READERS RESPOND TO MY QSL CHEATERS POST

My blog post from February 15, “QSL CHEATING - A BLIGHT ON THE SWL HOBBY,” received a massive response from regular Mount Evelyn DX Report readers. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback, thoughts, and comments on the MEDXR blog and Facebook, as well as the many Facebook 'Likes.” If you haven't read the original article, the following will make much more sense if you refer back to that post (link above).

BUT… before I dive into some of the responses…..

The Sad Case of the Internet QSL

A few weeks ago, in one of the Facebook SWL groups, an example of precisely the kind of QSLing I was discussing popped up for everyone to see! I couldn’t believe the timing of the listener’s post! Impeccable!

The listener (identity protected) submitted his “reception” report to a small station (identity protected) in his country. The broadcaster operates on shortwave and mediumwave and offers on-demand Internet streaming. The station promptly replied with a paper QSL. 

The listener posted photos of the front and back of the QSL in his Facebook group. At the top of the details section was the message, “Thank you for your reception report.” In the frequency space, the broadcaster had handwritten the word “Internet.” The listener proudly shared the verification for everyone to see and admire!

Let me be clear on this. If the listening took place over the Internet, there was NO RECEPTION! The listener was merely streaming bits and bytes into his computer. This is EXACTLY what I discussed in the original article. 

To be fair, we didn’t see the listener’s report to the station. While compiling the report, he must have mentioned that he listened online. Therefore, in this instance, it appears the listener intended no deliberate deception. It’s a shame he didn’t, for whatever reason, monitor the station’s shortwave or mediumwave frequencies instead of using on-demand streaming, especially considering he lives in the same country as the broadcaster. 

There’s something special about receiving shortwave signals that can't be replicated online.

Who is to blame for this happening? 

Well, the fault lies squarely with three parties: 

1) The listener, for using a streaming service to obtain a QSL without using any receiving device,

2) The station, for mistakenly issuing a QSL to the listener as an acknowledgment that the listener streamed a web address, and

3) As the “senior citizens” of this hobby, we are partly to blame for not educating both this listener and the broadcaster about the long-standing history and discipline underpinning the QSL tradition.

There’s a teaching moment here. 

We need to help this listener gain a better understanding of the radio hobby. Hopefully, we can introduce him to a fun aspect of the hobby that will enhance his enjoyment of it.

However, as I mentioned in the original article, a few individuals deliberately abuse the hobby by using the Internet to collect QSLs dishonestly. 

Rob Doesn’t Like Kiwi SDRs!

Several individuals accused me of being against the use of remote SDRs. 

Not true! 

I was pretty clear on this. I suppose they didn’t read the article thoroughly enough. 

I often use online global SDRs, with Kiwis being my preferred choice. They are a valuable resource for researching frequency allocation, identifying stations, comparing reception, and enjoying relaxed listening.

However…….there’s always a “however”!! 😉

Let me emphasise the importance of developing technical skills in this hobby. A dedicated DXer is someone who uses their own equipment and antennas to participate in genuine DXing. They enhance their technical knowledge, develop a deeper understanding of propagation characteristics, learn about local reception conditions, study frequency monitoring and spectrum usage, experiment with various antennas, and explore other aspects of this fantastic hobby. That’s why this hobby is so enjoyable!

So, what’s the issue with using a remote SDR for reception reports?

A few readers admitted to using remote SDRs to send reception reports. Kudos to them for their honesty. Three individuals mentioned that they chose SDRs near their homes—one because he resides in a retirement home that doesn’t permit antennas, and another because he doesn’t own a radio.

OK! Fair enough. Understandable. But that's vastly different to a listener in the U.S.A. tuning a Kiwi receiver in, let’s say, the Netherlands to send a reception report to a flea-powered Dutch pirate.

I’m not fussed about how you tackle the hobby or the constraints you face. However, I believe it’s crucial to be upfront and honest with the station by stating in your report that you used a remote SDR and advising them of the receiver’s location.

And, in that case, the station should also mention the SDR's location on the QSL card. But good luck with that! 🙄

QSL cards! Do folks still collect them?

A few people raised this question. It’s a good one because it gets right to the heart of the matter. We older DX guys were lucky to live in a great era. There were hundreds of stations across the shortwave spectrum, minimal RF noise issues, and broadcasters eager to respond to every reception report. You might like to have a look at my QSL Archives to see some fantastic cards and letters from broadcasters in the 70s and 80s.

