Hello all: I wonder if anyone else has had my experience. I have sent direct QSL with the appropriate green stamps and return envelope to 5 different Argentine stations and 4 different Cuban stations. The cards were sent over 6 months ago. No returns at all! I keep an Excel spreadsheet of sent/returned and have no problems with anywhere else. Thoughts? Terry VA3CQG
If you're putting anything remotely radio related on the envelopes - call sign, the letters "ARS" (Amateur Radio Station), putting your own call sign in the return box, etc. - you are advertising in plain sight there is CASH in the envelope. This is not new - and many postal workers around the world (US included) have clued in on what "greenstamps for ham radio QSL cards" are all about. They look for envelopes with call signs or any mention of ham radio. That's my guess and I'm betting it's spot on - your cash has simply been taken, the envelopes tossed in the trash. When I send greenstamps for a DX QSL, I always use a "pretty envelope" out of my wife's stationery box, use one of her "breast cancer awareness" return address labels, and make no mention of a call sign anywhere. I also write "Family photos - do not bend" for extra measure. Once I started doing these things, my return rate hit nearly 100% Dave W7UUU
You might take into account the extremely high postage/exchange rate from Argentina these days. I think it is over $US 5 equivalent lately to mail a card to the US. Cuba is quite the other extreme. Postage for an envelope to the US is literally only pennies (US). But envelopes and printed cards are exorbitantly expensive. I'm QSL manager for a fellow in Cuba and I got some stamps from him to supply real SASE's. I only sent them to hams who specifically say that they QSL direct. Only 1 out of 10 responded. No cash, no call signs, etc. Add this on top of thieving postal workers
LOTW might be one choice. I have a few contacts to Argentina And Cuba confirmed on LOTW. Some stations only upload to LOTW once every few months..... Last upload for LU3CM: 2019-10-30 00:10:05Z Last upload for CO2AJ: 2019-05-03 01:48:07Z
Whenever I send US dollars which I avoid like anything as cannot get any from the banks, always disguise them in a inner envelope or a folded sheet of paper. OQRS and LOTW are a great help particularly OQRS as can make a donation as needed. As already remarked some ops only load to LOTW once a month or so. Theft of "green stamps" is an age old problem in some countries
I've always wanted to take one of the "Photos - Do Not Bend" envelopes that are clearly junk mail and bend it several times in several directions and return it with a note: "Sure They Do!"
Another facet regarding Cuba is apparently they are denied access to eQSL. I tried to get to the bottom of that since local tracerts clearly indicate that its being blocked internally. I spoke with one guy who is an ex-official with the FRC and he says its the "American blockade - end of story". I'm still of the mind that its a DNS screwup and nobody bothers to look into it because its unilaterally blamed on something else. Cubans are allowed access to all of the other online logging/confirmation services and other .cc addresses work as they should.
About seven years ago I had the cash removed and my card/envelopes returned to me from a Western European country. I got more careful about sending QSLs and don't recall any problems after that. Some stations will accept PayPal. I computer printed the info on my business sized envelopes so they looked more like junk mail.
