There are many qsl services available these days in this article I will attempt to give the newcomer some information on the available services.
I have been an active ham and qsl seeker for decades, back when I first got on the air in 56 it was considered to be rude to not qsl anyone who requested your card. During several decades I amassed large numbers of cards from stateside and DX stations, I still love the fact that occasionally from some far away place a qsl card appears in the mail box.
So let’s take a look at what is out there to confirm your contacts and of course gain awards for your operating achievements.
My first method is of course direct mail to the dx station or to the state side station you want a qsl from or hope to get one. Direct mail is of course easy, look up the station you worked on qrz.com copy the address, paste it to your label maker and print the label. For that rare dx station include your self-addressed envelope. Plus insert a couple of green stamps that is dollar bills and next insert your card. Be sure and fill out all the details of the qso, date, time, band, mode I use two 45-cent stamps on a plain white envelope. I do not use airmail envelopes in effect you are charged more and the plain white envelope works fine. Most all-international mail travels airmail, whether it is in an airmail envelope, or a plain white one. My qsl return rate by this method is about 80% you do have some hams who will not budge even if you send them green stamps plus S.A.S.E.,
State side stations of course if they insist in having an SASE with your request then do so, but for the most part you can skip this since your chances of working someone else in that needed state will qsl without you paying postage both ways. Be sure and have your return address on any mail you send, just in case someone gets too efficient at the post office and weighs your letter.
My last returned envelope was to Japan; some P.O. marked it “Return for postage” but neglected to say how much additional postage was required. I quite frankly had no time to make a trip to my local post office, stand in line for twenty minutes and then find out extra postage was only a few cents. I added another stamp and have not seen the envelope returned to me. It also appears that the post office is not keeping up with the international scene. I had one envelope returned since it was going to Bosnia. The P.O. claimed there was no such place; I asked them where they had been for the last ten years, or so since this country now calls itself Bosnia and not Yugoslavia?
A few years ago I had a stateside envelope returned, it was heading for NEW MEXICO; it came back from the P.O. stating this was a foreign country and required more postage?
I made a trip to the P.O. for this one and asked that the “budding Genius” look at his U.S, history since NEW Mexico has been a state since 1912!
Enough on my rhetoric overall the return using this method is quite good and does obtain results with wanted qsl cards,
QSL bureaus are the next choice of good returns you have a great choice in using the ARRL out going bureaus to cut down your expenses. I prefer to wait until I have about 75 to 100 cards for shipment. I normally obtain one of the post office shipment boxes just about the size of a qsl card. Shipment to ARRL depending on the number of cards runs any where from $7.00 to $10.00 to use the service there is another charge based on the weight of the cards and how many you have in your package. Normally, this is an additional $7.00 to $10.00 but they all go to the same place and shipped as a mass shipment to other bureaus of the world.
To receive incoming cards via the bureau, this requires a little effort on your part. My suggestions are as follows:
I prefer to use 6X9 Manila envelops, use your label maker and print about six or more labels with your call letters in large print. Place this in the upper left corner, print up six or more labels with your mailing address and affix them to the middle of the envelope you have prepared. Next attach stamps to the envelopes I would use a minimum of two, you might want to use three, or more depending on how many cards you have at the bureau for pick up.
Next obtain at least one larger manila envelope and place the smaller 6X9 envelopes inside the larger one. Your next step will depend on where you are located in the country and what call district you are located. You can find this bit of information on the ARRL web site, search qsl bureaus. In my case I have a K4 call, so mine will go to the single prefix division of the bureau, if you have a WA-WB call yours may go to another address, you will have to look this up on your own.
At this point I would suggest a trip to the post office and have them mail your package and get the proper weight and postage. If you have one of those mail stamp machines that you operate this will suffice and it is only important you have enough postage to ship it where it is intended. Normal cost is about $3.00 or more depending on how many envelopes you ship in the larger one.
Electronic qsl services:
This has its pros and cons so let’s take a good look at what is available? In my first method listed you are dealing with paper cards and in years past the ARRL only accepted paper in order to obtain credit for various awards such as WAS, DXCC, WAC, VUCC etc. Enter the computer age and we have electronic qsling.
