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Cessation of I R C's

Discussion in 'General Announcements' started by G3TMB, Jun 3, 2014.

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  1. G3TMB

    G3TMB Ham Member QRZ Page

    Are British hams aware that the Post Office has now ceased selling I R C's? so we are now going to have to rely on purchasing American Dollars, usually at twice the price of IRC's!! and overseas Hams are still asking for them!!
     
  2. K2HAT

    K2HAT Premium Subscriber Volunteer Moderator Volunteer DX Helper QRZ Page

    US Post Office will not sell or accept them As of January 27, 2013, the U.S. Postal Service no longer sells international reply coupons.

    You may be able to buy them in another country.

    I try to find and work Hams that use LOTW. :)
     
  3. NA7E

    NA7E Ham Member QRZ Page

  4. K2HAT

    K2HAT Premium Subscriber Volunteer Moderator Volunteer DX Helper QRZ Page

    My local post office's Plural will not take them, and do not sell them.

    Your results may vary. ;)

    I did not push the issue, I have only gotten 2 IRC's here in the last 3 years.

    73 K2HAT :)
     
  5. W7UUU

    W7UUU Director, QRZ Forums Lifetime Member 133 QRZ HQ Staff Life Member QRZ Page

    My local post offices have no clue what they are and absolutely do NOT sell or accept them,
    regardless of any ARRL articles to the contrary.

    Greenstamps + SAE for direct, or LoTW/eQSL (or someday when QRZ log has awards to strive for, which
    I'm sure is coming soon)

    Dave
    W7UUU
     
  6. KV4RH

    KV4RH Ham Member QRZ Page

    This isn't difficult.

    You send a card, I send a card. You pay yours, I pay mine. No stamps, dollars or envelopes needed. And I'm sure as heck not sending you cash or any kewpahns.

    LOTW is NOT difficult to setup or use. The world is changing and progressing. Time to change and progress with it!

    So in summary, need conformation? YOU mail a card or join the 21st century. My confirmation is waiting, for free, either route you choose.
     
  7. W7UUU

    W7UUU Director, QRZ Forums Lifetime Member 133 QRZ HQ Staff Life Member QRZ Page


    You clearly don't want "paper" QSL cards. Fine. Other folks might view the world differently. They have that right and the system largely supports it
    BOTH ways - LoTW (not LOTW, by the way) - eQSL, QRZ Log, Bureau, direct via SASE + "GS" etc... the world is a BIG PLACE and unfortunately
    you don't really get to determine how the world views it.... no offense, but it's a BIG PLACE with a lot of people of differing ideas.

    By the way - what's a kewpahn - sounds like something a CB guy would talk about.... your spell checker should have helped you out on that
    Does a "Linyar" dispense a "Kewpawn"? Do "staters hand out kewpawns"?? :D:D

    :)

    Dave
    W7UUU
     
  8. KV4RH

    KV4RH Ham Member QRZ Page

    To the contrary my superiority spewing friend. I love QSL cards. Getting, Sending, Seeing, Displaying them. Love it. I'm just unsettled with the practice of someone sitting back and letting everyone else pay for his desire to have cards come to him. I am unsure on the "you get a card, I get a card, but you pay to mail both of them" attitude that seems to prevalent! Not to mention the DX folks who ask for green stamps and never send anything in return. And since it is prevalent for the other person to sit and wait for you to fund his hobby, I don't send cards since I don't believe in the need to pay HIS postage! If someone agrees with my view on the whole matter by participating in the thing in a logical manner, and mails their card to me, I will GLADLY return the favor, and PROUDLY display their card. If they include a stamp or SASE or money, it goes right back to them. You Pay Yours, I Pay Mine.

    And you're right on the differences of opinion. Those shall just remain as unconfirmed entries in the logbook until their opinions change and they see the light of digital logging, or in carrying their share of the postage!

    As far as a Kewpahn, my spelling is intentional, and meant to convey the futile and simple minded nature of still using such things. Why would one go out LOOKING for a way to make theirs and their recipients lives more difficult? Good riddance I say.
     
  9. KQ9J

    KQ9J Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    So say I want a card from "Zambezia". I send a card, no green stamps or IRC. On the other hand, the "Zambezian" operator has, in addition to me, worked about a two thousand US hams. He pays all the cost to send two thousand cards back to the states?? That one card is not going to hurt my pocketbook but two thousand sure would! That is an awful lot to expect from anyone engaging in this hobby.

    As for LoTW, it is a good system and an electronic method of confirming contacts is progress. But it does not antiquate or render obsolete the paper QSL. I look at my confirmations in LoTW and yes, it's nice...but my collection of cards hanging on the wall is a hell of a lot nicer. It makes me happy.

    Until I get a card from every entity hanging on my wall, I will be requesting (and paying for) paper cards.

    Progress has good points and bad points. Let the mindless lemmings blindly follow the pied piper of progress. I will take from him what I want, and keep the parts of the old that serve me better.
     
  10. KV4RH

    KV4RH Ham Member QRZ Page

    LOTW is free for that operator. I agree you have a case if cards were necessary, but they aren't. I imagine 1900 of those ops would be THRILLED with a LOTW confirmation and wouldn't need a card.
     
  11. KQ9J

    KQ9J Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    For the dx station who already has USA confirmed, LoTW is likely the best option financially. For the US op seeking a card for that country, paying the cost both ways is only fair. Thanks for making my case. :)
     
  12. VE3OIJ

    VE3OIJ QRZ Lifetime Member #42 Platinum Subscriber Life Member QRZ Page

    It's likely that you feel that way because you don't have multiple callsigns or do many special events. I can assure you that LotW is quickly becomes a difficult PITA if you have multiple calls.

    LotW still doesn't have the return rate of paper cards in my shack. It doesn't even have the return rate of eQSL.

    So while I'd agree that the world is changing and progressing, and we have to change and progress with it, I'm not convinced LotW is a good example of that change.
     
  13. VE3OIJ

    VE3OIJ QRZ Lifetime Member #42 Platinum Subscriber Life Member QRZ Page

    For me, collecting the paper cards is an important part of this hobby. For me, it's a little envelope of joy that comes from the bureau every few weeks. I love seeing the artwork on the card, the contact info is almost secondary. It's like a little slice of wherever I was chatting.

    I collected post cards before I was started doing amateur radio. QSL Cards are a big part of the fun for me. I have thousands of dollars invested in radio hardware, a few more bucks on postage doesn't make much of a difference.

    More on topic...

    IRC were always annoying in Canada... they cost about twice the face value, so they were never worth it. I don't even know if they still sell them, but I stopped using them years ago since it was cheaper to accept the risk of sending cash through the mail than to pay $3.50 for an IRC that gave about $1.75 worth of postage.
     
  14. KV4RH

    KV4RH Ham Member QRZ Page

    And that's because people keep financing other folks QSL habit by paying both ways. Why take the time to set up LOTW when I can get all the other hams to pay my postage!

    That and people learn to operate $10,000 radios and build mutinamd antennas and solder SMDs but are scared of the technology of setting up an online logbook, claiming it's too difficult or too much of a hassle.
     
  15. VE3OIJ

    VE3OIJ QRZ Lifetime Member #42 Platinum Subscriber Life Member QRZ Page

    That's because it actually is too much of a hassle. Its complexity is wholly, totally, completely unnecessary.

    I'd be happy to explain in a private message why I think that, but before you retort, recognize that cryptography has been a big part of my career for multiple decades. I can expound at length on the shortcomings of LotW and its "security" that makes it a pain to use.
     
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