In the days of old, when listening to AM radio was a major part of American home entertainment, the sensitivity of your radio receiver was a source of great pride. Some people made a hobby of cruising the dial, especially at night, seeking out new, distant stations. When they found a new one they would listen for the station’s address, send a post card to that station with the day and time they were listening and something about the program content they heard. Upon receipt and verification, the station would send back a QSL Card. Each station had their own unique design. Some young folks collected these QSL cards like others collected baseball cards. I guess the QSL collectors were the geeks of the days of old. Any broadcasting station likes to know how far their signal reaches, so they like to get confirmation from distant listeners.
What is a 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.
The QSL card derived its name from the Q code “QSL”. A Q code message can be short hand for a statement or a question (when the code is followed by a question mark). In this case, QSL? (with a ?) means “do you confirm receipt of my transmission?” while QSL means “I confirm receipt of your transmission”. Think of them as pre-cellphone text abbreviations.
Do People Still Collect QSL Cards?
These days the tradition does live on but unless you’re a radio hobbyist you probably didn’t even know what a QSL card was. I found one fellow who has collected over 45,000 QSL cards (most of them old time), and his QSL card collection is on display via the internet.
According to reports, there are not as many listeners requesting QSL cards, but listening to the ‘mailbag’ programs of Radio Havana Cuba and such, these broadcasters always seem to have a stream of correspondence. While QSL cards from the AM broadcast band are pretty rare, it seems most shortwave broadcasters (these are not amateur operators but short wave program broadcasters) will provide a QSL in exchange for a good reception report. Some of the more sophisticated pirates (those broadcasting without a license) will send a card right over the air via SSTV that you can decode right on your computer. Many broadcasters now have submission forms on their websites where you can submit reception reports. Radio New Zealand sends a link to a QSL card (after verification) where the listener can download and print it.
QSL Events
My buddy Mike is a HAM – and he operates a short wave radio too. For the past 5 years he has participated in a special event called The 13 Colonies on the 4th of July. The goal is to contact and communicate with a HAM station in each of the original 13 colony states.
The guy who runs the event gets three or four stations in each of the 13 colony states to participate. Normally these are HAM clubs so there are several people working each station. They advertise their participation thusly: “CQ CQ this is (call sign)”. People like Mike listen for this and if it’s a state they need, they answer and both operators log a contact. When the contest is over Mike sends in his contact log along with a few bucks ($5 or so). The event operator verifies the contacts and Mike get a nice certificate back showing the states he contacted. Here is the web site showing this past year’s certificate and a preview of the 2015 certificate. http://www.13colonies.info
Many places and clubs run special events. Mike has a certificate from a WWII submarine that held an event a few years ago. There’s an event every year for the Indy 500. Saturday and Sunday (Nov 29 & 30, 2014) is an event commemorating the battle of Franklin, TN during the Civil War. Here’s a calendar of events: http://www.eham.net/calendar/
The “reward” from participating in these amateur radio events are not always the standardized QSL card, but the idea is the same.
Why Is This Important?
These clubs often have disaster broadcasting events. Their equipment can be portable: having only to erect an antenna – sometimes as simple as slinging wires into trees (but usually not). During these events HAM operator clubs come together to practice setting up equipment in the field and running communications drills.
If you’re not into amateur radio this may seem of little importance, but what many of us do not realize is that in times of disaster, especially when major broadcasters are off the air due to power failure or tower damage, this army of HAM radio operators can maintain nationwide – even worldwide – communications to keep their communities informed and to get critical information to those who need it.
It is entirely possible that one day soon this rag-tag band of radio operators could be the Battlestar Galactica of our nation’s emergency communications. So, next chance you get, hug a HAM (operator).