Regrettably, newcomers to the hobby have missed a fantastic era of shortwave listening. Most stations have vanished, local noise levels can be horrendous at times, and few stations bother to respond to a listener’s report. 

To make matters worse….

In my article, "The QSL Card...At What Cost?", I wrote: "....from the perspective of many shortwave broadcasters, the importance and relevance of reception reports have diminished significantly. Detailed technical information about signal strength, interference, and propagation characteristics is of little interest to a station’s programming staff. They simply want to know your thoughts on their program content. Their response with a QSL card is merely a glorified acknowledgment of your report and a “thank you” for taking the time to write and provide feedback, hoping that you will continue listening in the future. Call it a marketing exercise!"

From the station's perspective, the QSL card has lost its usefulness. They have access to the same remote SDRs that we do. If they respond, it’s not because they’re seeking any technical information. It's a straightforward courtesy to the listener. However, it incurs costs in staffing and resources—things that broadcasters simply don't have as governments around the world cut funding and close stations. Is it any wonder that many broadcasters have stopped responding to listener reports?

Some listeners believe that by sending a reception report for a shortwave broadcast, they are somehow "owed" a QSL card. A few even request extra items like bumper stickers, calendars, key rings, and all sorts of other nonsense. When they receive nothing, they protest and grumble loudly in Facebook forums. That is, frankly, a sad and unfair response. 

The educational consequences of disappearing DX clubs

Many DX clubs have disappeared. Organisations such as the Danish Shortwave Club International, the American Shortwave Listeners Club, SPEEDX, the New Zealand DX Radio Association, certain Japanese BCL clubs, and others have closed their doors. Massive declines in memberships, club administrators losing interest, and either moving on or becoming too old to keep running the groups, among other factors, have all contributed to the demise of these once great DX clubs.

I am a life member of the Australian Radio DX Club. The group still exists but is a shadow of its former self. There’s no new blood coming into the club, and hundreds of older members have moved on or passed away.

In their heyday, clubs educated their many members on how to send reception reports to stations. This education occurred through monthly newsletters, face-to-face club meetings, informal one-on-one settings, and various publications dedicated to the topic.

These days, newcomers to the hobby are turning to various forms of social media for information. While some of that information is reliable, much of it isn’t! 

Therefore, I refer back to my earlier comment about experienced DXers (the hobby’s senior citizens) getting involved by encouraging listeners AND broadcasters to adopt what could be termed “best practice” reporting and QSLing.

This is why I started this Mount Evelyn DX Report blog in 2012. I’ve gained so much from the radio hobby since I began SWBC DXing in 1968. I felt the need to give back to the hobby in some small way. MEDXR is my way of fulfilling that desire. 

OK. Enough rambling from me. To wrap up this lengthy blog post, here are some excerpts of the comments from readers who replied to my recent QSL Cheaters post.

73 and good DX to you all,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

READERS’ RESPONSE TO QSL CHEATERS

(Names have been removed from the quotes below.)

My thanks to all the readers below (and many others not represented here) who took the time to write down their thoughts about the original article. Your feedback has helped to enrich the discussion. – Rob VK3BVW

1) …….I must admit I have sent reception reports to a few European pirates using a Web SDR on a few occasions though I made it clear which receiver I was using and it's location. This was when the University of Twente Web SDR first became available. Probably around 10 years ago. These pirates were over the moon that their small low powered station could be heard in Australia using modern technology even if it was sort of cheating and had no problem sending a QSL. Probably the only more mainstream station i sent a reception report using this receiver was the Italian time station - Italacable as I really liked the QSL design. Once again I did make it clear it was from the Twente receiver as it would be impossible to receive in Australia with stations like WMV on the same frequency. They had no issue and sent out a QSL card.

2) …….It is the 'magic' of hearing those far-away places that has led many of us to a life-long hobby and interest, amateur licences and, often a career in a technical field. I do also explore the world of remote SDRs, but will never report a station using them.

The other thing is the use of wide band recording. Unless I had been physically at the location where it was made I would never contemplate using these to obtain a QSL. I have recordings made in Thailand but not by myself . I have had lots of fun going through these but would never claim that I was there physically or attempt to obtain a QSL. I will say that the level of skill and expertise needed to extract the most out of these recordings is often the same as in a 'live' session.

