[Dx-qsl] Frustration

Wed Sep 6 15:07:38 EDT 2006

Hi Robert,
Yep, you're right on. It's interesting to note that the only ones guilty of 
this are domestic operators. I never ran into a DX operator who didn't send 
a correctly labeled QSL card. In each of the cases that affected me I 
believe that the operators knew the requirements but were too cheap or 
didn't want to take the time to print up correctly labeled cards. I'll 
contact the Committee just in case he filed with them, though I doubt he 
did. I'm at 316 confirmed and now that I'm back on the air after a 4 month 
absence I'm back into the fray. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
73, Ken
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert G. Schaffrath" <robert at schaffrath.net>
To: "KIR" <kir2 at sbcglobal.net>
Cc: <dx-qsl at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 4:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Dx-qsl] Frustration
>I fully understand your "pain". It also became more difficult when IOTA 
>changed the rules and required the island name starting in 2000 rather than 
>just an address and/or IOTA number. I have a few pre-2000 cards that 
>qualified then but would not qualify now. I live on NA-026, not a rare one 
>by any measure, but my QSL cards are all correctly labeled for IOTA credit.
>> I am currently at 347 IOTA's confirmed and have had two or three rejected 
> due to insufficient information. They were domestic cards and the ops 
> were gracious enough to send me amended cards. A notable incident 
> happened back in 2001 with a Swan Island operation, NA-035. Apparently 
> there was a problem with the cards they had sent out and at their own 
> expense they resent new cards to everyone who QSL'd. I was very impressed.
>> As for the NA-052 (Marco Island), there is probably not much you can do to 
> get a corrected card if the op will not respond. That island is on 
> occasionally, especially the Marco Island club station K5MI, so you should 
> be able to get it eventually. You could contact the RSGB IOTA committee 
> and advise them of the situation with the W4 op. That would potentially 
> prevent the op from claiming IOTA credit for having activated it and 
> providing 50+ QSO's required. I think most of these problem QSL's are 
> probably just due to the operator not being familiar with the IOTA 
> program. Yes they enjoy the pileups but don't bother to see what is 
> required to properly document it. It sounds like the W4 card you received 
> was a stock card for his home station and that he did not bother to have 
> any special QSL's made up for his mini-dxpedition.
> Robert, N2JTX
>> KIR wrote:
>> I'm an IOTA chaser. Too many times now I've been screwed by a few of our 
>> fellow hams in getting qualifying QSL cards. Here's what I'm talking 
>> about using the most recent example.
>>>> One year ago I worked a W4 who lives in North Port Florida. He was 
>> operating from an island off the Florida coast (NA-052). He was openly 
>> declaring on the air that he was on NA-052. Naturally, he was very 
>> popular and there was always a considerable pile-up. After working him I 
>> immediately sent him my card with a SASE. One year later I receive his 
>> card in return. It was a quality W4MPY card properly filled out but only 
>> showed his home address. It did not have the name of the island nor an 
>> IOTA reference number printed on it. Therefore, this card is useless to 
>> me in claiming credit for working NA-052. I sent him an email pointing 
>> this out and asked for a corrected card but he has not replied.
>>>> This same exact thing has happened to me several times in the past ... 
>> they announce they are operating from an IOTA and enjoy the fun but then 
>> do nothing to follow though after they get home. There are only two 
>> possible reasons I can think of why they do this; either they are 
>> unfamiliar with IOTA requirements or they know them but just don't give a 
>> damn. I don't suppose there is anything we can do about this, is there?
>>>>>> &quot;Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've 
>> got...till it's gone.&quot; from Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell) but also 
>> true about QSL.NET if more users don't open their wallets and help 
>> financially. Please contribute TODAY !!
>