What use is an F-call?

When you've been on air for many years it's easy to forget what it's like for new comers to the hobby. Take for example the simple QSL card. It's been around for a hundred years and its use is simple to the initiated, but to a newbie like me terms like QSL via the bureau or QSL direct are mysterious phrases with little meaning.

I had the opportunity to listen to our local state QSL manager, Steve VK6IR, who spent an enjoyable half hour walking through the notions of what a QSL card means, how it works and how you participate.

Now I should preface this with any mistakes in this are mine alone. I'm hard of hearing, have a gamy leg and my memory is fading, or some such disclaimer like that.

So, in less than two minutes. A QSL card is like a post-card. It is sent between stations to acknowledge a contact. It generally contains your and their call-sign, the time, mode and frequency on which you spoke and a signal report. It's used as "proof" of a contact.

You can send it to the other station direct by way of ordinary mail, look-up their call-sign in any number of online databases and include a self-addressed envelope and two US Dollars to pay for postage for a return card. If all goes well, you should receive a reply, that's the direct method.

Via the bureau is a coordinated effort between countries to group QSL cards together in batches. You send your cards in a box to your bureau which receives similar boxes from around the country. The boxes are split up and grouped by country and when a box-full is collected, it's forwarded to that country. At the other end QSL cards are sorted per call area and call-sign and forwarded on. It may take several months or even years for your cards to arrive.

Electronic QSL services are becoming popular, but some DX competitions don't accept electronic QSL cards, so check before you make 1000 contacts for a particular award only to find that your contacts don't count.

There's more to learn, where to get your cards, what they might look like, rare contacts and special routing, but that's a brief overview of the QSL system.

One mystery down, a million more to go.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB.