- Ham radio operators exchange QSL cards (QSL is short for “received and understood”) to document their contacts. You have many excellent QSL card vendors to choose among, but creating your own “homebrew” QSL makes them special. The following sample from a high school’s radio club shows how you can easily create a custom card with.
- To qualify for a QSL card, broadcast stations often require that the listener has listened to the station over a period of time. However as budgets for HF broadcast stations are being cut, QSL cards are becoming more difficult to obtain. Collecting QSL Cards. Collecting QSL cards can be an interesting addition to the hobby of amateur radio.
Welcome to QSL Works, America's premier source for custom QSL cards - individually designed with your image(s) or ours for a truely unique, memorable QSL card! Each order receives personalized, professional attention - proudly produced in America's heartland. If you are looking for quality QSL cards and someone who is great to work with, look no further; Randy is the person you want to make your ideas come to life! 73 de Jim - KE8G-Earlier 5-star review posted by KE8G on 2011-12-13 I've recently become the QSL manager for KK6BT/4, Wayne, so a new QSL card needed to be designed.
KK3Q Online QSL Lists
One of the joys of working stateside and DX amateurs is the exchange of the QSL card verifying contact between two stations.
I posted some of my small QSL collection online to allow others that have worked my station at one time or another the opportunity to verify whether I ever received a QSL from
them.
If you have worked me and we have yet to exchange QSL cards then please contact me the SKED link below and I will see to it that we exchange QSL’s (either direct or via Bureau).
Without the QSL then none of the awards or other amateur radio related wallpaper would be possible. While some stations feel put off by a request for a QSL it would seem they have possibly lost that feeling of ‘working a new one’ because they have likely already achieved the award. Hopefully more amateurs will respond when the favor of a return QSL is requested (especially when someone has included an SASE).
Wallpaper isn’t the only reason to be involved in amateur radio, but it does help attract others to our hobby as they see the exotic locales one has communicated with. Winning an award denotes competition and most folks become interested in anything competitive.
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The more folks are attracted to amateur radio then the better understood will be our back yards dotted with towers, poles and wires.
A lot of folks have declared amateur radio as old news and that it has been replaced by the Internet but amateurs know it just ain’t so. Proof of this is anytime a disaster takes place, who do you see in the thick of it? Amateur radio operators. Hurricane Katrina proved the worth of amateur radio versus the Internet. Yet, with all those that say amateur radio is dying they have yet to learn of the adaptation of the Internet to augment amateur radio using such cutting edge systems such as VoIP, EchoLink, WinLink 2000 and where would we be without telnet clusters and DX spotting nets?
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- QSL
QSL Card
A QSL card is a written confirmation of either a two-way radiocommunication between two amateur radio stations or a one-way reception of a signal from an AM radio, FM radio, television or shortwave broadcasting station. It can also confirm the reception of a two-way radiocommunication by a third party listener. A typical QSL card is the same size and made from the same material as a typical postcard, and most are sent through the mail as such.
A 1925 QSL card from amateur radio operator Bill Corsham, G2UV.
QSL' Usage in Amateur Radio
Amateur radio operators exchange QSL cards to confirm two-way radio contact between stations. Each card contains details about one or more contacts, the station, and its operator. At a minimum, this includes the call sign of both stations participating in the contact, the time and date when it occurred (usually specified in UTC), the radio frequency or band used, the mode of transmission used, and a signal report.
QSL cards are a ham radio operator's calling card and are frequently an expression of individual creativity — from a photo of the operator at their station to original artwork, images of the operator's home town or surrounding countryside, etc. They are frequently created with a good dose of individual pride. Consequently, the collecting of QSL cards of especially interesting designs has become an add-on hobby to the simple gathering of printed documentation of a ham's communications over the course of his or her radio career.
RadioQSL – Custom QSL Cards
Normally sent using ordinary, international postal systems, QSL cards can be sent either directly to an individual's address, or via a country's centralized amateur radio association QSL bureau, which collects and distributes cards for that country.
Recently, the Internet has enabled electronic transmission as an alternative to mailing a physical card. These systems use computer databases to store all the same information normally verified by QSL cards in an electronic format. Some sponsors of amateur radio operating awards, which normally accept QSL cards for proof of contacts, may also recognize a specific electronic QSL system in verifying award applications.
Even in the presence of electronic QSLs, physical QSL cards are often fine historical or sentimental keepsakes of a memorable location heard or worked, or a pleasant contact with a new radio friend and serious hams may have thousands of them. Some cards are plain, while others are multicolored and may be oversized or double paged.