Postcards From Around The World: What Is A QSL Card?

A QSL card is what a radio station (or amateur radio operator) will
send a listener as confirmation of a reception report. For example,
if I hear ham radio operator KP4X3 on my receiver, I'll send him or
her a letter or e-mail letting that operator know that I heard their
transmission. Normally, you would specify what date and time you
heard them and on what frequency. It is also common to state what
equipment you were using when you heard the transmission. Sending
this information to the radio operator helps the operator know how
far his or her signal is travelling, how well it can be heard and
whether any tweaks or alterations need to be made to the equipment.

In turn, the radio operator will send a "QSL card", which is often
a postcard, to the listener. This card serves to confirm that what
the listener heard was indeed correct, and that the information
submitted by the listener matches details of the transmission. 'QSL'
is radio code for "do you confirm receipt of my transmission?" or
"I confirm receipt"...[CONTINUE READING]

Voice of Vietnam QSL

On April 24th, 2015, I received the Voice of Vietnam in English in Fort Worth, Texas.
I heard them on 12005 khz, transmitted from Wooferton, UK (per ShortwaveSchedule.
Com) from 02:35 to 02:50 UTC. The following morning, I e-mailed a reception report to 
vovworld@vov.org.vn. Close to two months later, about four days ago, I received a QSL 
card in the mail acknowledging my reception. The front and back are shown below:

Postcards From Around The World: What Is A QSL Card?

A QSL card is what a radio station (or amateur radio operator) will
send a listener as confirmation of a reception report. For example,
if I hear ham radio operator KP4X3 on my receiver, I'll send him or
her a letter or e-mail letting that operator know that I heard their
transmission. Normally, you would specify what date and time you
heard them and on what frequency. It is also common to state what
equipment you were using when you heard the transmission. Sending
this information to the radio operator helps the operator know how
far his or her signal is travelling, how well it can be heard and
whether any tweaks or alterations need to be made to the equipment.

In turn, the radio operator will send a "QSL card", which is often
a postcard, to the listener. This card serves to confirm that what
the listener heard was indeed correct, and that the information
submitted by the listener matches details of the transmission. 'QSL'
is radio code for "do you confirm receipt of my transmission?" or
"I confirm receipt"...[CONTINUE READING]

QSLs from Turkey, Cuba and Chile

A couple of weeks ago, I received a response in the mail
to my reception report to Voice of Turkey. I had emailed
them back in November 2012, after I logged them on
shortwave on 9830 khz, on 11/10. I received a QSL card
and a coaster (pictured above). The top of the coaster has
a "prism" effect, which doesn't come through in the pic.

You can contact Voice of Turkey at tsr@trt.net.tr.

Finally received a snail mail QSL from CVC La Voz's Chile
transmitter site! The back of the card is pictured above. The
front can be seen in this post.





Not too long after I received my first Radio Habana QSL
earlier this year, I received another QSL card for reception
on 10/26/12 on 11760 khz (Spanish). As with the first
package, I received a pocket calendar and a postcard
with a scene from Havana along with the QSL itself.


Thank you to Voice of Turkey, CVC and RHC!

Voice of Greece QSL

On August 24, 2012, I received Voice of Greece on 15630 khz, and
heard the usual Greek and/or foreign music. It was one of the first
times I'd logged Greece, and badly wanted to send a reception
report. I could not find a good email address anywhere, so I took
the unusual step (for me, at least) of sending them a QSL request
by regular mail. If I remember right, I got VOG's address from the
excellent blog South East Asia DXing (if you need a mailing address,
it is at the bottom of this post). Anyway, I wrote a brief report, put it
in an envelope with two or three stamps, and off it went.

After several months, (sometime in January this year), I received
an envelope containing a big, folded map of Greece, a sheet with
a VOG schedule and my eagerly anticipated QSL card, with a
picture of some ancient Greek jewelry on the front. Since my
initial loggings of VOG, I have found myself listening to it very
often, although mostly on 9420 khz, rather than 15630. The
quality of the transmissions varies, with some days earning
something like a SINPO rating of 44344, but more often it's
more like 33233, or worse. Still, it's almost always on when I
do my SWLing in the evenings, and the strange, idiosyncratic
music is always cool to listen to.

