- Care and Feeding of the Incoming QSL Bureau

- A Better Way to QSL?

- Scheduled Hamfests and Travel Stop by the ARRL Expo area at Dayton and say hello.

+++ Care and Feeding of the Incoming QSL Bureau +++

There is a lot of "unknowledge" floating around among hams concerning how the Incoming QSL Bureau works. This "unknowledge" causes no end of headaches for many people who are waiting to receive cards through the Bureau, for the Bureau Manager and Letter Sorters who operate the Bureau -- and for the director who is ultimately responsible for the operation of the Bureau. This "unknowledge" could be cured very easily if only the people waiting to receive cards would read and follow the information that is posted on the World Wide Web. I'll try to summarize some of the most import and often least understood information that is involved in the frustrations. This information is:

- The Incoming Bureau is staffed by unpaid volunteers who donate their time to helping other amateurs receive QSL cards from foreign countries.

- The overall Bureau is divided into local Bureaus according to FCC area -- e.g. 1st Area, 2nd Area, 3rd Area, etc.

- The number in one's call sign (the number of the FCC area) determines the number of the Incoming Bureau's area that handles incoming QSLs for an individual. This is true regardless of the FCC area in which they live -- i.e. a resident of California who has an 8 call is served through the 8th Area incoming bureau. A resident of Montana who has a "4" call uses the 4th Area Incoming Bureau.

- Minor operating procedure differences exist between the area bureaus.

Knowing how one area bureau operates does not necessarily prepare an amateur to use a different area incoming bureau most effectively.

- QSL's will be shipped to receiving amateurs only if they have envelopes and postage on hand at their area bureaus -- specifically, with the Letter Managers for their calls.

- Unless an amateur arranges otherwise with his/her letter manager, it is likely their cards will be sent to them in batches when the letter manager believes there are "enough to warrant sending." This may be about once a year unless the recipient receives a large number of cards. Talk to your letter manager to arrange for different timing to receive your cards.

- The bureau is the least expensive means for receiving actual QSL's.

It is definitely not the fastest. Although the ARRL Outgoing QSL Bureau at Headquarters is pretty quick to send cards out to overseas bureaus, many overseas bureaus are much less prompt to distribute cards in their countries. They also may be much less prompt than the HQ Incoming Bureau in Newington when it comes to passing cards on. Add to this the fact that many amateurs may be slow in QSL'ing and it should be apparent that the turn-around time -- the time from when a US amateur sends a card via the Outgoing Bureau until the foreign amateur's card is received by his/her incoming letter sorter -- can be lengthy. It often requires two years or longer to receive a card through the bureau. This is beyond neither the ARRL, the manager of the incoming bureau or the letter manager control the greatest part of the operation. Patience is not only a virtue, but is a practical necessity in dealing with QSLs sent via the Bureau. I have received cards from QSO's that were held as long as five years earlier.

- If you have a question about how the bureau operates, contact your letter manager. The letter manager is the ham who handles all incoming QSL's for call signs with a specific first letter of their suffix. For example, the 8th Area "J" letter manager handles all cards for K8JE, N8JE, W8JE, KB8JE, W8JDZ, K8JEL, KC8JCY etc. Similarly, the 4th Area "J" letter manager handles K4JE, N4JE, etc. The identities of letter managers can be found on the Incoming Bureau web sites.

- The most important rule to follow in dealing with an incoming bureau is to know how it operates (read the directions), follow the operating guidelines, communicate with your letter manager when questions arise . . . and have patience. The incoming bureau does not control which cards are received and when they are received.

- Finally, be reasonable. Do not expect the incoming bureau staff to read your mind or to work miracles. If a ham has not received cards from the bureau for quite some time, there the two most likely reasons for this are: 1. There are no (or extremely few) cards at the bureau for him, or 2. he has not sent self-addressed envelopes and postage to his letter manager.

+++ A Better Way to QSL? +++

If one collects operating awards such as WAS, DXCC, CQ Magazine Awards and a growing number of additional awards, using Logbook of the World (Logbook; LoTW) is probably the best way to QSL. This is a far less expensive method of QSL'ing, and it typically is the quickest way. More and more amateurs worldwide are using Logbook. In addition it has just become more convenient to use this program. Applications for awards can now be made without sending paper QSLs to the participating award sponsors.

