I searched thread titles and found none on this topic. Sorry if a dupe.

As a total newbie, and seeing that there a quite a few others on here, I thought a thread about QSL cards might be helpful.

Sending these cards via the postal service seems like a sort of old-fashioned and charming thing to do. I would like to continue the tradition. Hopefully, this thread will help me and others know what to do. Will start off with some questions and then the thread will go in the direction it chooses.

1. When do you send a QSL card? Every contact? Only certain "special ones"? How do you define that? Are there rules?

2. A duckduckgo search reveals a number of outfits that claim to supply printed QSL cards. Where do you get yours, and are there vendors to avoid? Or, do you make your own?

3. Electronic QSL cards? (These don't seem anywhere near as cool, but maybe you can persuade me)

4. What else is there to know about QSL cards that I haven't asked?

I only send them when asked or if I receive them. It gets expensive to send them with every contact.

They're just post cards. So I make mine on VistaPrint and buy them there.

I've gotten a couple eQSL cards. Definitely saves on money. But if I'm gonna send or get, I'd rather a paper card. The eQSL "cards" just aren't the same.

It's completely optional and quite honestly out of the contacts I've made while on HF in the last 6 months, I've gotten maybe 10-15 cards. Being in POTA, I get near triple digits per activation sometimes. I'm not sure, but I think most hams see it as archaic. I think it's neat and send some every now and again. But not all the time. At .50 a pop, that gets pricey fast if you're on HF a lot.

QSL Cards  Sending and Receiving Paper Gems

I QSL via Log Book of the World as most people chasing ARRL awards prefer LoTW for electronic confirmation for DXCC, WAS, VUCC, and etc. I do have paper cards and will send them if requested.

Postage costs are the main reason I use exclusively use LoTW for the ARRL award programs.

It would have been cost prohibited on postage and printing costs for nearly 16,000 QSL's I've sent out over the past 30 years. YMMV

1. I am not a contester so I send QSL cards only on HF for just about every contact and for contacts with special event stations.
http://www.arrl.org/special-event-stations
Special event stations will also send you a card back and in many cases a cool certificate to hang on your shack wall.

Look up a contact on qrz.com and it will show if they will send a QSL card back or not.

2. I use Curt Merriman Printing:  https://www.qslworks.com/
I used one of his retro styles instead of designing my own:



3. Never heard of them.

4. They are fun to collect and make a great display on the shack wall.
Hams spend thousands on a single radio but complain about pennies in postage for a card,
I can somewhat understand as I am not a contester so my QSL card volume is not very high so the costs aren't going to break me.

Hams are in the hobby for different reasons, some for contests, some for more casual involvement and some just for the cards.

Ham radio to me is a form of emergency communication when other methods are down.
I practice on emergency nets mostly, as well as casual chats.
I see Ham as "EMCOMM" so the introduction of the Internet (highly vulnerable) into the hobby
never made much sense to me anyway. I was first licensed before the Internet
Plus I am a Network Engineer and in no way want my hobby to include any form of my daily job.
Sort of like why the cobbler's kids have no shoes!

I send them when recieved or when I have a meaningful QSO, or when i want a card from that location.  Lots of 599 KY QSOs and i dont want to necessarily get a card just to have one.  I always get stamps for Christmas gifts.  I have printed my own cards and have a stack from cheapqsls.com

While I'm new at this my experience has been a couple of the nets I have participated in. The early morning rednecks (3.947) at 4a CST Sundays are a rather old school bunch and my first couple times checking in went un noticed on qrz but the 3rd time I received 37 cards in the mail over a couple weeks from almost the entire net. No one ever acknowledged anything electronically but they all seemed quite happy I responded in kind and returned cards.
Most always though qrz is almost immediate and when I export to lotw there will be a 2nd glut of confirmations so I have learned to complete all that stuff and sync same day.

Times have changed and how QSL cards are exchanged have changed as well.  Years ago there was an "If You Send Me One I'll Send You One" philosophy about them.  They were something most of us enjoyed receiving and cherished them when we got them.  These days it appears people are doing their best to make a profit from them.  I see a lot of people on QRZ especially asking for $3 to $5 for a QSL card and that ain't gonna happen.  Maybe for a DXpedition since they normally have a lot of costs from the trip but just a guy somewhere, no way.  Even stateside people are saying that if you want a QSL include an SASE with your card.

I still live by the original philosophy in that if someone sends me a card I send them one back.  If they include postage I'll return it.  I also post every QSO to WRZ, LoTW, and eQSL.  I have an electronic version of my regular card on eQSL that gets sent to everyone that confirms a contact there.  LoTW is simply a database with no image exchange and I think QRZ is the same way (at least I've never gotten a card image from anyone there).

1.  Your choice.  I only send them to special stations I really want a card from.  Some DX stations although most of that is electronic for me these days.  Special Event Stations, people I've met and then worked on the air.  It depends.