QSL card, front and back, is pictured below.

Voice of Greece
432 Messoghion Av
15342 Aghia Paraskevi
Athens - GREECE

or

POB 60019
15310 Aghia Paraskevi
ATTIKIS
Athens - GREECE

Radio Habana Cuba QSL card

Way back in July 2012, I sent Radio Habana Cuba a QSL request by
email to radiohc@enet.cu, for shortwave reception on 11750 khz. For
some reason, that doesn't sound quite right at the moment. Buuut, I'm
too lazy to check my logs. And let's face it, what frequency doesn't RHC
broadcast in? Does it even matter?

Several months later (early January  2013) I received a QSL package
from Cuba in the mail. The envelope was badly torn, basically open;
this happens to my correspondence from Iran as well, so no real surprise
there. Free countries (unlike Cuba?)  routinely open and check their
citizens' mail, right? Aaaanyway...Pictures of the QSL (back and front)
are below, along with a postcard and Jose Marti pocket calendar .
Thanks, RHC!

CVC La Voz Responds Regarding QSLs

Back on August 18th, 2012, religious broadcaster CVC La Voz
transmitted on shortwave from Chile for the last time. I, and many
others, immediately sent them QSL requests. Nothing had been
heard from CVC since then, at least as far as I knew.

Finally, today, I received a mass email explaining the delay, as well
as a spreadsheet showing who had been sent a QSL already (with
full names and postal addresses on it. Yikes!!). Unfortunately/
fortunately, I wasn't on the list, and it seems not everyone who
wrote will receive a QSL, although a picture of a blank QSL card
was attached to the email (pictured at the end of this post). The
body of the email is pasted below, in English and Spanish.


Dear listeners and friends,


First of all I would like to thank you for your reports of the last week of
transmission of CVC La Voz in shortwave. We closed transmissions few
months ago and we have been dismantling the site during these months so
we will be finishing probably this month. I’m sorry for the delay in this
response, but we have been in a complicated process from the technical,
administrative and personal point of view, and because we have
experimented a reduction in personnel as well, we have been late in
sending the QSL requested. But, during this month we have been sending
a lot of QSL , and due the quantity of requests and reports we received,
it will be difficult to send responses to everybody. All of the messages
and reports showed us that they were lot of people listening to our signal
and this satisfied us a lot. By now, an in the case you don’t receive the
QSL physically, I’m attaching a scan of it.Also I’m attaching a list of
QSL sent already.Personally speaking, I’ll stop working for CVC
soon, so this email address will stop working soon. Thanks again for
all your messages and reports! Kind regards,



Estimados radio escuchas y amigos,Quiero primero saludarlos y
agradecerles por sus reportes de sintonía de la última semana de
transmisión de CVC La Voz por onda corta. Ya hace varios meses
cerramos las transmisiones y hemos estado en proceso de
desmantelamiento de la planta la cual está finalizando este mes. Quiero
también disculparme por la demora en esta respuesta, pero hemos estado
pasando por un proceso complicado desde el punto de vista técnico,
administrativo y personal producto de este cierre, y debido a esto y a la
reducción drástica de personal que hemos experimentado, es que hemos
tardado en enviar las QSL respectivas. Sin embargo, durante este mes
estamos enviando una gran cantidad de ellas, pero temo que, debido
a la demanda que tuvimos de esta QSL final, quizás no sea posible el
enviársela a todos y cada uno. Hemos recibido demasiadas cartas y
mensajes tanto vía email como por correo postal, lo que nos demuestra
la gran cantidad de gente que nos escuchaba, lo cual nos deja muy
satisfechos. Por ahora estoy adjuntando una copia escaneada de esta
QSL y esperamos que dentro de este mes podamos hacérsela llegar a
la mayor cantidad de ustedes.Adjunto también la lista de las tarjetas
QSL ya enviadas.En lo personal, ya prontamente dejaré de trabajar
para CVC, por lo que esta dirección de correo dejará de funcionar
próximamente.Me despido agradeciendo nuevamente sus mensajes
y reportes.


