There’s not much happening for me Chaser wise today, so it’s a good time to catch up on replying to the Bureau QSLs that have arrived from the RSGB over recent months. I have a pile around 25mm high to clear.
I wrote on my QRZ page that I will be stopping receiving and returning cards through the bureau at the end of 2021, after sending and receiving many thousands since 1982. Over 1000 of them received since 2002 have come from SOTA Chasers and Activators.
Just to repeat what I said a while ago on the reflector. I will stop replying to bureau QSL cards at the end of this year - a year later than my original intention. Also if you have sent me a QSL card among this latest batch and it is on the same band and mode that my records show has already been received from you and replied to, then I won’t be sending another QSL card.
My logs are now all uploaded to Logbook of the World, all 33 of them.
I feel your pain, Phil! I just received a packet from the bureau last week and there were a few SOTA cards among them. I don’t get many DX SOTA QSOs. But the repeat cards are really a waste for the sender and for me. I do not answer those, either. I have about 2 kilos of cards filled out and ready to go to the outbound bureau, not counting the ones I haven’t yet answered. I’m dreading boxing and shipping them out.
73,
John, K6YK
This is my final attempt to prevent SOTA operators both Chaser and Activators, sending me QSL cards via the bureau. I know not everyone reads the reflector but I started out making this “no QSL” request on here in 2021!
As I am active almost every day on the HF bands I just received an overweight envelope (I paid the £1.50 surcharge and the Bureau managers postage cost) from my RSGB Bureau Sub-Manager containing 40 QSL cards, of which 32 were from SOTA contacts sent to me for activating summits around Europe or for Chasing SOTA from home.
AS I SAID ON HERE IN 2021 I NO LONGER WANT THESE QSL CARDS,however for goodwill I respond with a QSL card for every one received in this final batch.
All contacts can be confirmed electronically via ARRL logbook of the world (LoTW) from the 23 countries I have visited and operated from. I do not believe in or take part in eQSL.
I HAVE NOW INSTRUCTED THE RSGB BUREAU SUB-MANAGER TO RECYCLE ANY QSL CARDS ADDRESSED TO G4OBK, so please do not send them to me and expect a QSL card back in return. Any cards will go into recycling at the Birmingham City Council Depot, near the home of the G4O RSGB Bureau sub-manager.
If you send me a direct QSL card, then please ensure return postage is included. Email me first and I will give you my PayPal address which is also shown under QRZ.COM. If no return postage is included then no card will be returned.
I just looked you up out of curiosity and found out that you’ve worked me on every HF band apart from 60m! I’ve not operated on 60m, so I guess we need to set up a sked!
(I worked you on 15m a couple of days ago, it’s not showing in your online log yet)
I bought a batch of QSL cards in 1999 and I still have more than half of them left - it’s also my policy not to QSL, unless for really special reasons on request.
When I became M6GYU some 7 or 8 years ago I already had one QSL Card - from a Japanese Naval RO I met in a pub in Japan whilst our ship was in Shimizu harbour In 1968!! I still have it.
The first few dozen cards I got as a ham I found rather interesting. Some quite attractive. Mine were rather dull in comparison compared to most sent to me. But I don’t need them and after the first couple of years I stated on my QRZ page that I don’t collect them. But like you Phil, they still came.
I ended up contacting - emailing - our regional QSL manager and informing them that I no longer want them. I’ve had none since. In fairness I did have a QSO with a ham recently and I did ask for his card which posted to my house. G4YVM has the same name as mine. I did show it to Mrs P, who expressed a polite amount of interest.
I don’t need proof that I worked you or anyone else. I know I did.
I did some logging on QRZ, but didn’t keep it going, then I kept a paper log, and then gave up on that. The only comprehensive log I keep now is for SOTA.
Different to you Dave @M6GYU as I have been licenced almost 45 years and as well as a SOTA operator since 2002 I have been a DXer and Contester all that time which you are not, so I now have many thousands of QSLs on every amateur band from 160m through to 70cm stored in drawers in cabinets and in shoe boxes as the cabinet drawer space has been exhausted. I would not like to guess how many thousands of QSLs I have accrued.
I do collect them as a serious DXer but I have so many now that if I want a card I request it and pay for it using the OQRS system via PayPal or occasionally by sending direct via Royal Mail Air Mail including the cost of return postage in green stamps ($3-$5).
My records show that in 2024 I requested 8 QSL confirmations directly via the OQRS system, mainly using PayPal to cover the cost at a total cost of £27.20. I now have around 3010 DXCC countries confirmed over the 10 DXCC bands from 160m up to 6m (discounting 60m which does not count for DXCC). Ther are 340 DXCC Countries to try to work on every HF band, so to get the lot (which no amateur will every achieve) you would need 3400 confirmations. This crazy ARRL scheme is called the DXCC Challenge and you can get hooked on it just like SOTA.
