You Need Your Own QSL CARD

I know, I know… we have QRZ and eQSL and LOTW (Logbook of the World) and Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) and Netlogger and N1MM and… blah, blah, blah.  An old fashioned paper QSL card is still sweet to hold in your hand and to enjoy the real memory of a fun contact. Especially if it’s a DX station from a far away land toward DXCC or the last state you needed for WAS.

They aren’t as expensive as you think.  For simple black and white cards you can buy 100 cards for about $12… my color card above cost about $30 for 100 of them.   I got mine from Cheap QSL’s on the internet and they sent the proofs the same day and shipped them out the same day!  Most folks are migrating toward electronic QSL’s these days.  I predominately use Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) Logbook for my main logging software but also upload my logbook to eQSL, QRZ and LOTW every couple days of logging, however if someone requests a paper card I will oblige.  Sooooooooo… if I do that once in a while I’ll have about 65 cents in the effort by the time I add postage.  Below is a Special Events Station I worked and got this electronic QSL a few days later…

 

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Make your own Dipole Antenna

Randy does such a good job of explaining how to make your own 10 Meter Dipole.  Get on the air… 10 meters is a fun band when the sun cooperates!

2016 Dayton Hamvention Post-Mortem

Well… another Hamvention is in the books and it was the usual great time of fun and friendship.  WR8S  (Bill Shultz) and WV8TG  (Tom Graf) and I enjoyed three fun-filled days scouring the Flea Market and also inside Hara Arena for all sorts of treasures and trinkets.  Tom scored a pristine 1959 Hammerlund HQ-One Forty Five short-wave radio and several other vintage radios to restore.  (The Hammerlund was the first serious short-wave radio Tom bought and it eventually led him on the journey to get his Amateur Extra Class license!)  Bill and I invested in a couple Yaesu FTM100-DR System Fusion digital mobile radios so that we can explore the Monongalia Wireless Association’s new System Fusion repeaters here in the Morgantown, West Virginia area.  Below is a video recap of our annual trek to the Dayton Hamvention.  If you have never attended a Dayton Hamvention… GET THERE!  Enjoy!

20 Meters Ham Radio Band… HF… What can ya hear?

20 Meters Ham Radio Band is one of the most popular bands for long range (DX) communications.  It holds up in most conditions and is were a lot of exciting DX contacts OfficialSWLChannel tells us all about finding signals on the 14 MHz part of the band.

10 Meter Ham Radio Beacons… HF… What can ya hear?

10 Meter Ham Radio Beacons (28 MHz) help us know where propagation is working in our favor for communicating around the world.  OfficialSWLChannel provides another excellent video on how to take advantage of these beacons!

40 Meters Ham Radio Band… HF… What can ya hear?

OfficialSWLChannel tells us what we can expect on the exciting 40 Meters amateur radio frequencies.

80 Meters Ham Radio Band… HF… What can ya hear?

OfficialSWLChannel video about the activity on 80 Meters.

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160 Meters Ham Radio Band… HF… What can ya hear?

160 Meters is another challenging ham radio band to work.  This video tells you what listen for and what to expect.  This is another OfficialSWLChannel video.

10 Meters Ham Band… what can ya hear?