Un saludo cordial!
Antonio Reyes Barriga
Gerente General
Sitio de Onda Corta
CVC La Voz

QSL cards from CHU (Canada) & Radio Okapi (S. Africa)

On 11/20/12, I was surprised to hear Canada's time station 'CHU' on 3330
khz. It was pretty weak and faded often, but I could hear tones like those on
WWV, and the time being read by robo-voices in English and French. I emailed
them shortly thereafter at radio.chu@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca, and received an email
reply by the next day. A week or so later, I received a QSL card in the mail
(mailed from Buffalo, NY, interestingly enough). The front and back are pictured
below. The Aoki B12 schedule, as well as the station's QSL card, have CHU
listed on this frequency with a transmitter power of only 3 kw (!!!)

Then, on 11/24, I heard Radio Okapi on 11690 khz. This is a station
that broadcasts into the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo, in
this instance apparently from Meyerton, South Africa. Radio Okapi
is run by the humanitarian organization Fondation Hirondelle (out of
Switzerland) and the UN. I sent them a reception report to the email
address contact@radiookapi.net, and a less than two weeks later, I
received a QSL letter. Not a card, as it was printed on regular printer
paper, which I don't mind. After all, if the folks that run this important
service want to save some money by sending these out instead of printing
QSL cards, I'm more than okay with that. Very nice of them to respond
in the first place.

That's all for now...I probably won't be posting again until the new
year (unless I log some really interesting stuff, or get my Cuba QSL
package before then). Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!

QSL cards from Croatia, Germany and Cuba

Back in July, I heard Voice of Croatia on 9925 khz, and sent
them a reception report by email (several times and to several
addresses over several weeks, as it turned out), but they finally
responded with an e-QSL on September 13th. This was followed
a couple of weeks later by the same QSL letter that I received by
email, but this time by postal mail from Croatia. Wasn't expecting
that! But then, even more unexpectedly, a couple of weeks after
that, I received a Voice of Croatia QSL card by mail! It is
pictured below (top). Damn, VOC, you really came through in
the end. Huzzah!

In other QSL news,  I heard Germany's Deutsche Welle, trans-
mitted from Kigali, Rwanda, in East Africa, on October 21st
(as logged here). I sent them a reception report by email to
info@dw-world.de, and about 3 weeks later I received a QSL
card (pictured below, under the V. of Croatia card), mailed
from DW Customer Service in Bonn, Germany. The back of
the card can be seen in the second picture.

 

Finally, on September 15, I heard Cuba's Radio Rebelde on 5025
khz, and I sent them a reception report to web@radiorebelde.icrt.cu
two days later,  including an mp3 recording of my reception (they
apparently require this for QSL requests). On November 8th, I
received an email from Radio Rebelde with an e-QSL ( :-/ )
attached. It is displayed below. A big thanks to these three
shortwave broadcasters who took the time to acknowledge my
reports!

IRIB's Weird-Ass QSL Propaganda Jamboree

On August 11, 2012, at 0340 UTC, I heard the Islamic Republic of
Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) English language broadcast, Voice of Justice
on 13650 khz. E.W., of the blog Cobalt Pet suggested I email them
a QSL request, because they normally send out some pretty interesting
stuff. I emailed them at  englishradio@irib.ir, and within a few days,
received an acknowledgement by email, with an IRIB shortwave schedule
attached, letting me know my QSL would be mailed soon. So, in early
October, I find a large, heavy envelope from Iran stuffed into my mailbox.
It looked like it may have been opened and re-sealed (USPS? Homeland
Security?). Inside I found a pretty crazy array of Iranian propaganda.





















Besides  my QSL card, there was a 2012 calendar, a copy of "Islamic
Awakening" magazine, a copy of "ZamZam" (seemingly a children's
magazine), a thank you letter, a copy of IRIB's radio schedules and two
books, one of them titled "Islam, The West and Human Rights". I've
read a couple of dozen pages of the book, as well as some of "Islamic
Awakening".  No big surprises as far as the content. The main theme
seems to be that human rights do best under Islam, and that all people
should have all kinds of freedoms...but only within the confines of
presumably fundamentalist Islam. Oh, and the West is imperialist.
While I acknowledge that theUSA has a very bad track record with
Iran (we've helped overthrow their government at least once, and
supported the tyrannical Shah, among other blunders), the tone of
propaganda like this (and Radio Habana Cuba's) seldom ceases to
amuse me.

