13 Colonies Special Event - Fail! Rant ....

Uhhh..........I meant to do that.

 

For K2B 2018 there was a problem. The State Manager just up and left! He never ordered cards and the cards that were available were from 2017., and they ran out fast! Once I found that out I had to do something, so as crass it appeared a download/fill out your self card was placed on the K2B QRZ page. I then paid for MYSELF qsl cards for K2B for 2019, and found a team that would be the QSL card managers. A new State manager was recruited and a new team.

Why did the K2B manager leave?? Why did he let the QSL cards go?? From communication I found out he was sick and tired for several years, getting QSL card requests with no SASE, Post card Qsl's, QSL cards with no info on them, QSL cards for other colony states, et.et.. Even though I don't blame him, I disagree with the way it was done. It cost me $160.00 for new 2019 K2B QSL cards out of my pocket, SO who was the guy who wants his stamps back??

Do you think this was done on purpose? If you do, you are misinformed. If some one says send in $2.00 for a card? DON'T! Most cards for 2020 will be funded out of the 13 Colonies account, so there will be no excuses. I can't promise this now because I am not through with all of the certs,, but if enough is left over this will be done.

Please understand that all of the Colony Op's are volunteers. They love doing this, and have fun. The try to give out as many "Q''s" as possible, BUT, When the LIDS arrive, throwing carriers, broadcasting music, by the #'s jumping out of turn, running Digi on the same frequency, putting out CW over the SSB sigs, ALL AT THE SAME TIME? And I just about know who they all are to! Some are so stupid they put out FT8 interference with their call sign! And yet, the beat goes on! And it will continue.. If you have a problem? Email me. Let me know what your concerns are! I can see that there are certain op's that all they do is frequent these forums and complain, but offer no suggestions. You know who you are and so do I. But, as Old Blue Eyes says! It still was "a very good year"

 

In a large part due to your efforts Ken!

Thank you!

 

I was attempting to contact one of the New Hampshire stations repeatedly , he repeated my call sign once but when I responded he didnt want to bother trying a little to make a legitimate contact.So I wasnt eligible for a certificate, Im glad now!

 

LOL , I suppose, I was just ranting, sour grapes I guess.

 

This always was and still is a great special event that requires far more participation and coordination by a dedicated team than your typical one man operation for a county hog calling contest.

When something goes sour it doesn't take long to be noticed and have attention brought to it. I can see why a manager would get tired of receiving QSL requests from those who can't read the instructions or choose to ignore them. I'm not a QSL manager but I would simply ignore the requests that did not comply with the SASE request or other requirements.

From reading the responses it seems clear to me that if anyone deserves the wrath of the participants it is the dead beats who spoiled it for everyone. I sure don't blame the participants who worked their ass off to coordinate and put on the event, and then feel guilty if they don't compensate out of their own pocket for the dead beasts who cant follow instructions. And then have to have thick enough skin to not let the complaints drive them away from future participation.

It's nice to get all the cards and the certificate. I have a few sets myself. But if there is a fly in the ointment, just let the activity be its own reward.

Celebrating patriotism is still a good thing, even if you don't have all the QSLs to prove you did it.

 

K8BZ: I fully agree with what you said, BUT! If the QSL card manager disregards the deadbeat Lids who can't follow instructions? THEN that deadbeat Lid ends up on forums like this one! Giving everyone a bad name. THEN the other Lids, who forgot to take their anger management pills, join in!

 

Yes, some of the others would definitely join in. At the risk of appearing like I'm trying to tell the operators/organizers how to do their job I will just saw what I would do in a sentence or two below. But first, I would like to say that the Original 13 Colonies Special Event is a great thing and I hope it continues every year. I wish I lived in one of the original 13 so I could volunteer to be one of the operators. I would love it. I was an operator in the ARRL centennial SE and made over 5,000 contacts from Michigan as W1AW/8.

Now, with that being said, if I were responsible for one of the colony operations and QRZ page I would make sure that something like this appeared at the very top of the QRZ page listing:

K2WHATEVER QSL Instructions:
SASE Required for a response to US addresses. All others $2 to cover cost of postage. We will be unable to respond via the bureau, but will upload to LoTW. Very sorry but no SASE or $2 for non US addresses means no QSL response.

