KAAY QSL Cards

 

Thanks to Doug Virden, friend of the blog for this QSL card (front & back views).  They were given to him by the late Larry McDonald...they are blank because they were never filled out for a listener.

"QSL" came from early Amateur ("Ham") Radio days...when operators were communicating via spark gap (now outlawed, due to tremendous noise capabilities!) and then Morse Code, "Q codes" were used to communicate.  Instead of tapping out the entire word, "communicate" or "conversation", one would instead use the code "QSO", with other abbreviations, such as "FB QSO U", which essentially means, "It was great ("FB" meaning 'fine business') having a conversation with you ("U").

There were other "Q codes" that sped up communications.  One of the more familiar communications abbreviations is "SOS" (save our ship), which was used as a marine "Mayday", although not a Q-code.

Radio operators and listeners have collected QSL cards for many, many decades.  These are a verification of reception.  In their heyday, many radio stations would also send out other neat things along with the QSL card, such as bumper stickers and other mail-able items.  But these QSL cards came at a cost!!!  The listener had to correctly note date, time, frequency, program details (music played during the time noted) and any other details.  Sometimes, the listener would (and should still!) include some First-Class postage stamps for freight back to the listener.

Sometimes, the QSL would arrive back in days; I have known some listeners/operators to wait for a very elusive station for YEARS.  Since so many stations are now conglomerates and corporately-owned, many will not QSL, because the radio statin you're hearing in Anytown, USA is streaming material from a studio hundreds or even thousands of miles away.  And that one "jock", whether actually human or computer-generated AI personality, will never see that mail.

Hope is not lost, however; there are still plenty of stations out there who may still have staff on-board who can and still do read mail- it might take them some time, but the wait, in your case, MAY be worth it.  There are still a few shortwave stations who QSL.  If an AM or FM station no longer has actual cards, sometimes a letter from the station manager, engineer or other personnel is still counted as a QSL. 

Have fun!  QSL collecting is still a hobby these days, although not as prominent as it once was...but I still cherish those that I have collected!

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)