This book also has a full color, page-sized photo of the late Ayatollah
Khomeini a few pages into it. Creepy. The other book is called
"Spirituality and Politics From Imam Khomeini's Viewpoint". I haven't
done more than skim through this one, but I don't expect the content
to be much different. All in all, a fairly impressive QSL package, even
if I find myself largely disagreeing with the ideas it is trying to promote.

QSL from NHK World's Spanish Service (Japan)

On 5 September, 2012, at 0940 UTC, I heard NHK World Radio --
in Spanish -- on 6080 khz (it was logged here). The transmission came
from the trasmitter in Bonaire, in the southern Caribbean. I promptly
went to their website and filled out the the contact form requesting a
QSL. Less than three weeks later, I received a long, slim white
envelope from Japan. It contained the QSL card (filled out by hand),
a radio schedule poster, a postcard and a flier promoting the Spanish
service. The package also included a blank reception report form for
future QSL requests. It could be folded to make its own envelope.

The image below shows the postcard on top, and the front of the
QSL card (the pointy hat one) at the bottom. Below that image,
you can see the back of the QSL card, and the last image is
the Spanish service promotional sheet.

Me and my wife just got back from a honeymoon cruise to Mexico,
and I was able to log some interesting stations.  More on that in an
upcoming post!

Voice of Croatia e-QSL

Back on July 30th, I heard Voice of Croatia in English on one
of their "summer" frequencies, 9925 khz. A few days later I
began one of numerous attempts to send the station a reception
report and QSL request. First I tried the main email address
on Voice of Croatia's website, hrt@hrt.hr. That promptly got
returned, as the account was "over quota". I tried a couple of
more addresses I found online. Same thing. I thought I was
going to have to send VOC my request by...uggghh...snail
mail. But, finally, I found a good e-mail address on someone's
blog (probably this one). So I e-mailed Mladen.Golubic@oiv.hr
on September 12, and the next day, I received an electronic
QSL attached to an email, along with a VOC schedule.Woo-
hoo!! I feel like I really earned this one. Take a gander below.
You can download for a better look at this link.

Voice of Russia QSL card

Near the end of July, I sent a reception report to Voice of Russia by email,
from a logging from July 22nd, on 13775 khz, for their English service. On
August 6, I received an email reply from Elena Osipova with VOR
acknowledging receipt, and letting me know that a QSL card was being
mailed (some VOR schedules were also attached to the email). Less than
two weeks later, I received the above card in the mail. Very nice!

Email for VOR is world@ruvr.ru.

Vatican Radio QSL

On July 27th, 2012, I happened to pick up Vatican Radio in English,
relayed via Sackville, in Canada (a relay which was ended permanently
soon after). I logged it and promptly sent an email to Vatican Radio
with my reception report. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the receiver
I was using was faulty and I reported the wrong frequency, 9500 khz,
when it probably should've been 9610.

Regardless, three weeks later I got an envelope in the mail from
them with a QSL card, a postcard, two Vatican Radio stickers and
a couple of schedules printed on glossy paper. Not bad, considering
I didn't even report the correct information. It could be that, with
the gradual decline of shortwave radio as a medium and Vatican
Radio's significant cutbacks, the folks at VR may not care too
much about their reception reports nowadays. I reached this
conclusion when I saw that the frequency field in my QSL card
didn't even list a frequency, it only says "31 m" (for the 31 meter
band). Whoever read my email probably just said "f*ck it" and
scrawled whatever on my card. Not complaining, though, I'm
grateful for the souvenirs (pictured below).

It was hard for me not to notice how creepy Pope Benedict
looks in this postcard. But he is a pretty creepy-looking guy,
on a good day. The other card had a picture of the inside of
the Chapel of the Annunciation on the front. This was probably
my most significant contact with the Catholic Church since
I graduated from catholic high school 17 years ago.

Email for Vatican Radio: english@vatiradio.va