Then, if I saw a deadbeat respond in a negative way I could just copy and paste the above instructions from the QRZ page in response and forget about it. Responsible hams would understand, and deadbeats would still be deadbeats no matter what you do. So I wouldn't loose any sleep over it.

In closing, a very sincere thank you to everyone involved in this very nice special event. Don't let a few complaints whether from without or from within your group discourage you from continuing this operation every year. The team effort of dedicated individuals is very evident and much appreciated by countless hams who look forward to this event. From the very first running of this event I have heard lots of on the air discussions between hams about how many colonies they worked; how much they enjoy the event; and how they are still trying to pick up the colonies they need.

Very few special events generate as much interest and participation. I believe part of the excitement is that making a clean sweep in this event is achievable by an average 100 watt station using wire antennas. The certificates are always nicely designed and are new every year. I can't think of a better reason to hold a special event than the founding of our country. Thanks again and keep up the good work.

 

I look forward to this event every year and appreciate all the effort it must take to put on an event like this. Unfortunately if you go to their website http://www.13colonies.net/ you will see that all is not well in paradise. From www.13colonies.net:

13 Colonies WEB SITE is down as of 07/14/2019

After many years and hundreds of hours of web design and free hosting, I have decided NOT TO BE A PART OF 13 Colonies any longer.

I have discovered many things regarding 13 Colonies, and I will not share my opinion of this event.
MANY peole have e mailed me questioning the motives of this event, which I will not comment on.

I have nothing to do with the operation of this event, creation of this event, printing or delivering of any certificates or the collection of money sent in.

I personally have not collected any money from this event, and will not and have not taken any payments for my services.

I unlike others have NOT made a profit on this event.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apparently there is some internal conflict over the running of this event. The last line appears to be a not so veiled allegation of financial improprieties which would be shocking if true. This may explain the lack of quality I've noticed in the recent certificate(s). The 2019 certificate IMHO is by far the worst one. This certificate appears to be printed on flimsy copy paper by an inkjet printer, with dirty rollers, running out of ink! I hope it all gets sorted out and this event continues as it is just plain fun regardless of the quality of certificate issued.

 

First, the author of this LIE was eliminated as an operator. He did not decide anything! He stated on His site that he did not, will not nor request any money for his services! A LIE! Two years ago He emailed me asking if He could set up a web site for the event for FREE! No gratuities what so ever. I have the email. He also was an event operator. I agreed, and we got together and exchanged ideas. The site was set up. The second week this July 2019, he emailed me demanding a payment from me of $1,175.00 for his services OR if not paid, He would shut down the web site. (EXTORTION). I refused. He then shut down the site and started a campaign slandering me and the event. He stated that I pocketed over $85,000.00 this year???? I can tell you that this event has not generated that kind of $$$ for the 11 years it has been going on COMBINED! I also have the emails for all of the above too! He also took his name and call sign off the web site so no one would know who he was! WHY? because He knows what he is doing is wrong. I told him that in this country we have free speech, BUT sometimes free speech has consequences. He also without notice shut down the web site in 2018 because He could not handle some emails he was getting requesting some info about changes he had made to the site. I had to call him and just about kiss his _______(fill in the blank) to get it up and running again. I should of seen the instability then.

Using his 3rd grade math skills, His calculations are quite faulty. We had about 170,000 CONTACTS this year. He thought the 170 were each individual operators? They are not! You have to divide the 170 by 13 colony states and three bonus stations, and all those who made contacts for multiple bands and modes. We both agreed that the average number of people who send in for certs ranges about 8-12%. Taking 10% as the average based on past data. SO He took 10% of 170,000 x $5.00 donation per certificate and came up with $85,000.00-LOL! The realistic number is approx. +/-8% of the 85K.. He accused me of pocketing the overage with no proof. A special account was set up for the event and the $$ stayed in THERE, NOT my pocket as He says.

THEN there are the expenses! Printer, ink, paper, card stock USPO STAMPS (lots), envelopes, tape, QSL cards, Event award plaques, postage for same, and others-of which I have all of the deposit records and receipts as proof. He still would not listen.

