What use is an F-call?

Making a contact using your radio is one thing, starts off with someone calling CQ, someone responding, discussion ensuing and the like. If you've never had the opportunity, then get to it, get on air and make some noise.

Once you've made the contact, depending on your intent, you can log the contact and even get confirmation of the contact using an out of band method, that is, some mechanism, not using radio, that confirms that on this day and time, on this frequency and mode, you spoke with the other station.

This mechanism of confirming contacts is generally known as the QSL system. Originally, it was completed by exchanging cards, like postcards, between both stations. You'd use the call-book to lookup the other station's address and send off your card in the hope that the other station would do the same. In doing so, you'd confirm the contact.

Today, that system still exists, it's called Direct QSL-ing. We've added some courtesy to the exchange, sending along a self-addressed envelope and money for postage, either in the form of a couple of US dollars, or alternatively, an International Reply Coupon or IRC. The basic structure is identical.

In addition to that, we've added QSL bureaus, generally volunteers who offer to send cards on your behalf. You send your outgoing cards to the outbound bureau, who splits them up by country and does the same for all the other cards they receive and then forwards them on to the bureaus of those countries. Cards coming the other way will end up sent to your local QSL manager who in turn will distribute them to you by some pre-defined mechanism. If you're a member of the Wireless Institute of Australia, and in my opinion, you should be, then the QSL bureau is included in your membership fee.

With the advent of the Internet, we've added electronic QSL-ing, that is, web-based services that allows you to register all your contacts and when the remote station does the same, and your contacts match, the contact is confirmed. There are as many electronic QSL systems as there are radio amateur software developers, so you'll find that there's lots to choose from.

I'm currently using several, and have mixed feelings about it. If you have a good system to determine which one to use, let me know.

Of course, you could just stick with cards.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB