Have you ever wondered how to send a QSL card? What about electronic logging? This guide will explain everything you need to know about the art of QSLing.

QSL is an amateur radio Q code for “Have you received?”. The response Q code is “Yes, I have received”. In order to confirm a contact formally, a QSL card can be sent. There are many ways to confirm a contact. You can send a paper QSL card via the bureau, a QSL card direct, an eQSL card, a LOTW confirmation or a QRZ confirmation. I will explain each of these methods in turn.

Firstly, paper QSL cards. There are many online retailers who specialise in printing QSL cards. There are many options to choose from, including fully custom cards, semi-custom cards, different logos, etc.. You can experiment with these different options, and find one that is right for you.

Once you have received your printed QSL cards, you will now want to send them. QSL cards tend to have boxes either on the front or the back of the card to input information about your contact. On my paper QSL card, I fill the following information:
Your callsign
Day of contact
Month of contact
Year of contact
Time of contact (in Universal Coordinated Time UTC)
Mhz (Frequency)
RST (Readability, Strength, Tone, such as 5, 9)
Mode (FM, USB, DigitalVoice, etc..)
Notes (on the back of the card).

You can find the information to fill in on the card from your log or logging software. I recommend using electronic logging software, as it makes QSLing easier to track. The best free logging software in my opinion is Log4OM V2, and I have created a guide on how to set this up HERE.

You don’t have to send a QSL card for every contact, and it is considered economically and environmentally friendly to only send a card after you have checked the receiving party’s preferences. There are several ways to do this, including using the Clublog OQRS (more on this later!), by checking their QSL information on the QRZ website, or by asking them during your QSO on-air. A simple “Would you like to exchange QSL cards” does the trick.

There are two main ways to receive QSL cards; bureau and direct. To send a card direct, you would post the card to the recipient’s address (usually found on QRZ.com). This is the fastest way to exchange QSL cards, but it is the most expensive as you have to pay for airmail postage for each of the cards you send. However, if you would like to QSL with a rare, distant or special station, you may want to send a direct card (including an International Reply Coupon, three dollar bills or Paypal them the return postage) in order to receive one quickly in return.

The slower way to exchange cards is via the bureau. I will be explaining how to use the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain) bureau. If you are not from the UK, you may want to look at how to use your own country’s bureau. To use the bureau, you must be a member of the RSGB. You can join the RSGB HERE. Assuming you are a member, there are a couple of things to do in order to start exchanging cards via the bureau. Firstly, you should send several self addressed and stamped envelopes to your QSL manager. Each callsign group (G4, G5, M0, M7, etc..) has a different QSL manager, and you can find the list of QSL managers HERE.

To send a bureau card, you would fill out the information on the card as normal, and do this for as many cards as you wish to send. Once you are ready to send them, you should sort them. Typically, you would sort them by UK callsign group (M, G, 2E), then you would order your international cards alphabetically by their country’s prefix. You can read the rules on sorting your cards on the RSGB website HERE. You should then post your cards to the RSGB bureau making sure you include proof of membership (This should be an original address label and identification numbers cut from the bag used to post your copy of RadCom).

Remember that bureau cards could take one or two years to arrive, as cards are posted in bulk to their destinations.

Now you know how to send a paper QSL card, I will be explaining how to exchange an electronic QSL confirmation. Firstly, QRZ.com. QRZ is the largest amateur radio database, and I would strongly recommend signing up to it. If you have opted in to the QRZ logbook, you can add your QSO confirmations to your log book. This will then ask the recipient to confirm the contact too (providing they have also opted in to the logbook), and your contact will be confirmed!

The next way to confirm a contact electronically is using eQSL. The eQSL websites allows the exchange of an actual QSL image. There are several free images to choose from, or you can make a small donation in order to upload your own image. One you have uploaded your logbook (or individual contacts) to the eQSL website, an image of your QSL card will be sent to the recipient. Once a recipient receives the card, they can choose to return their QSL image to you. This is a great way to QSL without using paper cards, and is free to send (my logging software automatically sends an eQSL card for every contact I make – you might as well!).

The other main way to confirm a contact is by using LoTW (Logbook of the World). This is an “official” confirmation of the contact, and is used mainly for awards and contests. LoTW provides you with a digital certificate to prove who you are, requires licence verification, and only allows you to upload a confirmation from certain devices. This ensures that the QSO is official. Once the recipient confirms the contact via LoTW, the QSO will count towards many awards which are automatically analysed for you. LoTW provides some of the most prestigious amateur radio awards, and the website is associated with ARRL (the largest Amateur Radio group in the USA).

Now, a brief explanation of Clublog. Clublog provides a platform to request QSL cards from the contacts you speak to. You can search for your callsign in the logbook of other stations, and, providing the details of your QSO match, you can request a QSL card. You can request a bureau card for free or send a small payment via Paypal in order to receive a direct card. You can also enable your own callsign to receive requests, so you know who wants to receive a card, and who doesn’t.

Hopefully this guide has explained how to exchange QSL confirmations. If you have any questions or you would like to get into contact with me, you can use the contact form HERE or email me at oscar@m7oja.com

Please share this article on Facebook or on your own website if you have found it useful – It is my aim to help out newer M7 operators, and hopefully this article will find its way to those who could benefit from it.

Stay safe!
​-Oscar M7OJA