About this episode
The episode discusses the use of LoTW in amateur radio and the misconceptions surrounding its necessity.
Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I witnessed a fellow amateur attempting to guilt another into using LoTW with comments about how their QSO partner would appreciate confirmation via the service, even if they didn't care for it. Before I continue, if you're unfamiliar, when two amateurs make a contact, or a QSO, with each other, then there's generally a log entry at both ends to record the event. Some amateurs, myself included, save up these contacts and count how many continents, countries, states and other entities are recorded in the log. Several amateur radio organisations allow you to claim an award for such a record. However, before they accept your word for it, they require confirmation of the contact, something that the amateur community refers to as a QSL. To recap, a QSO is the contact, a QSL is the confirmation of that contact. Traditionally this was achieved with postcards, known as QSL cards, transported across the globe through various postal services, and coordinated by so-called QSL bureaus, often run by the amateur radio peak body in each country. With the advent of the Internet, much of this process has turned electronic. LoTW is an example of an…
People in this episode
Host: Onno (VK6FLAB)
Topics covered
- amateur radio
- LoTW
- QSO
- QSL
- electronic confirmation
- awards
Keywords
- LoTW
- QSO
- QSL
- amateur radio
- confirmation
- awards
- electronic logging
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: LoTW, ARRL, American Radio Relay League
More episodes of Foundations of Amateur Radio
- Bald Yak 20: More Pi with the Soap · June 6, 2026 · 5 min
- Bald Yak 19: SoapyAudio adventures · May 30, 2026 · 5 min
- Some days are like running in place ... · May 16, 2026 · 5 min
- Keeping track of your adventures · May 9, 2026 · 8 min
- Dealing with Complexity · May 2, 2026 · 6 min
- What does amateur radio bring to your life? · April 25, 2026 · 6 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Foundations of Amateur Radio podcast page.