I don’t know about you, but in the last few weeks, I have had an influx of electronic QSL cards from a new source. It is apparently called “qslworld.com”. It sounds like it has some ease of use features that probably attracts some interest, like just loading your log file and mapping your QSOs and making it easy to send electronic QSLs.
It is a partially free service (for now, but they are actively soliciting donations to gain additional features). The author says it is not intended to compete with LOTW or eQSL. These QSLs can’t be used to officially confirm a contact for ARRL awards. QRZ.com has their own logging system and awards, and I assume both stations would need to upload to QRZ.com to be confirmed for a QRZ award. So for now, it is just a friendly exchange of e-QSLs between stations.
But what if one of the stations does not participate in QSLWorld.com QSL system? Are we obligated to return a QSL? I really don’t want to have another QSL system. But maybe it is better, easier, and free, why not try it out? This is what the author is hoping. I’m sure he spent many hours developing this system, but he hints that they may charge in the future to keep it “sustainable”. That may be perfectly reasonable, but it is free now because they need to attract users. Once the critical mass of users is obtained, then I would not be surprised to see it become a paid service. If it grows to a large enough size, maybe the service could be sold to an outfit looking for recurring revenue.
Hams tend to be well-known for being cost conscious (cheap). Based on what I have seen in just a month or two, I could see this gaining some traction.
I will probably waffle back-and-forth for a while, and then feel like I should respond to these QSLs, and give in.
