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-
- THE ARRL OUTGOING QSL SERVICE
-
-
- Note: The ARRL QSL Service should not be used to exchange QSL
- cards within the 48 contiguous states.
-
-
- One of the greatest bargains of League membership is being
- able to use the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service to conveniently
- send your DX QSL cards overseas to foreign QSL Bureaus. Your
- ticket for using this service is your QST address label and just
- $2.00 per pound. For those not quite so DX active (sending 10
- cards or fewer), enclose $1.00. You can't even get a deal like
- that at your local warehouse supermarket! And the
- potential savings over the substantial cost of individual
- QSLing is equal to many times the price of your annual dues.
- Your cards are sorted promptly by the Outgoing Service staff,
- and cards are on their way overseas usually within a week
- of arrival at ARRL Hq. Approximately two million cards are
- handled by the Service each year!
-
- QSL cards are shipped to QSL Bureaus throughout the world,
- which are typically maintained by the national Amateur Radio
- Society of each county. While no cards are sent to individuals
- or individual QSL managers, keep in mind that what you might lose
- in speed is more than made up in the convenience and savings of
- not having to address and mail QSL cards separately. (In the
- case of DXpeditions and/or active DX stations that use U.S. QSL
- managers, a better approach is to QSL directly to the QSL
- manager. The various DX newsletters, the W6GO QSL manager
- directory, and other publications, are good sources of up-to-
- date QSL manager information.)
-
- As postage costs become increasingly prohibitive, don't go
- broke before you're even halfway towards making DXCC. There's a
- better and cheaper way -- "QSL VIA BURO" through the ARRL
- outgoing QSL Service!
-
-
-
-
- How To Use The ARRL Outgoing QSL Service
-
- 1) Presort your DX QSLs alphabetically by parent call-sign prefix
- (AP, C6, CE, DL, ES, F, G, JA, LY, PY, YL, 5N, 9Y and so on).
- NOTE: Some countries have a parent prefix and use additional
- prefixes, i.e., CE (parent prefix) = XQ, 3G,... . When sorting
- countries that have multiple prefixes, keep that country's
- prefixes grouped together in your alphabetical stack. Addresses
- are not required. DO NOT separate the country prefix by use of
- paper clips, rubber bands, slips of paper or envelopes.
-
- 2) Enclose the address label from your current copy of QST. The
- label shows that you are a current ARRL member.
-
- 3) Members (including foreign and QSL managers) should enclose
- payment of $2.00 per each pound of cards -- approximately 150
- cards weigh one pound. A package of ten (10) cards or fewer costs
- only $1.00. Please pay by check (or money order) and write your
- callsign on the check. Send "green stamps" (cash) at your own risk.
- DON'T send postage stamps or IRCs. (DXCC credit cannot be used towards
- the QSL Service fee.)
-
-
-
-
- 4) Include only the cards, address label and check in the
- package. Wrap the package securely and address it to the
- ARRL Outgoing QSL Service, 225 Main Street, Newington CT
- 06111.
-
- 5) Family members may also use the service by enclosing their
- QSLs with those of the primary member. Include the
- appropriate fee with each individual's cards and indicate
- "family membership" on the primary member's QST address
- label.
-
- 6) Blind members who do not receive QST need only include the
- appropriate fee along with a note indicating the cards are
- from a blind member.
-
- 7) ARRL affiliated-club stations may use the service when
- submitting club QSLs by indicating the club name. Club
- secretaries should check affiliation papers to ensure that
- affiliation is current. In addition to sending club station
- QSLs through this service, affiliated clubs may also "pool"
- their members' individual QSL cards to effect an even
- greater savings. Each club member using this service must
- also be a League member. Cards should be sorted "en masse"
- by prefix, and a QST label enclosed for each ARRL member.
-
-
-
-
- Recommended QSL-Card Dimensions
-
- The efficient operation of the worldwide system of QSL Bureau
- requires that cards be easy to handle and sort. Cards of unusual
- dimensions, either much larger or much smaller than normal, slow
- the work of the Bureaus, most of which is done by unpaid
- volunteers. A review of the cards received by the ARRL
- Outgoing QSL Service indicates that most fall in the following
- range: Height = 2-3/4 to 4-1/4 in. (70 to 110 mm), Width = 4-
- 3/4 to 6-1/4 in. (120 to 160 mm). Cards in this range can be
- easily sorted, stacked and packaged. Cards outside this
- range create problems; in particular, the larger cards
- often cannot be handled without folding or otherwise damaging
- them. In the interest of efficient operation of the worldwide
- QSL Bureau system, it is recommended that cards entering the
- system be limited to the range of dimensions given. [Note:
- IARU Region 2 has suggested the following dimensions as
- optimum: Height 3 1/2 in. (90 mm), Width 5 1/2 in. (140 mm).]
-
- Countries Not Served By The Outgoing QSL Service
-
- Approximately 260 DXCC countries are served by the ARRL
- Outgoing QSL Service, as detailed in the ARRL DXCC Countries
- List. This includes nearly every active country. As noted
- previously, cards are forwarded from the ARRL Outgoing
- Service to a counterpart Bureau in each of these countries.
- In some cases, there is no Incoming Bureau in a particular
- country and cards therefore cannot be forwarded. However, QSL
- cards can be forwarded to a QSL manager, i.e.; 3C1MB via (EA7KF).
- The ARRL Outgoing Service cannot forward cards to the following
- countries:
-
-
-
-
-
- A5 Bhutan
- A6 United Arab Emirates
- C9 Mozambique
- D2 Angola
- EP Iran
- ET Ethiopia
- J5 Guinea-Bissau
- KC4 U.S. bases in Antarctica
- KC6 Belau
- KH0 Mariana Is.
- KH1 Baker and Howland Is.
- KH4 Midway I.
- KH5 Palmyra and Jarvis Is.
- KH7 Kure I.
- KH8 Am. Samoa
- KH9 Wake I.
- KP1 Navassa I.
- KP5 Desecheo I.
- OD Lebanon
- P5 North Korea
- S2 Bangladesh
- S7 Seychelles
- T2 Tuvalu
- T3 Kiribati
- T5 Somalia
- TJ Cameroon
- TL Central African Republic
- TN Congo
- TT Chad
- TY Benin
- TZ Mali
- V4 (VP2K) St. Kitts & Nevis
- V6 (KC6) Micronesia
- VP2M Montserrat
- VR6 Pitcairn Island
- XT Burkina Faso
- XU Kampuchea
- XW Laos
- XX9 Macao
- XZ (1Z) Myanmar (Burma)
- YA Afghanistan
- ZD7 St. Helena
- ZD9 Tristan da Cunha
- ZK3 Tokelau
- 3C0 Pagalu I.
- 3C Equatorial Guinea
- 3V Tunisia
- 3W, XV Vietnam
- 3X Guinea
- 5A Libya
- 5H Tanzania
- 5R Madagascar
- 5T Mauritania
- 5U Niger
- 5X Uganda
-
-
-
- 70,4W Yemen
- 7Q Malawi
- 8Q Maldives
- 9G Ghana
- 9N Nepal
- 9Q Zaire
- 9U Burundi
- 9X Rwanda
-
-
-
- Addtional information:
-
-
- SWL cards can be forwarded through the QSL Service.
-
- We no longer hold cards for countries with no Incoming Bureau.
- Only cards indicating a QSL manager for a station in these particular
- countries will be forwarded.
-
- The Outgoing QSL Service CANNOT forward stamps, IRCs or "green stamps"
- (cash) to the foreign QSL bureaus.
-
-
-
- MSD-235 (0594)
-
-