Behind the Scenes at ARRL's Logbook of The World

[Dr. Detroit]

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at ARRL's Logbook of The World.
Copyright 2012 Dr. Detroit. All Rights Reserved.


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This is why LoTW confirmations take about 23 times
longer than the typical QSL card bureau.

[KJ3N]

You don't have much of an axe to grind, do you?

[WØTKX]

What's a "log"? :mrgreen:

[N2CHX]

Hahahahahahaha! OMG! :rofl:

[Dr. Detroit]

You don't have much of an axe to grind, do you?

Truth be told, I'm a pretty loyal user of LoTW. My 12-year-old son uses it too.

What I find fascinating is the wildly varying expectations people have developed in regards to LoTW. For example, some folks think that, because it is a system that's completely automated by high-speed servers and the global Internet, results (i.e., QSO confirmations) should be instantaneous, and they view the current situation (5 day backlog) as ridiculously unacceptable. Other folks compare LoTW to the QSL bureau system, and with that as their point of reference, they think LoTW is an awesome miracle.

I tend to fall into the first group, but I see both sides of the discussion.

I did think it would make a funny slide sequence, though.

Dr. Detroit

[KB3ZGV]

I know ARRL isn't going to get 40 bucks from me, so the "Ol Boys" at the top can sit around sipping brandy and smoking cigars in front of the fireplace, while collecting enormous salaries.

[wa6mhz]

I only do PAPER cards. This LOTW is too tricky to figure out. I can wait for the cards to come in. I only need about 4 or 5 more countries to have them all. But the LOTW would help me out on CW and RTTY. Worked alot of those but sending off for all those cards would be prohibitively expensive. SASE to all parts of the world, wow! In some cases, I have enclosed a $20 to try and get a card! For less than a half dozen, it's not too bad. For several HUNDRED, it is just not a viable way. So, I will HAVE to do the LOTW one of these days. But to use it, all the logs have to be converted to DIGITAL first! All my logs, since 1968, are 100% pen and paper! Would take COUNTLESS hours to transcribe them all!

[W3WN]

"Too tricky" ? Please. Tedious, yes, but signing up is a one-time thing. Even renewing the security certificate only takes a few moments, once every 3 years, and is relatively painless.

That's not to say the LotW couldn't use a little sprucing up. It can. It won't get it because it has no "champion" at HQ, not since Wayne Mills left. That's where WE, the members, need to push our Directors, to get it done. (Of course, since you were an SM in the past, you know this Pat)

[W3WN]

I know ARRL isn't going to get 40 bucks from me, so the "Ol Boys" at the top can sit around sipping brandy and smoking cigars in front of the fireplace, while collecting enormous salaries.First off Joe, it doesn't cost a dime to use LotW. You don't have to join the League to upload your logs, or see your data match up. (Yes, you do have to be a League member to get the awards they offer, at least if you're a US ham, but that's a whole 'nother story)

Second, I don't know where you get the notion that the League is the "Ol Boys" and so forth. The League is it's members. Now, if you want to claim that some of the top brass have gotten a little too complacent, I'd agree with you (and since I've been an ARRL member for 40 years, I think I'm entitled to say that). Now I don't want to veer off topic here; suffice to say that if you don't like the way things are run, you have to DO something about it, and you can't do anything if you're not a member.

Kvetching is easy. Actually doing something...

[KJ3N]

This LOTW is too tricky to figure out.

Not for a public high school graduate.

I signed up once, under my original callsign. Still got the old cert around here somewhere.

Realized I couldn't see anything that might have been waiting for me, so I never went back. I prefer eQSL.

[KJ3N]

(Yes, you do have to be a League member to get the awards they offer, at least if you're a US ham, but that's a whole 'nother story)

Which reminds me..... http://bbs.roddenberry.com/images/smilies/impatient.gif

[K7SGJ]

I'm kinda like Pat in that I still like the mail-em out QSL cards. There is just something about the way the Post Office cancel stamp appears on the front, the back, the sides, and just about everywhere but on the stamp. I guess it's a carry over from the old days, but then a post card was only 3 or 4 cents back then, too.

[KB3ZGV]

First off Joe, it doesn't cost a dime to use LotW. You don't have to join the League to upload your logs, or see your data match up. (Yes, you do have to be a League member to get the awards they offer, at least if you're a US ham, but that's a whole 'nother story)

Second, I don't know where you get the notion that the League is the "Ol Boys" and so forth. The League is it's members. Now, if you want to claim that some of the top brass have gotten a little too complacent, I'd agree with you (and since I've been an ARRL member for 40 years, I think I'm entitled to say that). Now I don't want to veer off topic here; suffice to say that if you don't like the way things are run, you have to DO something about it, and you can't do anything if you're not a member.

Kvetching is easy. Actually doing something...


Actually I was kind of ambivalent about ARRL before that thread over at the zed. The OP over there asked for "opinions of new hams" and I gave my opinion which was,,,

"I really don't care ,and I have would rather spend 40 bucks on a hand-mic or a spool of wire."

Next thing I know I get called a "freeloader" and the bashfest began.

And really I do look at ARRL the same way I look at AOPA or any other of those kind of non-profits. I don't find all that much value in them.

And the licensing of the logo, for credit cards and other merchandise is kind of tacky. That really turns me off.

[W5GA]

I much prefer to use LoTW, as it's far, far cheaper than postage and envelopes both ways, having cards printed etc. Even more so now that the USPS is considering doing away with IRC's. My current LoTW return rate is a bit over 25%, which is better than I ever got with paper.

[KB3ZGV]

I'm kinda like Pat in that I still like the mail-em out QSL cards. There is just something about the way the Post Office cancel stamp appears on the front, the back, the sides, and just about everywhere but on the stamp. I guess it's a carry over from the old days, but then a post card was only 3 or 4 cents back then, too.

Yeah but beer was a nickel then too :)

[K7SGJ]

Yeah but beer was a nickel then too :)

So was the deposit on the bottle.

[W8XLR]

I tried the direct mail method for a while, but after sending loads of "green stamps" and after getting less than 10% return, gave it up. I then jumped through all the hoops to do LOTW, but that bore an even lower return rate than direct... So much for that. Then, I signed up for eQSL, and now I get about 65% confirmed... YMMV.

IMHO, ARRL is a waste of $40 bucks. I drank the coolaid mainly so I could access the QST archives, only to find the data base very unimpressive. A common search engine yields more usefull information. Even QST sucks... It's not much more than a catalog, which I get from HRO and AES for free.

[W3WN]

Actually I was kind of ambivalent about ARRL before that thread over at the zed. The OP over there asked for "opinions of new hams" and I gave my opinion which was,,,

"I really don't care ,and I have would rather spend 40 bucks on a hand-mic or a spool of wire."

Next thing I know I get called a "freeloader" and the bashfest began.

And really I do look at ARRL the same way I look at AOPA or any other of those kind of non-profits. I don't find all that much value in them.

And the licensing of the logo, for credit cards and other merchandise is kind of tacky. That really turns me off.
Yeah, I saw that. Suffice to say that your comments were considered the equivalent of spreading chum in shark infested waters.

Don't blame the League because of those... mistakes of evolution.