EQSL is easy to use if you are an award hunter they offer about the same awards as the ARRL, but there is one hitch. The league will not accept EQSLcards. Now if you do not care you may find a good niche in this and never go to ARRL for a thing. However, the printed awards leave much to be desired, not real good artwork, but they serve the purpose. You can for $85.00 per plaque have a plaque made for your award. If of course you have plenty of money and are willing to invest a small fortune in plaques. One Japanese ham has over two dozen of these plaques, in effect eating up any savings he might have had in postal expenses. Another downer is the array of “cookie cutter” cards offered in the basic membership. Also offered is a rather listless and ugly card and is as basic as you can get. I preferred to pay a little more, up load my own card and use it as my EQSL. So far it has worked.
I rarely send an eqsl, but will reply to anyone who sends me one. Another drawback of this system is some ops have 2, 3, or 10 thousand cards to be answered and appear to be doing nothing. I often check DX stations by using the search method and entering their call, when they come up and say they are a member, I check and see how many cards they have waiting. If I see a large backlog why should I waste my time and effort in sending another card in a long list of senders? It may never be answered in this case the service is worthless. In other cases I have had qsos confirmed within minutes of the ending of the contact. In other words it is a toss up if you confirm a dx contact, or wait forever and this defeats the purpose of Eqsling.
Take your choice on this, one big positive is that all your received cards are stored in an archive and you can recall them instantly. You can print any card in storage, but the question to this is why? They are of no value for DXCC, or any ARRL awards and although CQ accepts them for the USA.CA and other awards issued by CQ printing the cards is not necessary.
I forgot to mention that in order to count for awards with EQSL it is suggested that you obtain the Authenticity status, all that is required is scan your license to verify who you say you are. Simple process, but you have a few who have not done it. The process costs nothing, but any one who receives your card and you are not AG your card counts for zip, nada, worthless.
Instructions on how to obtain AG status appear on the Eqsl web site, if you are going to use this as your means of qsling, obtain AG status so that all your qsos will count.
QRZ Com. This one I have to wonder about their service, they have no awards program, so you enter your qsos in their on line logging program, activate the action button and hit confirmation requested. If you are lucky you might get a match and a gold star by the contact. SO what? To me this is an exercise in futility since no awards exist, I use the logging program that is nice, but getting qsos confirmed on QRZ is worthless!
The only consolation I have is to see a gold star by a contact, from your own ego inflation you can admire all the gold stars, but from the award side of the coin it is worthless. QRZ says they will have awards soon, but I have not seen any effort published as of this time. QRZ also changed versions of their logbook from Version 1 to Version 2, however they have never told you how to transfer your files from Version 1 to 2. I am slowly doing it one by one, but fail to get matches on the contacts on lots of the contacts. In fact the confirmation rate is very low and apparently many hams feel it is just not worth the effort as of this date. If this service fits your operation then go for it, but really why?
I have noticed in the last few days that the old version 1 has vanished and I can no longer chase down the contacts I had in the old version to at least make some effort to confirm them. Sorry about that, but nothing I can do from this end. If you really want to confirm this way then resend the information and I will see to it that you get a gold star. Many of the contacts I had transferred did not show up as confirmed on the new version. Seems likes some bugs exist, but if this is to be used in a serious manner then those problems need to be fixed. I also have looked at membership on QRZ to be honest they offer nothing I really need or want. I have the use of the logbook, anything else I simply do not need or want. It is up to you to make your choice, granted if you are an avid dxer you need the current addresses of your contacts. That is a great service and I use it, beyond that I have little interest in what they are offering. You might, check this out for yourself.
LOTW I just recently applied for a certificate this time and according to the league they have made it simpler as to what and how to send in for your certificate. In the past I became frustrated and dumped the software, however this last time and I am referring to my experience with in the last few days was much easier and user friendly. Only thing I do not care for is you never exchange a card, just the matching details and that is it. Once I get my certificate and follow the instructions I will see how the system works and if indeed I like the idea. The idea of confirming contacts in an instant is appealing, but if you have a backlog of contacts with the station you are requesting confirmation it will bog down under its own weight. I suppose at first I will check and see if I have any backlog of requested contacts, reply to them and go from that point. We shall see if this is appealing, or we let it go and not use it. Let you know on this in a few weeks. Last time I applied for a certificate it took three months for the league to reply and then I was told I sent in the wrong file. That was over a year ago, hopefully things will move faster?
Use what method that works for you and be happy you get a good response.
Bill/K4LRX
