I SENT A LETTER TO ARRL TODAY 9/24/10
I JUST WANTED TO SHARE SOME OF MY THOUGHTS.


I WANT TO BECOME A ARRL MEMBER. I FIND IT DIFFICULT AT THIS TIME DUE TO ARRL'S DOUBLE STANDARD WHEN IT COMES TO PAPER QSL CARDS AND ELECTRONIC LOGS USED TO VERIFY ARRL'S AWARDS PROGRAM. CASE IN POINT.....PAPER QSL CARDS ARE NOT HELD TO THE DOUBLE BLIND STANDARD WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO DISTINGUISH ARRL'S AWARDS PROGRAM ABOVE OTHERS. DOES THAT MEAN THOSE AWARD HOLDERS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE WHO USED THE PAPER METHOD TO VERIFY THEIR QSO'S FOR AN AWARD DID NOT OR WILL NOT QUALIFY FOR THE AWARD FOR WHICH THEY HAD APPLIED, BECAUSE A DOUBLE BLIND PROCESS WHICH ARRL ADVOCATES WAS NOT APPLIED? I MUST NOT BE THE ONLY HAM WHO HAS ASKED THIS QUESTION! I ASK AGAIN WHY A DOUBLE STANDARD? MY SECOND QUESTION, WHY ARRL WILL NOT RECOGNISE QSL CONFIRMATION FROM OTHER ELECTRONIC SITES WHEN CLEARLY THEIR CONFIRMATION PROCESS IS SUPERIOR TO ARRL'S PAPER QSL AWARDS CONFIRMTION PROCESS WHERE BOTH PARTIES IN THE QSO HAVE TO VERIFY THAT SAID QSO TOOK PLACE BEFORE BEING VALIDATED BY SAID ORGANIZATION LIKE EQSLOR QRP. IN A TIME WHEN ARRL IS LOSING MEEMBERS, IS IT PRUDENT TO DISINFRANCHISE SO MANY AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS BY NOT ALLOWING THEIR CONFIRMED QSO'S TO COUNT TOWARDS ARRL AWARDS. WHAT KIND OF STATEMENT IS ARRL MAKING ABOUT THE WORLD WIDE AMATEUR RADIO COMMUNITY? "UNLESS YOUR AN ARRL MEMBER, YOU HAVE NO VALUE" I DON'T THINK THE ARRL WAS FOUNDED WITH ELITIST IDEOLOGY. I STRONGLY SUGGEST THE ARRL BOARD OF GOVERNERS AMEND THEIR VIEWS ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF OTHER ELECTRONIC LOGGING SYSTEMS AS MANY OTHER WORLD RADIO ORGANIZATIONS HAVE. WHEN THE ARRL EMBRACES THIS NEW VISION, I AND THOUSANDS MORE WILL JOIN "ARRL" AS PROUD MEMBERS.

DE AB9QT, GILBERT A DANIEL III

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AB9QT Gilbert A. Daniel III

Well said Gilbert!!
73
Andy - n1ork

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N1ORK/P Orest 'Andy' Zajac

You guys are looking at it all wrong.

Put yourself in ARRL's shoes for a moment...

Every LOTW QSO that an LOTW member uses for an award confirmation brings, what is it... 25 cents as a "convenience fee" for ARRL. Yes, even though an ARRL user is saving them the cost of administering and dealing with paper cards, they get dinged 25 cents a pop (less if you buy more "QSO credits"). It's $20.00 for a full DXCC, $11.25 for a full WAS and so on - and that's on top of the regular award fee. The sliding scale is fascinating because it could actually end up costing you more: 99 LOTW + 1 paper card for your DXCC and you'll get hit for $22.28 plus the award fee.

ARRL has no incentive whatsoever to take other electronic QSLs... they would have to work to look them up, so it's not really any different than using paper cards. Add to it the fact that lots non-LOTW users would probably balk at a 25-cents-a-QSO fee for verifying their contacts.

So, extra work over LOTW and no free money to go with it. That doesn't endear itself to ARRL.

Personally, I think that fee is usurious, but I seem to be a minority opinion. I can see paying a fee so I have less work, but I can't understand why anyone would pay a service fee so the service provider can have less work. It's LOTW members that should be fighting this fight, not eQSL users. In any case, lots of people love how LOTW works.

To each their own.

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VE3OIJ P. Darin Cowan

The ARRL should wake up, join the 21st Century and accept esqls for thier awards. Their concern about innacurate or forged qsls borders on paranoia. I've gotten paper QSL's with the wrong information on them plenty of times, including the wrong callsign. From the ARRL bureau I recieved a nice QSL from Austria, thanking me for my contact. Too bad I've never worked Austria. But, it was a nice card, and at least they had my callsign right.

I don't worry too much about whether the ARRL will accept my eqsls. After all I haven't accepted the ARRL for 25 years.

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WD4NYL Mark Wells

Furthermore...;-) 33 years ago, when I was a Novice I worked a station in Georgia. Sam was 13 years old & his QSL was written in crayon. It had all the correct information & I was glad to recieve it & sent him my shiny "professional looking card" .

Len, out in California sent a card written in red ink on an index card. Again, it had all the correct information & I was glad to recieve it.

Would the ARRL consider these acceptable? And, if so, since I've never worked Alaska or Mongolia, by their thinking shouldn't I be breaking out the card stock & my calligraphy set & "working them"?

In this Old Coots opinion esqsls are just as valid as paper ones & should be (and eventually will be) accepted.

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WD4NYL Mark Wells

That crayon card would be a keeper! If there is an amateur radio museum somewhere, I'd say it should be in it!

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VE3OIJ P. Darin Cowan

I have dealt with digital certificates in my job of computer support/security. ARRL mistakenly believes they cannot be forged. AG here is more reliable.

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N4AAB Jimmy M. Pierce