[amsat-bb] Re: VUCC Costs (re-send with corrections)

[John Papay]

The new fee schedule has brought forth a lot of
comments.  Twenty cents a card seems like a lot of
money but consider how much you spent to get that card.

An SASE with a stamp on it plus the stamp for sending
it here in the US costs you $.88.  If you send for a
DX card to countries other than Canada and Mexico, it's
$.98 for the postage and an IRC costs $2.10.  If you are
lucky, you will get a DX card back for $3.08.  If you're
not lucky, you'll send for it again hoping to get a reply.

Then there's the cost of the cards to add in, maybe $.10 each,
and the envelopes, hopefully self seal so the other guy doesn't
have to spend time moistening and sealing it.  Maybe you bought
one of those stamps that say QSO Verified by (Callsign) at $25.
Then there are special airmail envelopes, one slightly smaller
than the other from Plum.  It's starting to add up.

If everyone would use LOTW for satellite qso's, the savings would
be impressive.  No postage, no cards, and just a $.16/card to
get credit for the grid.  But cards are nice to receive; much
more personable and they sometimes have other useful info.

So after you spent all that money to get the card, spending
another $.20 to submit it for VUCC doesn't seem all that bad.

73,
John K8YSE