On QSLs

Sadly, the Logbook of the World QSLs are not coming in nearly as fast as the QSOs, with just 21 QSLs received and 8 DXCC confirmed on LoTW out of 149 QSOs uploaded. By comparison, my eQSL.cc delivered 51 QSLs and 15 DXCC with the same 149 of my QSOs uploaded. Not a scientific study, but there it is. I wonder if it might have something to do with all the contortions and hoop-jumping the ARRL makes one do before being granted access to LoTW. On this note, I submitted a LoTW review on eHam, reprinted here for your reading enjoyment:

I share most of the bad experiences others have already stated. My initial attempt to register for LoTW ended in failure. I'm still not sure why. A few years later I tried again with better results. Still, the first time signing and uploading a file was confusing, and adding a certificate for my previous callsign left me scratching my head when no postcard came in the mail (I later realized that the postcard thing only applied to the first callsign certificate). In the end, I got it working and have had no further issues.

Now that I understand the system, I find it works as advertised. I upload new loggings regularly, painlessly, and with little effort. It's clear that the process in and of itself is not complicated; it's simply a case of really, really crappy instructions.

The ARRl web site has a "Getting Started" page with step-by-step instructions to walk you through the process of requesting a certificate and validating it with the password you receive from the postcard you receive in the mail. Then... nothing. It just stops short, with no info on creating or exporting the ADIF file, or using TSQL to sign and upload the file. Digging around further on the ARRL web site, I found and watched a PowerPoint slideshow that filled in the blanks. Only then was I able to put all the pieces together. Why all the information in the PowerPoint file isn't available on the "Getting Started" page is beyond comprehension.

In practice LoTW works like a charm once you get into the groove of things. I can appreciate the ARRL's desire for strong encryption methods to prevent fraud -- I use eQSL.cc as well as LoTW and while I enjoy the simplicity of it, I have received (and rejected) a few incoming QSLs from stations that I did not work; someone less scrupulous would merely have accepted the QSLs and padded their DXCC total without actually working the DX. At least with LoTW there can be no doubt that the DX was actually worked.

I also like the fact that I can get quick confirmation of QSOs and apply them to DXCC and WAS much sooner than it would otherwise take me to collect all the cards via snail mail and the bureau. I still send out "real" QSL cards as I enjoy collecting them, but for award purposes LoTW is a really great tool.

However, the League needs to address the fact that they have needlessly complex instructions for a relatively simple process. The number of people expressing anguish over registration and giving up on the system should be a wake-up call. I'm a fairly bright computer professional, and I'm sure everyone else complaining about LoTW's complexity and difficulties are fairly bright as well. If so many of have had trouble getting started, I think it's fair to say there's something wrong with the way it's being explained to us.

And that's it in a nutshell: If it's a chore to use, hams won't use it, especially the 'modern' ham who expects everything to happen with the push of a button. LoTW's three-step process of exporting the log file from your logging program, signing it with the TSQL app, and uploading it from the ARRL web site is not the kind of elegance and simplicity people expect from an ostensibly technology-driven hobby like amateur radio. And we won't even talk about the registration process.

By comparison, every QSO I log gets uploaded to eQSL.cc by Ham Radio Deluxe automatically and transparently with no additional effort on my part. Yes, I know eQSL doesn't have the crypto-security of LoTW and the possibility of QSL fraud is increased. Who cares? It's a friggin' hobby; these are QSLs, not ICBM launch codes.

Then there's the 20th century method of QSLing: snail mail. So far I've only received 5 QSL cards in the mail, all from US stations. It's going to be a long, long road to DXCC and WAS.

I'm filling out my outgoing cards as soon as possible after each QSO, it's much more efficient than doing a hundred of them at a time. Now my first batch is ready to go out. All of the US cards of course are going direct, and more than a couple of them need SASEs according to the worked stations' QRZ listings. I have about 25 DX cards that I'm sending direct for those countries which I've never confirmed, and I'm including a self-addressed return envelope and $1 (or $2 if so requested by the station on QRZ). I'll send the rest of the DX cards via outgoing bureau because the cost of international postage has become obscene since the last time I did this; as bad as I want my DXCC award there's no way I can spend upwards of $100 a month to mail QSL cards. All told, this first pile of outgoing cards is going to cost me around $85 to send out

My HRD log file with all of my old N2HIE and WW2PT contacts was fubar'd pretty well and good with the Country listings wrong for about half of them, so I went through the log line by line and corrected everything in order to get a definite DXCC count (64 countries confirmed out of 112 worked, although this excludes several contest logs that never made it into my master logbook file and have since been lost). More importantly I've found a ton of DXCC entities that I never sent cards to, so I'm hoping these guys are packrats like me and have kept their logs from the late 80's and early 90's...

Julian G4ILO writes about his PSK31 pet peeve: hams who ask -- or rather demand -- that you don't QSL them via eQSL or LoTW. I've noted this phenomenon as well, both on the air and on QRZ. I also see some people on QRZ ask we ONLY use eQSL and/or LoTW and say they do not want paper cards. I remember back when working the station was the hard part; now, it's figuring out how to QSL them. Frankly, I love the cards, it is a tradition that I don't want to see end. I will send cards to stations that I've already got via LoTW. Whatever floats your boat.