GPG QSL exchange

[UR3LCM]

Hi all!
Look at my idea for a new QSL-exchange.
I call him - gpgQSL:

1. HAMs CFM QSO by ASCII text files.
2. HAMs send files direct via email.
3. Each file contains a fragment of Log in ADIF format.
4. The text is signed using GnuPG key.
5. HAMs create public and secret keys by GnuPG program.
6. The key contain: Callsign, Name, Email, HAM-license expires.
7. The secret key are stored only in the owner.
8. gpgQSL Certification Authority signed public keys.
9. Public keys are published on the gpgQSL key server.
10. QSO is verified using signed and published key.

That created HAM GnuPG Web of Trust and it is used for signing ADIFF QSO records.
In contrast to LoTW, it is decentralized.
What do you think?

Sorry for my bad English.

Ihor Sokorchuk, UR3LCM

[IZ5ZCO]

Hi Ihor, I had the same idea, but GnuPG (or PGP) is not known by most OMs and this is the main obstacle.

[UR3LCM]

Hi Nicola!
I am glad that with this idea I'm not alone
About "GnuPG (or PGP) is not known by most OMs":
I think it's not a big problem. GnuPG is a popular system in the world. It has many user-friendly wrappers and front ends for many computer systems.
Many manuals are published on the Internet. We may also publish the manual for HAMs with step by step instructions and with examples.

[IZ5ZCO]

We may also publish the manual for HAMs with step by step instructions and with examples.

Ok, Ihor, unfortunately I'm very busy at the moment, but I hope you'll find on this forum someone to help you. 

I'm entering your project in the news. 

[G0BVZ]

I now regret the time, effort and money I threw away chasing awards and contesting. At the time, it seemed the only thing to do. Now I recognise those "599 0123 73" exchanges for what they were, lost opportunities to have a decent QSO and maybe make a new friend. Doing exactly the same thing a million times over, faster and faster, isn't progress, it's stagnation.

When I returned to the bands after a too-long QRT I hooked up with LOTW and EQSL: they were completely new to me and it felt like "the digital future".  I'm going to quit LOTW before even having used it because I've now had time to think about it and I've decided the idea of having bank-level security with global coverage simply to confirm contacts made following a hobby is hilarious overkill.  (-And maybe a little creepy)

I think I'll keep on with EQSL because I read somewhere that it was less secure than LOTW and could be manipulated by cheats. That's more acceptable to me: a confirmation system which depends on the honour of those participating. There will always be cheats. There will always be those who walk into a store  and buy a black belt rather than earn it. They only cheat themselves: in the final analysis it's only a hobby, it isn't all that important, is it?

I want to communicate by radio on a human rather than on an industrial scale. I don't really care if a contact is confirmed or not, it's unimportant. A long time ago hams were real pioneers and their precious qsl cards served as proof to a disbelieving world that they had achieved something significant. The world has changed, Joe Public is more accepting; a cheap mobile phone can make global calls, as can computers. Joe Public will not be impressed by an award certificate. Now we live in a world where an unattended computer-driven rig could possibly achieve the same award automatically over a weekend! How impressive is that?

Good luck with developing your decentralised GPG-QSL exchange.  I'm unlikely to use it, but good luck anyway.

Vic  /an old, worn out, beat-up sad excuse for a ham.....

[DF5WW]

Hi Vic,

i use them all. Paper, eQSL and LotW. I´m a QRP´er but also a DX hunter and i love LotW. I got a countable confirmation without sending a direct card with greenstamps and/or IRC´s ..... Not every ham has enough money to pay for all the neede QSL´s from new countries.

Meanwhile i see a lot of stations in countries with good working bureaus, but if you look to qrz.com you see "only direct with 2 $$" ....

I have checked my log and the percentage of confirmations is the following:

Paper 3%
eQSL  71 %
LotW  63 %

Over all incoming confirmations are near 75 % but not to much paper cards. If the hams around the world will be back to the roots i don´t need a LotW and/or eQSL but i think a (paper) QSL is not longer the final courtesy of a QSO.

The question is, what count´s for a DXCC, a WAS or a VUCC   Only paper cards which checked by a local checkpoint and LotW confirmations. No eQSL and no others. So i think we don´t need another confirmation network.

Better back to the roots. If there´s a local radioclub be a member and send via bureau. If there is no local club o.K. .... then you can ask for return postage ... and only then.

Yust my 2 ct. 

[G0BVZ]

Juergen, I agree with you that in the digital age it is no longer necessary to post pieces of tree around the planet either as a courtesy -or to confirm a contact.

I like your talk of returning to roots. What is more fundamental than telling the truth and being believed?  If you tell me you have worked 10 countries or 100 countries, why would I not believe you?  Why would you lie? Your country score is really only important to you!! I have worked a few continents, but never Antarctica; that is the truth.  Who would care if I lied? Absolutely no one.

Why treat all hams as liars and demand cast iron confirmation of everything?  This is a hobby, a pastime, a game. It is not serious. Anybody serious about cheating will find a way. That is the way of the world.

I don't want to be treated with the suspicion accorded to criminals while following an enthralling hobby!

Many thanks for sharing your ideas, Juergen:  you have a very balanced view of things, so congrats on that.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Vic /who has many happy memories of holidays in Germany

[UR3LCM]

Hi Vic and Juergen!
I like your posts about back to the roots.
I like simple tube transmitters, straight keys and paper QSL-cards also.
This TX and the key is on my desk near the computer. I still send CW with the straight key.
It's like the sea, wind and sails.
However...
Once we wrote letters with quill and ink, seal them in envelopes, put them in a tin mailbox and for months/years we've been waiting for the postman with a response.
"Mr postman look and see... If there's a letter in your bag for me".
Now we press buttons on the keyboard, send a message by email and ... voila.
Times have changed.
I will continue to use QSL-cards via bureau, I will post pieces of tree around the planet, I will send Morse with the straight key, but I also want to CFM QSO via Internet.
The proposed system is not meant to verifying HAMs for their honesty.
IMHO, it is designed to simplify qsl-exchanging, eliminate errors in the QSLing, facilitate checking and accounting.
Systems that we currently use,  eQSL or LoTW, they have one flaw - they are not open.
I would like to use the open system.
I suggest just such a project.

72 es 73 de Ihor UR3LCM