2.  I got mine from WX9X but they are out of business.  I Still have several hundred though so I'm probably good for a long while.  QRZ has a list of people who print cards.  Some of them are out of business, some of the links are dead, but some of them have some really nice looking cards.  The list is Here (scroll down to QSL Printers).  This company (click here) has some really nice ones.  Take a look at his "Premium" QSL Cards.

3.  Some of them are scans of photographs or "Regular" QSL cards.  Others are pretty plain.  I've gotten about 500 of them and have to admit that I'm jealous of several.

4.  As mentioned above there is the postage thing or people trying to monetize the exchange of QSLs.  If they expect cash and you don't send it you've probably just wasted a card and postage.  Use QRZ to look up their call and see what their page there says if you have an interest in exchanging cards with someone.  You may get disappointed.

You also didn't mention the QSL Bureaus.  Many countries have incoming and outgoing bureaus that handle QSL cards.  A hams sends his outgoing cards to the bureau where they are sorted and [eventually] a batch is sent to the appropriate bureau in the destination country.  It's relatively cheap but a lot of DX stations say they don't get their cards so don't use the bureau (some of these are the same ones asking for $5 to send a card).  It also takes a long time to get a response.  Don't expect anything for about a year.

Yeah the ones who want cash crack me up. Sorry, no. I'm not sending you money for a qsl card.

I used them.   very reasonable and I got their thicker cards.   very pleased.

i am a newb too.

My wife designed my qsl card in photoshop and had them printed at Zazzle on heavy card stock. I send them to people I want to have them, not to get one in return.

I log every contact and upload immediately to LOTW. I'll return a qsl card to anyone who sends me one, which is pretty rare.

I use LOTW and am also registered on Club Log which enables someone to request a card for a confirmed contact.  Not interested to date in Eqsl or QRZ.com as the only awards I am interested in DXCC and WAS. If someone requests a QRZ confirmation I will confirm via QRZ. I will send an sase or use paypal to get a card for an confirmed location. If I receive a card via the bureau, I will return a card via the bureau. I use cards with simple designs using free software found on the web and print them on my printer using card stock. I get dozens of cards from Japan via the bureau, even from stations that have confirmed through LOTW. If I receive a card I will send a card.

I reply to mailed ones, well not since getting my vanity call... I want to move and I'm cheap (there I admitted it)

I do QRZ, LOTW, EQSL, and ClubLog (even though I cannot figure ClubLog out, it matches my LOTW and confirms, then they are unconfirmed the next time).. I don't want people to miss out on whatever their goal might be searching the airwaves, so I try to keep up.

I send a card:

- when someone asks me
- after an interesting conversation
- if I want a card back
- when someone sends me on and asks for one back

My cards are kinda unusual.

Heh this was the most recent one I got. My wife opened it lol.

I used https://www.photoqsls.com/ a few weeks ago.  Lee is awesome to deal with and easy to work with.  Less than a week from order to getting them and nicely done.

Whoa, who dat

Pretty sure that is not the license holder, possibly, who knows anything these days?

I might have to try zazzle. I did something similar for a small number of cards with Photoshop and just getting 4x6 prints made then cutting them to size on a paper cutter. Made special cards for the handful of cards received for field day and state QSO party operations.

Pretty much this.



I can see $1-3 postage in most cases. That's fairly reasonable. Postage in some places is high.

A few places have incredibly high postal rates. IIRC Iran is OVER 10 USD! People that live there often (but not always) have a QSL manager somewhere else where postage is reasonable. They email their QSL manager their QSOs and you QSL through the manager.

Most Cubans have Spanish QSL managers for some reason.

I don't remember exactly now, but I probably have $7 or more total in my Easter Island QSL card.

I might have 50 cents in mine.  CE0AE had a stateside QSL manager.

I don't mind paying extra for something special but I'm not going to pay for mundane, everyday QSL's.

I will chase an ATNO with a passion!

One guy in a SW Pacific said on his Zed page mail theft was killing him and the likelyhood of even getting a card was minus six.

I emailed him "Hold my beer and watch this AND warn your wife if you have one."

I got my card and he was amazed it got through.

Pink envelope, girly lavender ink addressed, big lipstick kiss and soaked in stripper cheap perfume.

He emailed me and said when he got it he knew what it was and had his wife open it.

ATNO?

ATNO = All Time New One

Those who chase DX reach a point where finding one they haven't worked before is difficult and, since so many others are chasing them to, more difficult to make a contact with.  When you do make a contact with an "ATNO" it's a reason for celebration.

Ah. Got it. Thanks!

Am working on getting my own QSL cards. I've been working with one of the people mentioned earlier, and that has been going really well. Once I have the cards in my hands and can evaluate the quality, I'll post who I used.

The first QSL card I received after upgrading to General was made by Jim Massara of Hamtoons. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. A professional cartoonist that makes QSL cards. I had the same guy make mine. There are quite a few Arfcommers that have one. I'll send one to every member of this forum that I make contact with. I don't think he does it anymore, but he does very good work.

