So, we’ve talked about getting on the air, etiquette in nets, and logging contacts (both manually and via software). Now, let’s talk about what used to be called “The final courtesy of making a contact — the sending of a QSL Card.”

For the uninitiated, there is a plethora of arcane three-letter ‘Q’ codes that amateurs use in their conversations — both over the air and in person. The Q codes were originally developed by the British Telegraph service and published in 1909. The intent was to provide for a language-independent, standardized set of codes which could be used by radio telegraph operators on the ships and at coastal stations. Today, the Q codes are still in regular use in the military, aeronautics, and of course, by amateurs because of precisely that reason — they provide a way to communicate ideas and questions in a way understood by all, regardless of their mother tongue.

A fulsome discussion of the Q codes is a topic for another QSO entry, but today we’ll talk about two of them.

‘QSO‘ stands for ‘I can communicate with…(direct or via relay)’ and if appended by a question mark becomes ‘Can you communicate with … (directly or via relay)‘. In the ham radio world, we tend to use QSO as a noun to describe the actual communication/contact between two operators, as in “I had a QSO with VE7ATJ yesterday” or “Can we get together for a QSO in the near future?” Hence the title of this blog series. 🙂

‘QSL’ stands for ‘I can acknowlege receipt’ or ‘Can you acknowledge receipt?’ if posed as a question. In general, hams use this code fairly consistently and appropriately in conversation or in a contact with someone — much the same as we hear ‘Roger’ or the more formal ‘Acknowledged’ used on TV shows, etc.

In another sense, hams use QSL to also refer to the formal acknowledgement of a contact between them and another operator. Hence, the “Final Courtesy…” aphorism which is frequently referred to in articles and web sites. Back when I started in ham radio (middle 1970’s), formal acknowledgements of a contact were required in order to apply and qualify for various awards which were provided for making contacts throughout the US, North America, Europe, 100 different countries, etc. Because of the limits of technology back then, achieving these awards were a much coveted affirmation of your operating prowess (or at least, the size and power of your station 🙂 )

In most cases, this acknowledgement of a contact would be accomplished through the exchange of cards. Originally, the cards would be fairly simple, 3inch by 5inch card stock (standard for ‘postcards’ back then) with hand written information on the nature of the exchange — time, date, mode of operation, signal reports, etc.

Handwritten postcard confirming communication — probably before formal callsigns.

By the time I came on the scene, hams were geting a bit more ‘artistic’ with the designs of their personal QSL cards — with silk-screened call signs and pre-printed lines/slots for the various pieces of info to be included. As a teenager with a paper-route income, there was no way I could afford professional printing of my own cards, but the BC Travel Ministry came to the rescue. Back then, they would produce QSL cards with a blank space where you could stamp your call sign.

QSL card provided by the BC Dept of Travel Industry. The right side of the card was blank for stamping your callsign (as did my buddy VE7APQ). He got is call sign 3 days before I did.

They were pretty simple, but hey — they were free! (As long as you didn’t ask for TOOOO many! 🙂 ) And it only cost $10 or so for a stamp and an ink pad. I wish I had kept some of the cards from my early days in ham radio. They would bring back many happy memories of struggling to get my morse code (CW) up to the necessary 15 words per minute for my Advanced Amateur License and many happy contacts with very simple and difficult anteannae and equipment. As well as the thrill of ACTUALLY making a contact! There’s nothing like hearing your call sign come back over the air. Someone actually wants to talk to me! Wow!

Anyway, fast forward to more modern times and my re-insertion back into ham radio in 2015. Life had certainly changed a lot — both in terms of the technologies available and my personal financial situation. Not that I could buy anything I wanted, but I could certainly afford to get QSL cards professional printed. When I started looking into it, the cost was surprisingly inexpensive, compared to what I was expecting coming forward from 50 years ago! Here’s what the current card looks like:

The QSL card I send out today. The card was designed when I lived in Victoria, hence the pictures of the inner harbour from my office window! Since I moved, I now have to use sticker labels over the address.

As you can see, I carried forward the basic design of the original ‘Department of Travel’ card, but substituted my own pictures and had the callsign printed. No more rubber stamping! And the back has more information and is more professional in appearance. (Notice there’s another picture in the background!) I got 5000 of these printed which is probably more than I’ll need in my ham lifetime, but we’ll have to wait and see how that goes. 🙂 As with any printing, getting 5000 is MUCH cheaper than buying 100 lots of 50!

So, who do I send cards to? Well, being somewhat ‘old school’, I send QSL cards to every new contact I make on HF (shortwave). I don’t send cards to contacts on 2m unless they ask for one. Occassionally I will get a request like that, but it’s usually for a Summmits on the Air or Parks on the Air activation. Every couple of months, I go through my log book and send QSL cards to every new contact I’ve made since the last batch of cards went out. (Yes, I do have a marker in my printed logbook that says “QSLed to here…”. It’s on a sticky note that I can reposition as necessary).

Getting addresses to send the cards to is much easier these days. Previously, I’d have to ask for an address during the radio contact and make note of it in the logbook or prepare the card right away. Now, we have an online database of all the hams in the world at QRZ.com.

Home page of QRZ.com (note — I’m already logged in…)

QRZ.com is a free resource. If you look at the top left, you’ll see an ‘Enter Query…by callsign” box. If you’re looking for a contact’s address, just type their call sign in there and press Search. If they’re in the database (99% of hams are) then QRZ will present their home page. If you are just visiting, it will provide basic information, but if you join QRZ.com as a member (there’s no charge, although you can ‘subscribe’ or ‘donate’ if you would like to) then you get more detailed information — including the contact’s mailing address, QSL preferences, etc. etc.

