   
> There have been some good articles written on getting cards and I have 
> learned a few tricks of my own.  I have attached an article by W5WVO 
> on the subject.
>
> Always check QRZ.   We have a ham here in ND who has one thing on his 
> QRZ page and that is "I do not QSL."    Do not get me started on that.
>
> Being as you have sent out cards and SASEs you really should attach 
> calls to the grids you listed.    We do that occasionally on the FFMA 
> reflector and USUALLY someone has some information that is helpful... 
> the person is a known slow QSLer, the person never QSLs, the person 
> has been sick, the person is a SK, the person has moved, the person is 
> the north end of a south bound horse, I have not got a QSL form him 
> either, oh, I see him at coffee, I will remind him, etc.   What are 
> the calls associated with the grids you listed?  I would not be shy 
> about putting that information in.
>
> Are you on LOTW?   Experience has shown that about 1/3 of the time you 
> will get a confirmation on LOTW and I have found at least some folks 
> who are on LOTW will not paper QSL regardless of what you send them.  
> With the list you gave most of the 9 you need could be sitting there 
> just waiting to be confirmed.
>
> After 6 months of no reply unless I have reason to believe the person 
> is normally slower than that I start attempting to contact the person 
> by other means but always just to check if they got my card.   That is 
> a benign way of making sure they got the card and if so reminding them 
> to send one.   I usually email first and if I do not get a response I 
> use white pages and any other means to track down a phone number.   I 
> look for hams located nearby and contact them.   I look for clubs they 
> might be in.   Anything to get them the message "Did you get my card?..."
>
> Sometimes, but not often, it is the post office.   Trying to get a 
> card from DN05 I sent a card/SASE, no response so after 6 months I 
> sent an email.  I had an immediate email back that no card was 
> received.  I sent another card/SASE and after 2 months of no response 
> I sent another email.  Again I had an immediate email back that no 
> card was received.   I was convinced I was being jerked around so I 
> sent another card/SASE via priority mail which has a tracking 
> number.   That got there and I had an email that my card was in the 
> mail.   After two weeks of nothing I sent a fairly blunt email asking 
> if the gent and his buddies were having a good laugh at my expense.  
> The reply I got was no way, I worked 16 station the day I worked you 
> which was my first day on 6m and am very proud of that, I do not know 
> what is going on... "what do you want me to do?"   I asked him to send 
> his card to me priority mail and I would reimburse him through 
> paypal.   He did, I got it, I paid him with some extra to cover his 
> gas and figure I had at least 25 bucks into that card before it was 
> all said and done just because the post office had an issue between us.
>
> Always use forever stamp on SASEs.  If the person is slow in 
> responding that in and of itself may keep your card out of file 13.
>
> I have had two instances now where the person has been major sick.   
> In one instance when I called the guy he had been sick for two years 
> and had a shoebox full of cards, some with old (not enough) postage, 
> etc he was trying to deal with.   While we were on the phone he 
> started looking through to find my card.   I stopped him and thanked 
> him and told him that was not a good use of either of our time that I 
> would just send another card/SASE. I did and had his card and my 
> unused SASE back in less than a week.   As recently as yesterday it 
> came out on FFMA that one of the grids I had confirmed on LOTW that 
> others were waiting for on paper the gent had been very sick and had 
> just hired someone to process the 2k+ cards he had backed up.  While I 
> do not need it because of LOTW I should get one from there eventually.
>
> One trick a lot of us use is to generate a reverse QSL and send it 
> along with your card and SASE.   The reverse QSL is a card from the 
> station in question to you with all of the particulars filled in and a 
> place for the other station to sign it as being valid. I have had this 
> work maybe 3 of the 10 times I have tried it.
>
> The key point is be persistent but do not be a pest.   With some folks 
> the gentle reminder that is given by asking if they got your card, 
> with some folks it takes a phone call.
>
> And some folks you never will get a QSL from.   When I work the 
> contests I delete their calls out of my submittal log before sending 
> it.  I figure if they do not QSL they must not really exist.
>
> 73 de Bill ND0B
>
>
>
>


-- 
--
73,

Les Rayburn, N1LF
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114
EM63nf

6M VUCC #1712
AMSAT #38965
Grid Bandits #222
Southeastern VHF Society
Central States VHF Society Life Member
Six Club #2484

Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light