So yes, I am quite keen on QSLing but the QSL cards have got to be from a new band country I haven’t yet got to be of any interest to me. Quite a number of new band slot DXCC confirmations also come in automatically free of charge via Logbook of the World and I am quite satisifed to receive this proof of contact as an alternative to a paper QSL card.
So there is nothing remarkable or exciting for me now in receiving a batch of QSL cards for SOTA or for any contact from around Europe, except perhaps a QSL card for SV\A Mount Athos on the 80m or 6m band, as I have paper QSLs confirming this rare country on every other band up to 10m including 160m. Mount Athos is rarely heard on the air these days. You probably know it is a religous enclave in the Peolponnese, Greece. Since SV2ASP/A Monk Apollo died in 2019 (Age 64) the “country” is rarely on the air.
I also ignore the email QSLs that I have been receiving in recent years.
Well no problem about setting up a sked Colin, anytime you like hihi. I can usually hear your QRP CW signals here in Pickering as you are operating within a range of around 80 miles at most. You have also become a very proficient operator as well if I may say so, congratulations, and a No.1 top builder of your own transceivers which is admirable. The first recorded QSO I have with you was on 01-09-13 at 12:41z on 160m (RST 439 sent 589 received) and on 12m CW! Why was that? I think maybe that was the year of the 12m Challenge? You were operating from Lad Law G/SP-008. Lancastrians like me always call it Lad Law and not Boulsworth Hill.
There was a time when the paper QSL made a lot of sense. Way back in 1967 I remember the teenage thrill of receiving a QSL card for my first 160m QSO across the pond with W1HGT. Back then there was no other way of knowing for sure that the QSO was a good-un.
In 2003 LoTW changed all that. I haven’t used the QSL bureau for 20 years and despite making around 5k QSOs most years I very rarely receive direct cards any more. Everything is done via LoTW and for that I am very grateful.
Over the last weekend there was a major CW contest on HF and I made a few hundred QSOs. An hour after the contest I uploaded the new QSOs to LoTW and found a bunch of QSO matches (effectively virtual QSL cards) already in the database. Why would I want to wait months on end for those confirmations to come via the bureau?
I just don’t see the point of the bureau any more.
Well!!! For a while I thought I just might just have been the first on here to have received a QSL card. That said mine wasn’t a confirmation of a QSO - just a chance meeting with a Japanese naval RO and an amateur.
Just a quick heads-up for anybody reading: every station’s page on QRZ has an area specifically designed for communicating that stations QSL preference.
This field is part of the header which means it’s likely to be integrated into other tools, or at least more likely than the body of the page, which you need a QRZ login to view. @G4OBK you might want to head over to your QRZ Edit page and fill that in.
I’ll have to get some gear for 60m! I have a RockMite but no antenna. Maybe my FT-817 will do 60m. I’m wondering if my QCX-40 would work on 60m . I could probably put together an inline low pass filter to knock down the harmonics a bit more.
Thanks for the compliments, I feel very much that my CW skills are based solely around SOTA QSOs, I’m fine along as callers don’t go off piste! I’m good at copying call signs and summit refs.
You just need the software then. You can run the software and it enable TX everywhere. The 817 will be remain in that mode until you next reset it. It will remember across power cycles, no battery etc.
Though TBH, a man like you should pull the front panel and remove the links that programs the radio. That’s the correct way.
Thinking about it, a long time ago (+10 years), I tried to call a special event station on 40m SSB and my rig said TX error. I remember now that 40m used to end at 7.1MHz! Gosh, I’m getting old! I think I did do something with solder jumpers back then. I guess I just need to try the rig!
So is mine. There is a software called “widebander”, which I used for opening my FT-817 for continuous TX. I’ve seen it for download in the files section of the FT-817 group on groups.io. You need a CAT cable for this. My cheapy CT-62 USB CAT cable from Aliexpress did the job.
No need to open the TRX and do any hardware mods. However, after a reset, you have to use the software again.
Hi Phil,
An opportunity for you to complete the Mount Athos with SV1GA/A, OH2BH Martti and KO8SCA Adrian are on site!!!
73 and best regards,
Chris F4WBN
Yes Chris, I saw the announcement today. 80m, 60m and 6m needed. Albeit I only have Athos on 160m using FT8. OH2BH must be getting on now. We’ll have to see how it pans out, but 80m would be very nice if I could break the pile up on DATA or CW. If they operate 80m SSB I shan’t bother on that mode on that band!
That said mine wasn’t a confirmation of a QSO - just a chance meeting with a Japanese naval RO and an amateur.
