Hi Don

Don't let them get to you!

Both the Callbook and QRZ had me so messed up for most of my ham
career that I never knew if I was coming or going.

After several invitations to join the QCWA, I was eventually turned
down because of an error in the callbook, the ONLY source they use for
verification.

At one time I held something like 4 or 5 callsigns, which is a major
no no. The callbook had me listed under 2 different callsigns,
neither of which were accurate.

One time, when I went to upgrade, the FCC obviously lost my valid
callsign and refused the upgrade. Made me start over from scratch.
Then after passing all the tests, one right after the other, and after
my new call came, they finally found their error.
It was the retaking of all the tests so closely together that caused
me to have so many callsigns appearing as valid.

The problems started with my very first callsign, it arrived with my
address shown correctly but bore my Elmers name. Thus when the 1959
callbook came out it too was in error, even though the FCC corrected
the problem and issued me a new certificate. For some reason, the
callbook perpetuated this error in subsequent editions.
The FCC would not let me renew that callsign while I was out of the
country away at school. So upon returning home from college I got a
new callsign in 1972 that I never intended on changing. But the FCC
lost it, that is why I had to retake all of my upgrades over again.
Every callbook since has showed my Amateur Since date as being a
different start date.

Speaking of the QCWA, I had sent them massive amounts of paperwork,
copies of licenses and logbooks, signed affidavits from hams who new
me, copies of newsletters and even school yearbooks and radio club
affiliations and even copies of current logbooks showing the many
errors being perpetuated concerning me.
They refused to consider any factual evidence of my being a ham, and
relied solely on the erroneous callbook in their library.

So when they began inviting me to join again, I reminded them quite
clearly that they turned me down flat in the past, nothing has
changed, the callbooks are still in error. And I don't want to belong
to a club that DON'T want me!

I also AM NOT a member of the ARRL, due to foulups they have made!
And other incidents between them and myself, which I won't bore you
with here, other than to say, they are a greedy money based
organization that looks out for themselves, NOT for the Hams they
claim to look out for.

TTUL
Gary