I've been a ham since the sixties and of course love QSL cards. But one thing not mentioned here are the stamps. I used to also be a stamp collector as a kid. I have QSL cards with stamps on them from countries that no longer exist, or no longer have the same country name since their independence. Because they're cancelled they are probably worthless in value but nevertheless I like looking at them as much or more than the cards themselves.
I had a wall full of QSL cards when I was a kiddo. I still remember all those contacts with foreign hams that ended with “QSL via the bureau!” Which, as TFA mentions, was this magical (to me) extra-postal service routing system that somehow managed to get QSLs internationally at super low cost. So much fun.
I haven’t really gotten back into ham stuff in ~30 years or so, but I sense the hobby is still alive, which is great. Every so often I’m tempted to buy a fancy SDR and see what the 2023 version of ham radio is like compared to the 1993 version…
I spent three summers sorting QSL cards at the outgoing bureau (between giving tours) at the ARRL. It perhaps wasn’t so much “magical” as tedious, but it was a pretty cool job as a high school-aged ham. I even got my own ARRL staff QSL cards which was pretty sweet. I probably still have some in a box somewhere.
I too haven’t been active in a long time, but do think about getting back into it now and again as well.
> Every so often I’m tempted to buy a fancy SDR and see what the 2023 version of ham radio is like compared to the 1993 version…
Well, now we have digital modes that can community with SNR levels that CW wouldn't be usable across, allowing people reach most of the globe every day with nothing more than a radio and wire antenna lobbed into a tree.
Though the most commonly used of these new modes, FT8, communicates only ~13 character messages and is mostly only used to exchange signal reports and grid squares. On the plus side, it means you can crank out contacts 24/7 -- there are always other people on the air that you can reach and the signal reports you get w/ it are genuine ones out of the modem not a constant "599". (And since it hardly supports having a conversation, you can make some contacts when you're not feeling up to getting dragged into a conversation)
DX clusters have mostly been replaced by internet spotting (or internet connected DX clusters)-- it's pretty cool that you can call out CQ with CW or a computer-oriented digital mode and immediately get reports from all over the globe.
But there are lot less QSL cards: people digitally sign their logs and submit them to LoTW for matching. I think out of my six thousand or so QSOs this year I've relieved only three cards, though I don't solicit them (and don't send any except when they're requested).
It's practically a labyrinth of hobbies within the ham world these days, from AREDN and mesh to QRP backpacking to Netflix & Chill & JS8...not to mention academia, space, etc.
I was just chatting on the local repeater during a hike today and realized how many of those areas sound really interesting given the time...
Ok I’ve been a ham for over 30 years - a bit out of the loop admittedly but this one: “Netflix & Chill” in the context of ham is one I’m not familiar with and couldn’t turn up on google.
At the risk of being the guy who explains his own joke: It's just a reference to how laid back operations in digital modes (JS8 being one, but FT8 being more common maybe) seem, kind of set it and forget it.
On social media you see some people saying things like "I woke up the next day to find that my laptop digital station made contacts in all these countries"
These days, most just use LoTW (Logbook Of The World) for ham radio contact confirmations.
You even have to sign your confirmation upload with a public key they assign to keep everyone honest! (There are "contact contests" that people want to win...)
Ham radio is fun. So many ways to enjoy the hobby. Short-distance communications, long distance communications, antenna theory... location beaconing, 2-way text messaging over radio, etc.
Not many other communication methods out there that don't require a million dollars in infrastructure.
Just in case this raised the eyebrows of anyone else who knows a bit about public key cryptography, you don't, in fact, "sign your confirmation upload with a public key they assign", you sign with the private key they give you, from the key pair they assign.
QSL cards bring back a lot of memories for me. My dad (W7AAI) has been a ham since the 50s and as a kid I always enjoyed all the QSL cards he had hanging on the wall in his shack. They were from all over the world which lead to a lot of time looking at our globe to see where these strange places were.
QSL cards are right up there with the HAM license plates and an antenna poll in the back yard for iconic elements of old school HAM radio operators.
I am a SWL and recently ham and I really enjoy receiving QSL cards from different countries. My dream would be to get one from Voice of Korea, but it seems they stopped the QSL sending.
One of my side project (still in early stage) it's just a QSL focused social network :)
9K2ZZ, Bob, in Kuwait City, methinks. To my untrained ear, he sounded like a Texan expat and he was always 20dB over S9 when I heard him on the bands c.2000.
Always kept the QSO rate up - a typical exchange would be 'LB1LF, 59, name is Bob. 9K2ZZ QRZ?' (where QRZ? means 'Anyone else?' and 59 is the signal report)
Anyway, late one night I heard him calling without the usual pile-up of radio amateurs trying to get in contact with him. No replies. I gave him a call, and we chatted for all of 45 seconds or so before he signed off and the band was quiet.
When I got the card, it had a handwritten note on the back - 'Thanks for the rag chew!' (Ham radio lingo for a very long contact)
Well, it sure was long by his usual standards, and I still get a chuckle every time I see it.
My favorite was a station that was a sailboat off the coast of France. (PJ2HB if I remember correctly). Late one night he created a pile up. (A pile up is when a rare or unusual station is on the air and everyone is trying to contact him). I kept throwing my call in, over and over. And when he finally acknowledged, we exchanged info and when I said my QTH (my location), he stated, "oh yes, I stopped often by the restaurant in your town back when I was in school". We proceeded to have a conversation for a few minutes, while everyone was keying over us, throwing their callsigns in and just piling on. It was beautiful.
Another I was on 6 meters simplex during a band opening, talking a guy at with Cape Canaveral when he was on his lunch break.
I was the QSL manager for an Antarctic station once. That was fun.
Oh man, meteor scatter, ISS, satellite communications, SSTV, APRS... I forgot how much fun I used to have pre-internet days.
I'm a ham. These are a charming artifact of the 'old' days, but I've never heard of anyone using/exchanging these in the past few decades. The ARRL's 'Log Book of the World' is what people typically do instead (if they do it at all).
I live on an RV and primarily use a IC-705 and one of two Chameleon antennas (the CHA-MIL and the CHA-TDL in vertical configuration)... just got a hexbeam pole but have yet to try it!
Your call minded me that I had a nice QSO once with KJ2U. Will let anyone curious look that one up…
The nice thing about having even a simple card is that you can build up a pretty neat collection, even if you only send them selectively. I also felt bad when someone would mail me a card and stamped envelope before I had one to return, so I hand sketched a few responses on notecards. I always enjoy seeing hand sketched cards in the old timers’ collections.
It is cool, but I feel the shame of never having cards or going on the air any more.
I dabbled with SOTA (Summits On The Air) a few years ago.
I bought some bits to make a rig interface for FT8, but they never got soldered up. I was going to put up an EFHW at home. Yet another hobby waiting for me to have free time!
I’ve been meaning to get radio active again. Used to do SOTA but haven’t gotten a wire up at the new QTH. Thinking an EFHW. But maybe just a 40m inverted V?
It seems like the user was banned from Wikipedia [1], and they have a history of screwing with pages that were on the HN front page. Probably just trolls.
