How NOT to get A QSL Card!

How NOT to Get a QSL Card!

I have just seen what has to be one of the worst examples of a reception report sent to a shortwave broadcast station in recent times! I have concealed the identities of both the station and the listener concerned. 

See if you can make anything of this..........!

So let's go through the problems with this reception report.

1)  The first sentence doesn't address anyone in particular. It is just a "hello" and an outline of the deal the writer wants to secure. A signal report in exchange for a QSL card. Talk about getting straight to the point!

2)  Radio:  "Grundig Eton Micro Satellit 750". What is this listener referring to by including the word "micro"?

3)  The time is expressed for the eastern USA time zone rather than in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The station is NOT a US broadcaster, so the person attempting to answer this listener's letter has to calculate time zones in order to work out when the broadcast was heard. We don't accurately know the date of reception. Was it in UTC or on eastern US date (probably the latter, but we can't be sure).

4)  We can probably assume that the time provided in the letter is the start time, but we are not informed of when the writer completed the listening session. So for how long did he listen to the station - 1 minute, 15 minutes, 60 minutes?

5) The frequency line talks about "shortwave wide and not shortwave narrow". What does THAT mean? I suspect it is referring to the bandwidth filter that was used. The Satellit 750 has a wide/narrow switch option. However, would a person reading listener mail know this? Moreover, what is the purpose of listing the filter bandwidth here?

6)  Report: Well...let's take this apart bit-by-bit....not that there's much to pull apart!

• "I heard'ya OK". Right. So that doesn't tell us much!
• "You had a lot of static on'ya and you were fading in and out". Yes. This is a widespread occurrence on shortwave - the nature of the medium! Again, it doesn't tell us much.
• "At the time of the report I was using an external antenna called an ST-2". We have no idea what this is. Expect that the person reading the report would not be familiar with this antenna. I suspect the writer may be referring to a Magnum Dynalab - ST-2, which is an FM antenna. But who knows....? Anyway, the antenna description is usually listed with the radio description, not part of a signal report.
• "I gotta at 20dbi/4 signal rating". Aside from the grammatical error, the way he has written this is not clear at all. It is also quite likely to be unclear to the station staff member unfortunate enough to be reading this reception report!

7)  "Please send QSL to:...."  This half-statement could be interpreted as: "I have fulfilled my end of the deal by providing you with this crappy reception report. Now it is up to you, radio station X, to come up with the goods at your end." This sentence is tantamount to a simple demand for a QSL.

8)  This reception report does not contain any description of the programs heard. How do we know that the writer was listening to THIS station? The answer is we don't know! Did he even turn on the radio before writing his letter? 

9)  We don't know what language this listener was monitoring in the broadcast. We could assume that it was possibly the English service, but we don't know that for sure. This particular station broadcasts in many languages.

10)  The writer does not comment on whether he enjoyed the program or not. He offers no feedback about the broadcast's program content. This is a shame because carefully considered feedback helps the station to target its programs better to listeners interests.  

11)  The writer tells the station nothing about himself. He offers no personal insights into his background, age, music tastes, why he listened to this station, doesn't say if he is a regular listener, etc. Broadcasters are very interested in the profiles of their listeners. It helps them to develop a variety of programs that will hopefully inform and entertain listeners. 

We Can't Blame the Station!

So from the above, we can see that this is quite a poor reception report. It is highly unlikely that this station would have found ANYTHING of value here! At best, it may have taken the writer around five minutes to put this "report" together. However, he wants the station to send him a QSL card (expense), by the traditional mail method (more expense), which would be filled out by a paid station employee (yet more expense). Is it any wonder that so many broadcasters no longer respond to listeners letters? Who could blame them?!

Some Reception Report Writing Tips

I have drawn upon the above letter as an example of how NOT to write a reception report. Studying someone else's mistakes can remind us of what not to do.....hopefully! Here are several other tips that you should consider:

1. If possible, try to include two or three days of observations. Continuous monitoring is far more valuable than a one-day 10-minute burst.
2. Reports that are less than 20 minutes long are of less value to the station, especially if the broadcast is, say, a one-hour service. Propagation conditions can change radically during a listening session. Give the station as much of your monitoring time as you can on the broadcast.
3. These days, the design and construction of shortwave receivers is quite high and comparatively even in quality across the brands. However, the types of antennas can vary significantly, which will, of course, affect the reception quality. There is a big difference between a short, compromised inbuilt whip antenna and a multitude of external antennas. Spend a sentence or two describing your personal antenna set-up.
4. It is up to you to decide whether you want to describe in words what the reception characteristics were like, or if you would prefer to use the SINPO or SIO codes. I have written an article about the advantages and disadvantages of using SINPO, so you may want to follow-up on this in a post called The Use and Abuse of SINPO. Check it out!
5. It is essential to spend time giving the broadcaster valuable feedback about their programs. Doing so can significantly increase your chances of receiving a response from them. In his excellent article, Writing Useful Reception Reports, Jonathan Marks offers some great ideas on how to provide better feedback when commenting on programs. Although written in August 1991, the same ideas are just as relevant today. Check that out, too!
6. There is a fair chance that the person at an international radio station who reads your reception report may not be completely conversant or skilled in your own primary language. So poor grammar and slang have no place in a letter or email to an international reader. Take time to write well.

Don't ask for the Earth!

The very same broadcaster also published on their website a letter from another listener who said: "I would like to have QSL, 2018 calendar, stickers, cap, latest promotional items and keyring confirmation of this report." In other words, this guy wanted a truckload of stuff delivered to his address, for which he sent a rather third-rate reception report! I was surprised this listener didn't request the kitchen sink and a free ticket to Hawaii as well!

Finally.....

Treat the radio station with respect. Treat the station staff as your friends. If you can build rapport, you can get results.

73 and good DX to you all!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

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