@Emoto

I went back and saw that you were the one that heard me griping about my crappy antenna on 20 meters on Tuesday. If you hear me again ask Gyprat if you can call me, I'm sure he would allow it. If not I could hang around until after the net. I'd be happy to send you a card.

I recently returned to ham radio after a long time away from it. I got new QSL cards right away.

I got to break them in on the 11th. During that GA QSO Party I made a couple of contacts, and sent both of them cards.

I received one in return the other day, and was excited since it was my first card in over a decade.

The other contact did the thing on QRZ.com, so I'm not sure if I'll get an actual physical card from him.

For those who haven't used QRZ, it's pretty interesting. When you log in the contact, it tells you exactly how far you were apart, and the beam headings back and forth.

It's convenient, and it saves time and money opposed to sending actual cards. I still like the cards, though.

You might want to check out eQSL (www.eqsl.cc).  They are similar to the other online services but different in that members can create a QSL card for free from a number of designs they already have prepared or upload their own if you subscribe to the membership (I don't remember what it is for a year but it's not much).  If another ham uploads a contact with you then you automatically get an image of their card.  If you aren't a member, when you join they scan their databases for previous contacts you have made.  When I joined I think I had about 150 QSL "Cards" already there ;)

@Ohio_Sharkman

Sounds like fun. I will happily reciprocate once my cards show up, which should be in 10 days or so. We could wait for after the net, or any time, really.

ETA: I like the old school aspect of paper cards and intend to carry on that tradition to the extent I am able.

Listening last night, I did find QRZ.com's call sign lookup to be quite valuable because it also returned info on canadians I was hearing, from New Brunswick and Ontario.

@Emoto  @Ohio_Sharkman
All you have to do is say - Break! at any time and then ask for a quick informal with ........... <callsign. It's perfectly normal. If I can't hear you, someone will relay the "break" request, we'll pause the net and let you have a quick information exchange with a station of your choice. Don't hesitate to do this. It's good to practice this for all of us.

Besides that, our net isn't very formal anyway. We just don't want to create chaos by allowing stations to have a spontaneous QSO during the net. Just try keep the contact short, so everyone else won't have to wait while you talk about weather for 10 minutes.

Keep in mind that not all foreign stations are listed on QRZ. Many have their own QRZ equivalent websites like QRZ.ru (for Russians, Ukrainians and former USSR republics).

Also, unless it has been recently changed, you can't use EQSL to claim contacts for awards, if you are into this kind of thing. Many use LOTW for this. I'd used EQSL for a while but got a lot of bogus contact requests from stations I never worked before.

They don't have to be paper.

Yep! Brundoggie has the most unique QSL card I've ever seen. It has a special place on the wall, in my shack.

Pretty much correct.  eQSL has arrangements with CQ and DARC (Deutscher Amateur Radio Club) to accept their verification for awards.  ARRL and QRZ do not accept eQSL verification for QSO's or awards.  eQSL does have their own set of awards that aligns pretty well with other sponsors, as well as a few that are unique to them.  And in all fairness they don't accept LoTW or QRZ validation for their awards either ;)

I send my QSO data to LoTW and eQSL automatically after each QSO and then once or twice a day (depending on how many QSO's I make and how busy I am) I import LoTW data into QRZ.

I'll check it out. I've never heard of them until you posted this.

Got a card yesterday in the mail, from one of our SSB Phone nets.

I took a photo today that incorporated an interest of mine, with a background showcasing what my area is known for (which is also my occupation.) I sent it to the gentleman above to see about getting my first QSL cards made. Thanks for the recommendation.

Mountains everywhere you go!

I love the beauty of mountainous terrain, but sadly, all I've ever seen personally are east of the Mississippi in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and they're "small" approaching 7K feet above sea level. I still love hiking them every summer though.

I just ordered 1000 cards, even though I haven't even set up an HF antenna in the few months I've had the radio, nor will I probably ever make a hundred QSO's.

I have a question about UTC. Is it counted as the start of the conversation or the end? How do you synchronize it with the other party, as far as filling out eQSL's such as LOTW?

UTC is the standard time we all use.  The only time you'll run into problems is if you DON'T use UTC.  ARRL's logbook has fields for time on and time off, I only log time on or beginning of QSO unless it's a long conversation.  99.999% of mine last less than a minute ;)

It may be self explanatory after I actually get an LOTW account and start using it, but it seems like I read that both parties enter the UTC of the QSO and the system matches them up and confirms them. If that's how it works, what if one party enters 9:56 and the other 9:57? Obviously none of this matters for paper QSL cards.

That is how it works and that's why I said that you'll only run into problems if you DON'T use UTC.  When ARRL / QRZ / etux match times they do so within about 30 minutes.  Mismatching by a minute is common, 5 minutes less common, 30 minutes is wrong.  So they give people the benefit of the doubt and allow times to be up to 30 minutes off but not more than that.

Some of my QSOs last for several hours. I write down time at the beginning of each QSO. Sometimes I write down time at the end too. Something like: Start 19:10 ----> End 19:37. All time is UTC (a.k.a GMT, Zulu etc.)