3) I am not opposed to the use of remote SDRs, but for my captures and sending of reports I only do so from my personal SDR, located in my QTH, and connected to a physical antenna, that is, a local receiving device. Long live the DX!!! And unfortunately there are and always will be dishonest people, but in the end, the real DXer knows what a genuine QSL is from a genuine listen

4) I am stunned. I had no idea there were SWLs who are this unscrupulous. It's flagrantly unethical. Thanks for shining a light on it!

5) Yes, you are so right, one just not use SDR to collect QSLs. I do listen to radio via SDR, but this is only to listen to really listen to a program. Never used for QSL. I have QSLs from about 40 radio stations all heard on real radio. 

6) I concur wholeheartedly with you regarding all of this, which I imagine most of us “old time” DXer’s will do. I got into the hobby as a teenager in high school when the thought of listening to voices from faraway lands invoked a magical feeling of mystery and thrill. When I learned you could actually write to these stations and receive mail from them, I was hooked. Each day, when I got home from school, I would check the table where my mother would lay out any relevant envelopes (often bearing colourful stamps) that had arrived in the mail that day. After managing to hear a sought after distant station, the other half of the fun was waiting (sometimes for months) for that reply, and hopefully QSL, via the “snail mail.” Yes, the Internet and e-mail were still science fiction at that point!

I used to carefully tuck away my verifications in albums or shoeboxes, and still have most of them to this day. In order to preserve radio history, I have scanned a large part of my collection and saved them to my Internet Archive page. 

However, as the 21st century arrived, with the Internet, online streaming and e-mails now in full swing, the QSLing part of the hobby lost its lustre for me. As many stations dropped from the airwaves in favour of the new format, the selection of interesting DX targets began to shrink dramatically. Most of my equipment has sat in storage in our garage for nearly a quarter century. 

7) I have been a SWBC DXer for over 60 years. I have no problem with people using web SDRs as long as they’re straightforward with the station and any journals or other places where they report their catches. For me, the hobby is still trying to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of the ionosphere, my low- noise antennas, my receivers, and my ears (actually my hearing aids now). But the day isn’t far away when I’ll be living in some high-rise senior center full of RF noise, and those web SDRs will be all I have access to — and I’ll be very happy to have them.

8) Web receivers are not the problem here, it is the desire to cheat. One can send audio clips from stream or Youtube recordings, add some artificial noise and claim to have heard that station and ask for QSL. For the ones who want to cheat there is always a way.

9) I live in a modern apartment building in a fairly large city, where installing an external antenna is not allowed. Consequently, I can only receive the strongest shortwave signals inside my apartment, primarily those from China. To listen to a broader range of radio stations when I'm at home, I rely on using a remote Software-Defined Radio (SDR). When submitting a reception report, I often opt to tune in through a local KiwiSDR and always specify the SDR's location in my report. In my view, this is a reasonable and acceptable practice. By “local SDR” I mean one that is located within a day’s driving distance.

10) Well said Rob! I am almost 62 and have taken pride in QSLing stations since 1977 using my own HF receivers and antennas. I don’t use remote receivers tethered to the internet and likely never will. It is exactly the same as just listening to WIFI radio as far as QSLing goes. I have a WIFI radio but never use it! When I capture a DX station I video record my receiver with my iphone and upload it to my private YouTube page and then send that link to the radio station I am QSLing along with a written report. This gives the radio station proof I am listening over the air and a very good indication of how it actually sounded. I did that recently with LRA 36 Radio Arcangel San Gabriel Antarctica. Happy Honest DXing!

11) I use KiwiSDR for listening but have never filed reports for anything picked up on that app. I am lucky enough to have, albeit an hour's drive and 15-20 minutes walk away, a patch of high ground which I have been able to take my radio to and get some stations and TXs with decent reception.

12) This is a fantastic article, Rob. It needed to be said. There are certain DXers who spam with their QSL cards using the likes of KiwiSDR or utwente. As someone who broadcasted before using my own money to rent airtime on C292, WRMI, and Shortwave Service. I felt it was extremely rude to have received a poorly written reception report from someone using an online SDR from the above. Not only was it rude, it was also and still is lazy. The demands were rude and bordered on harassment especially if you didn't respond within a few days... You'd be hit with passive aggression. I've found DXers from SEA to be rude in that manner... 

