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I've heard that there are countries where you start as SWL and have to collect some number of QSL cards to get a license. Or maybe there are places where QSLs are required to upgrade a license and get an access to more bands and/or more power.

Is anyone aware of such countries, or maybe it's just a rumor?

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  • $\begingroup$ sounds like a rumor. "License by popularity" is not a good principle, and disadvantages people in remote areas, and people with limited access to high-power equipment, whilst encouraging SWLs to use high-power equipment before having proven knowledge on how to do so properly. $\endgroup$
    – Marcus Müller
    Aug 17, 2020 at 14:40
  • $\begingroup$ you don't get a pilot license by having not killed 1000 passengers, either. $\endgroup$
    – Marcus Müller
    Aug 17, 2020 at 14:41

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I believe the rationale is not a "measurement" of popularity but 1) an assessment of activity, i.e. it will take a certain amount of dedication and time to log stations as a listener, combined with 2) an assessment of the listener's abilities when, for example, the requirement is to log and confirm a certain number of DXCC countries or similar achievements. An implicit assumption is probably that the SWL will progress along a learning curve (about equipment, propagation, operating procedures etc).

I am not aware of any country employing such a requirement at present. However, pre-1990, amateur radio beginners in the German Democratic Republic typically started out as listeners. One condition for advancing towards a transmitting license was to log and confirm a number of different countries, participate in SWL contests, or meet the requirements for certain SWL awards. Similar rules may well have been in place in other Eastern European countries at that time.

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