Don’t get me wrong – I think ham radio is one of the best hobbies in the world and this little rant is not intended to besmerch that reputation at all. In fact, you can probably just ignore this post.

I have helped many radio hams in the few years I have been a ham – and many have helped me! No fees attached. There may be fuel costs or perhaps materials, but I have been given antennas, without even being asked for the cost of the materials.

This behaviour is not unheard of either – I remember a new ham wanted to put on an electronics course at our club and he wanted to charge for his time – and it was definetly frownd upon and many complained.

So why this rant? Well I think it is very unsporty and not in the spirit of ham radio when people in countries with few hams (or rare dxcc entities) insist on charging for a LOTW QSL. Paper QSL cards I understand and I have sent (and recieved) paper cards and there is a cost associated with that. But when your program logs the QSO automatically and you can simply upload it (free of charge) to LOTW then it seems churlish to insist on a “donation”.

Internet is expensive/unavailable: My first experience of this was one of the islands west of Africa. It’s not the internet cost because they were chatty by email when I contact them about a QSL.

Expensive to do: Next was a dx-expedition to a country I wanted. I made the QSO but could not get a QSL without paying for it. The expedition was not an expensive one (compared to some multi-million expeditions) but there would have been costs – accepted, but not for making a QSL!

I am a SOTA activator and I pick up the full bill for my climbing activities – witch often run into several hundreds of rands per expedition. Fuel and accommodation – and now park fees also becoming a big cost contributor, SOTA is getting expensive. My chasers sit at home and have a beer while I climb in the outdoors – that is the nature of the exercise. No chaser has ever offerred to pay toward my costs and nor have I ever asked for a payment or contribution. An online QSL from me will always be free.

The final straw came this morning. I contacted the OM to enquire why I was not in his log and was told I can get the LOTW confirmation if I make a contribution to his PayPal account.

Sorry, I don’t feel this is amateur radio. You might feel differently – that is your choice. Rant over.