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Monday, June 15, 2009

LOTW and VP6DX

I had a free moment today and got a chance to go over to the ARRL's Logbook of the World site, to see what was new with my account. And what to my wondering eye should appear; but an entry of QSO confirmation with VP6DX - Ducie Island. Wow! Finally!

I had almost given up hope. When the DXpedition was winding down, I went over to their Website and made an "official" donation to the cause. However, up until today, I had never heard anything from them except to see that they didn't have my callsign attached to my name as a donor. About (no joke) 10 to 15 e-mails trying to correct that went unanswered; and I have still not received a paper QSL. I figured that I'd never see anything on LOTW, either - but at least that finally showed up.

To be honest with you, this leaves an unpleasant aftertaste about donating towards the cause of DXpeditions. I realize that my measly 10 bucks is like the proverbial drop in the bucket; but not everybody is "Daddy Deep Pockets", eh? The big fish might get the splashy headlines; but the small fry donors like you and me who make the "nickle and dime" donations probably account for a huge slice of the pie when all is said and done.

73 de Larry W2LJ

2 comments:

  1. $10 is probably generous compared to what most people contribute. There is really no excuse. It wouldn't be too hard for DXpedition website developers to put together something using a PayPal shopping cart script that automatically generates a QSL and mailing label on receipt of payment.

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  2. I think a DXpedition is happy to take any amount of money that is donated. I donated $10 to the K5D Desecheo DXpedition and received QSL cards and LoTW confirmations now. To me it's more of a "thank you" then a "Hey, move me to the top of the list" request.

    The lack of response you've received is a bit of a turn off as you noted. Maybe they aren't receiving them? If you have multiple emails, try a different one or a different email address to send to.

    No matter what you think, your "minimal" donation is more then the vast majority of those that didn't donate [and which they shouldn't feel obligated to do].

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