After being again an active ham since a little bit more than one year, my figures are roughly the same as most of you. Since May 2006 1200 qso's (my German call). EQSL return 17%, LOTW 16% and paper qsl 12%. In general for digital modes PSK/RTTY the return rate is better than 25%. I think that there is no general way of increasing the return rate. One has to accept that some hams support eqsl/lotw/paper and some are not interested in. I donot think, that it depends in general from the design of the cards.
73 Daniel DF8UO/F5VMO/5R8UO

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DF8UO Dr. Daniel Kähny

Since January, when I last posted, I've sent nearly 400 more eQSLs, and my return rate has gone up to about 47%. Of those, around 90% are AG.

However, I work about 90% digital.

I also send paper cards to via the bureau or direct, and my return rate so far is less than 20%, although some of that could be bureau-lag. Most surprising and disappointing is that DIRECT qsl returns are substantially less than 100%.

I see requests for LoTW a lot, but that involves installing software, something I'm not interested in doing because it means that I will have to maintain the software and my cryptographic keys for digital signature. That passes my "annoying" threshold, so LoTW is out.

I collect both stamps and post cards, so I like the paper cards for that. The bureau keeps the costs down, and I send direct mostly when I want the stamps (which is not terribly often because it adds up fast). eQSL is my primary method of keeping things organized.

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VE3OIJ P. Darin Cowan