I could name DXers who spam using KiwiSDR and Utwente... Some of them have had the nerve to be noticed by the media as some sort of "DX master" It's people like them who are actively ruining our hobby. Just take a look on any of the QSL groups and you'll see who's doing it. In fact, I really feel like tagging them but we'll see if they want to chime in later. 

13) Someone could counter argue what I've said with my set up however the equipment used is my own. It's my Perseus SDR, it's my laptop and I pay for the internet. I was able to take a great opportunity but at the end of the day it's my own equipment, and I don't allow anyone to use it. 

14) It has to be stopped! Another one is the art of sending reception reports... "Heard you on 15770, SIO 333, male talking" isn't going to cut it... Nor is 15 minutes acceptable. 

15) I agree with you 100% OM. This is 100% cheating! The same cheating happens in Amateur Radio! Many "big gun DXers" use Remote receivers pretending that they can hear everybody everybody, but you can understand that they cheat because they take several seconds to reply because remote receivers have huge latency. Also some (many???) use remote Amateur Radio Stations via Internet and they hide it. Their behaviour kills the hobby.

16) At the end of the day, all a person really has or lacks is their integrity. People who really know propagation will know who is cheating. It's not that hard. They will be shunned and avoided. There are no monetary prizes or golden trophies for DX. If someone is that desperate for attention, that they would cheat on a hobby that is just for fun, I actually feel kind of sorry for them. There is no need to shame them publicly.

17) Cheaters in the hobby are hardly anything new, it's just that remote SDRs have now entered the picture. But I attended conventions back in the 90s where I was hearing horror stories of DXers who were A) going to conventions and doing reception reports of local stations, then flying back to their home QTH 2000-plus miles away and writing up reports that made it appear as though said DXer was hearing said station in the middle of the day; or B) somehow acquiring QSLs of deceased DXers and altering those QSLs to make it appear as if THEY were the ones who had done the report. As for me, I gave up on QSLing stations, as hardly anyone cares about responding to reports now -- the spread-too-thin cluster engineers simply don't have the time to reply. When my return rate went below 25% a few years ago, I knew it was time to give it up.

18) Well if we still had swl awards to chase after, I guess this would be cheating. But if folks just want to collect qsl cards, its no harm to me if they do it some convoluted way rather than directly off the air at their QTH. Its a hobby. I did swl qsls like you back in the day but I see no reason to get knotted up over how someone else plays radio. You do your way and enjoy. No need to be the referee.

19) What a shame people do this. The thrill is in the chase.

20) Especially when there are shortwave radios that cost so little. I have a cheap v-115 that ran 20 dollars US on Amazon and I was able to receive R. Ext de Espana, R. Romania Int, France here in Jacksonville, NC. It's so much more fun to build your own antenna with scrap stuff and seeing how far you can pickup.

21) Magnifico reportaje, del colega y amigo Rob Wagner...creo que su opinion, es compartida, por todos los miembros de este grupo, el cual hemos debatido y nos hemos cabreado mucho, con algunos que se llamaban diexistas y ya no tienen ni receptores y engañan a las emisoras, para obtener la ansiada QSL. Como diexistas, pedir QSL, a traves de un SDR REMOTO, es una estafa. Los SDR REMOTOS, son una magnifica herramienta, para hacer comprobaciones de que la emisora esta activa, si no podemos escucharla por nuestras estaciones....pero nada mas.

22) Yes, of course it goes against all that I hold as a standard but, I do support it as long as the QSL reflects the real location of the receiver. QSL reports were also supposed to benefit the station as well and SDR reports are just as valuable to them. How many of you have gone overseas with a radio and done SWL'ing? Same thing as an SDR.

23) Then the sending station should send it to the SDR station, NOT the SWL station. After all the SDR station is the actual receiving station. Physically taking a radio overseas and swl-ing is NOT the same as an SDR because you are actually receiving the signal at your location, not a separate location you aren't at. (the sdr location).

24) I fully agree with the writer. A QSL is a confirmation of a reception report at a specific location, not what you streamed, whether direct or via Kiwi. The other card collectors as mentioned are just cheats.

25) The truth of the matter is that reception reports are no longer as useful to radio stations today as they were many years ago. So should radio stations even waste time to respond to reports? On the other hand, the same stations have made it easier to listen to them by streaming their audio. Listeners no longer have to strain their ears listening to grainy audio. Local radio stations aren't really that interested in some dxers who can hear them using their rigs from the other end of the World.

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