RE: [HCDX] QSL-ing

["Andy Sennitt" <andys@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> But where is the limit of getting these desirable QSL confirmations? Are
> there any limits, but the DX-ers? own conscience? Are you the
> proxy of the
> station because you have got some signed QSL confirmations?
> I am fully aware of that many of my own QSL?s are not really
> confirmations,
> meaning that they are checked and found correct in details. Many
> of them are
> just a polite gesture from the station to thank you for the
> correspondence
> and interest.

I did a lot of DXing when I was younger, and started a small collection of
QSL cards. But I soon lost interest, as I had nobody to show them to (my
family weren't really interested) and I am not by nature a competitive
person, therefore things like QSL ladders were of no interest to me either.
But I accepted the fact that not only did a lot of DXers consider QSLing to
be part of the hobby, they also took it very seriously.

So it was all the more surprising when I briefly helped out with QSLing for
World Music Radio in the early 1980's. Quite frankly, I was appalled at the
low standard of reporting, especially as some of the worst reports came from
people who were at the time regarded as being among the "top" DXers. For
programme details - the essential stuff that proves you actually heard the
station - people would write things like "music, man talking, jingle, music,
commercial, man talking...." which of course was the format of all our
programmes. That's assuming I could read their writing - some of it was
illegible.

I refused to verify such reports, and sent a letter to each explaining why.
If you have a QSL from WMR with my signature on, you have a rarity - I only
sent out a handful. But the experience was enough to make me look at QSLing
in a different way.

To me, a QSL is not a QSL without full data, and that should only be sent
when the station is 100% certain that the listener really heard them at the
time and on the frequency indicated, not via the Internet. IMHO radio
stations which issue blank cards to be filled in later are doing both
themselves and serious DXers a disservice. But of course, they don't mean
any harm, and if people just like collecting postcards I can't see anything
wrong with it, as long as they don't enter them in QSL contests :-)

Andy Sennitt

Although I work for Radio Netherlands, I am participating here on an
individual basis. Opinions expressed are my own, and do not necessarily
reflect the official position of Radio Netherlands.



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