I was honest with him and told him that yes, there was some $$$ left over, which is carried over to the next year. He still kept up with the slander. NOW CHEAP PAPER??? We use SouthWorth 20% cotton paper ($45.00 a box).quite expensive! Those roller marks you say you see? Most are WATERMARKS impregnated in the paper. All high quality paper has this.. This paper is acid free which stops fading and discoloring over a long period of time. NO WAY this is cheap copy paper and if you tore each one in half you will see the difference. Hold the cert up to a light and you will see a watermark. YES a $700.00 Ink Jet printer with clean rollers. Using a laser printer would be cost prohibitive based on the volume we do and they are unreliable and not built for volume printing.

What bothers me is that folks complain with out knowing what they are talking about. The center photo of Fort Ticonderoga is a color scan of an old linen post card printed in the 1950's! A linen post card has LINES on it, so these lines are also reproduced as such on the scan and on the finished printed product. It is an actual representation of the fort after it was restored in 1909. It is full color and SUCKS ink.. And as per hundreds of responses I have gotten-THE best one yet!

SO! I have all the emails from Him proving all above. I have all financial records for the year rebuking his slanderous claims. The burden of PROOF is on HIM, which he has NONE! He was eliminated from the 13 Colonies group, and banned from our face book page. He says he has about 30 operators in his camp, BIG DEAL! I have THOUSANDS! And in NO WAY, will these LIDS stop this fantastic Amateur event. All the music, FT8 over SSB, carriers and other interference? It will not and does not effect anything and does not matter at all. I put in hundreds (that is right) of hours of work to make this event work, and I will not complain. Not counting all of the State volunteer operators too! I have put in over $600.00 of my own money to start this thing and have as of yet, paid myself back and probably won't, I spend ALL of my summer working approx.4-5 hours a day printing and mailing certificates (Well into September)-my summer is shot! BUT ya know what? It is all worth it getting on the air for that great week of operating and honoring our country and Veterans. SO I just don't want to hear any more garbage. It discust's me.

 

Very well said Ken!...You always do a good job for the event and alot of people look forward to it. As you stated, the "LIDS" are the ones who are causing the interference using FT8, CW and playing music. It seems to me that guy was just out to make money and care less about the event. We also have the radio police out there telling everyone when someone is using splits or anything else. They cause more QRM then the ones not knowing the station is using the splits. 1 person calls and then 10 people come back to him yelling and screaming "HE'S USING SPLITS"!!! and they will yell at him for 30 seconds!. Like GB13COL when he was calling...The LIDS keep on calling over him when he has already made a contact with a station. He is trying to get their info and the morons just keep on calling. It took a 9 year old girl to tell all them men on there that they were rude and have no consideration for the other operators. I personally think its best when the stations working the 13 colonies go by the numbers. Alot of the ones causing the problems sound just like the ones I heard on 7.200, 14.313 and on 80 meters....Grown men (if you want to call them that) acting like 12 year olds when they don't get their way. All that guys 30 friends are in my opinion just washed up CB'rs. You Ken have 1000's of good friends out here who respect what you do. I for one tip my hat at you for the good job you do. Don't let the morons get under your skin because there are more out here that are good people then bad by a far number. Keep the event going because you can see the response on how good your event is by the amount of people that your group of volunteers make contact with. And I bet you get plenty of QSL and Certificate request....30 people he has? LOL LOL LOL, that sounds like a Boy Scout group!....Good Job Ken!!...Keep up the good work!

 

Ken, Wow! Glad to hear the other side rather than just see what was posted. Thanks for keeping this special event going and clarifying this unfortunate internal conflict. I know organizing and successfully executing a special event as popular as this one must have many challenges. All the best.

 

Mind boggling that grown men and women are carrying on like this. Of course there will be LIDS - where in life are they not present? Of course there will be station issues - where in life does everything run smoothly with no hiccups? I will admit that I have done my share of ranting to a couple of close ham friends, but contrarily, these things have tended to spur me on to try that much harder.

This is my favorite event of the year, "problems" and all, hands down. Thank you to Ken KU2US, and the colony teams - you all do a fantastic job. I am glad to hear it will continue. As is everywhere, the silent majority is silent and the handful of perpetual malcontents loud. Just know that this event is much enjoyed. In this day and age, it soothes the soul to hear the calls of "God bless America", "Happy Independence Day", and "God bless our troops". Thank you!

 

Glad to see that things are much better in 2019 than a year ago when I started this thread.