Monday, March 02, 2009

CQ to accept eQSLs for awards

My copy of the March CQ Magazine has only just arrived, so this will not be news to many people, but I was pleased to read that CQ will now accept eQSLs for its various awards. At last, someone is taking a practical commonsense attitude towards contact confirmation!

It has long been time that the costly, time-consuming and wasteful business of postal QSLing was laid to rest. Most radio amateurs now have internet access. Of those who don't, I expect many are in less affluent parts of the world and find the cost of printing and posting QSLs painfully expensive.

The argument that eQSLs are easier to forge has always been false, and never more so than since the advent of high resolution scanners, colour laser printers and PhotoShop. An eQSL is automatically verified, since only the station making the contact being claimed for can create it on the system. There is no way for someone who needs a particular confirmation for an award to fake an entry.

I'm glad to see that this aspect of the hobby is finally moving into the electronic age of the 21st century.

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