OK, so now you’re saying “Hey… mailing all those cards out every couple of months is going to get VERY expensive!” and yes, 50 years ago, there was a significant expense in getting envelopes and stamps for each of those outgoing cards. Keep in mind tho, postal rates 50 years ago were in the order of 10 cents for a local letter, 15 cents for the US and 25 cents for international. Still, for a teenager with a paper route, that was a lot of $$. Fortunately, the counterbalancing factor was that I wasn’t making a LOT of contacts either 🙂 Nowadays, the rates are MUCH higher — 90cents for Canada, $1.30 for US and $2.71 for International. Yikes!

Well, once again, technology comes to the rescue! There are options.

The first is the use of QSL Bureaus. These have existed for years (actually I believe they may have actually been around when I started, but I didn’t really need them then). QSL Bureaus are ‘clearing houses’ for QSL cards located in most countries where there are hams and in North America, in each of the calling districts of the US and Canada. The beauty of the system is that you send your cards for other hams to the Outgoing Bureau of your country. There, the cards are sorted into the various countries and calling districts where the hams are located. When enough cards have been collected for a given area to make a reasonable packet (or enough time has transpired), they are mailed out by the Bureau Chief. The manager at the receiving Bureau takes the incoming cards and sorts them by recipient call sign. When an operator has accumulated a sufficent number of cards to make a reasonable packet (or again, enough time has gone by) they are mailed out to the individual operator. Once your card is received, the operator then makes up a responding QSL card (if they haven’t already) and sends it to their Outgoing Bureau and the process repeats in reverse until you receive a card! It’s a great system and a LOT cheaper for the individual ham. It does mean however that there can be a LOOOOONNNNGGG time between you sending a card and getting the other ham’s card in return. Depending upon the Bureau and the other ham, it can take YEARS before you see a response. Patience is a virtue here, but it does mean you get an actual physical card. For information on Canada’s QSL Bureaux, see the RAC.CA website.

Second is the use of Logbook of the World (LOTW). I’ve mentioned this before when talking about logging of contacts. It’s a database on QSO information maintained by the ARRL. It’s free to join for any registered amateur that’s a member of the ARRL. You do have to register separately tho from your ARRL membership. And it requires the use of a logging program or ARRL’s Trusted QSL (TQSL) entry program to send logbook entries. The advantage of LOTW is that once you and your contact both upload your logs, a QSL is automatically generated within the system to confirm the contact. Neither you nor your QSO buddy receive anything tangible regarding this QSL, but it is recorded within the database, and is automatically counted toward various awards provided by the ARRL — such as Worked All States, DX Century Club, etc. There are facilities on the LOTW website to apply for the various awards once you accumulate the necessary QSLs. See LOTW.ARRL.ORG for more info.

LOTW main page (after login). Not the prettiest of sites, but it works….

The third option is EQSL (electronic QSL). I believe I talked about this one too in the logging blog. Thanks to the internet, we now have a way to electronically send and receive QSL cards via the EQSL.CC website. Again, you have to register to use the site, and there is an annual subscription cost for the service. The rates vary depending upon the types and level of service you require. If you can afford it, I would highly recommend the one-time fee Platinum Service which gives you access to all services as long as you live…

EQSL works in much the same way as LOTW where hams upload their logs to the site which then compares the entries and generates QSLs when things match up. The difference here is that each ham designs their own electronic QSL card (mine looks like the front of my physical card) and then these are what are exchanged when a QSO is confirmed. Each ham can also add a personal message to each individual entry. (I do this frequently when acknowledging SOTA or POTA activiations, or special event stations.)

Examples of eQSLs I’ve received. These are really nice, but some can be pretty plain and generic.

The advantage here is no postage, no waiting (except for the other ham to upload their log 🙂 ) and you can print them off on your printer or just keep the images in your own personal electronic binder! EQSL.cc also keeps all of your cards in its own database as well. The only real disadvantage is that not all hams (especially DXpeditions) use EQSL and sometimes the designs selected for the electronic QSL are pretty plain and generic.

The last option for QSL exchange I’ll mention here is Clublog (CLUGLOG.ORG).

Clublog main page (after login)

Again, you need to register for this service, but there is no cost. It’s designed for bigger club and DXpedition stations who are making a LOT of contacts over a short or extended period of time. To be honest, I don’t find the interface all that intuitive and I’m not always sure what I’m supposed to do. It appears to be kind of a cross between LOTW and EQSL. Each side needs to upload their logs to the site, but there’s no ‘automatic’ exchange of QSL’s once a match is made. You can ‘request’ a QSL, but it’s up to you to go into the site, look up the QSOs that have been confirmed, then specifically ask for a QSL from the other operator. Also when you log in, you can see who is requesting a QSL card from you as well and respond appropriately. In this case however, it means sending out a physical card to the other operator.

So, there you have it. The modern world of QSLs! I hope this adds another dimension to your exploration and discovery of the world of amateur radio. Personally, I still love the personal touch of receiving mail from across the world!

Next time, we’ll talk about my journey into the world of ‘packet’ radio (i.e. sending email not via the internet, but via radio waves…..)

73 Don VE7ATJ
drtolson (at) outlook (dot) com

DONALD TOLSON

By DONALD TOLSON

Licensed in 1972, upgraded to Advanced in 1973. Out of the hobby until 2015 and moved to Parksville/French Creek in 2021. HF, VHF/UHF