Essentially, an amateur that wishes to submit QSL's into Logbook for an award does this online from his home, prints out a copy of the entry and takes it and the QSL's to a local QSL field checker. The field checker will verify the entries and the list is sent to HQ to allow the entry to be moved into the LoTW database. There is no need to ship paper QSL's to HQ. Using this procedure will cut costs to amateurs and speed the processing of applications that previously had to be sent to HQ for processing.

One must realize, of course, that not all amateurs worldwide use LoTW.

For these, paper QSLing may be required. Also, there is at least one additional digital QSL exchange system. Understand that many if not most operating award sponsors that accept digital confirmation of QSOs for awards will not accept confirmation by systems other than LoTW.

+++ Scheduled Hamfests and Travel +++

The following is the current hamfest schedule for the Great Lakes Division as well as current travel plans of Vice Director Dale Williams, WA8EFK and me. Further travel will be added as time goes forward. If you would particularly like to have Dale or me attend your hamfest of other event, please contact us. Dale is at wa8efk@arrl.org and I am at k8je@arrl.org

Hamfest chairman, it is never too early to apply to have your hamfest sanctioned. There now is one hamfest in the GLD sanctioned for 2013.

May 5 - Cadillac AR and Computer Swap, Cadillac, MI - WB8R

May 12 - Louisa Hamfest, Louisa, KY - K8JE, KY4Z

May 18-20 - Dayton Hamvention®, Trotwood, OH - K8JE, WA8EFK

Jun 2 - IRA Hamfest, Hudsonville, MI - WB8R

Jun 2 - Fulton County ARC Hamfest, Tedrow, OH - Ohio Cabinet

Jun 2 - Princeton/Pennington Tailgate/Fest, Princeton, KY - KY4Z

Jun 3 - Chelsea Hamfest, Chelsea, MI - WB8R

Jun 7 - Muskegon Area Amateur Radio Council Meeting - WA8EFK

Jun 9 - LARS Hamfest, Newberry, MI - WB8R

Jun 14 - Mahoning Valley ARC Meeting - K8JE

Jun 16 - Midland ARC Hamfest, Midland, MI - WB8R

Jun 16 - Milford Hamfest, Milford, OH - K8JE

Jun 17 - Monroe Hamfest, Monroe, MI - WA8EFK, WB8R

Jul 12 - Programs & Services Committee Meeting - K8JE

Jul 13-14 - ARRL Board of Directors Meeting, ARRL HQ - K8JE, WA8EFK

Jul 21 - NOARSFEST, Elyria, OH

Jul 22 - Van Wert ARC Hamfest, Van Wert, OH

Jul 28 - CMARC Trunk Sales, Lansing, MI

Jul 29 - Portage ARC, Randolph, OH

Aug 4 - Ohio State Convention & Columbus Hamfest, Columbus, OH - K8JE, WA8EFK, KI8GW

Aug 4 - UP Hamfest, Escanaba, MI

Aug 12 - Central Kentucky Hamfest, Lawrenceburg, KY

Aug 19 - Lapeer Co. ARA Annual Swap & Shop, Lapeer, MI

Aug 25 - SIARA, Owosso Swap & Trunk Sale, Owosso, MI

Sep 8 - GRAHamfest, Wyoming, MI

Sep 8 - Greater Louisville Hamfest, Shepherdsville, KY

Sep 15 - Richmond Hamfest, Richmond, KY

Sep 16 - Greater Cincinnati ARA Hamfest, Cincinnati, OH

Sep 16 - Adrian Hamfest, Adrian, MI

Sep 23 - Cleveland Hamfest and Computer Show, Berea, OH

Oct 6 - Vette City Hamfest, Bowling Green, KY

Oct 13 - Muskegon Color Tour Hamfest, Muskegon, MI

Oct 21 - Kalamazoo Hamfest, Kalamazoo, MI

Oct 26 - Massillon Hamfest, Massillon, OH

Oct 27 - KY Mountains ARC Hamfest, Hazard KY

Dec 2 - LCARC AR Swap/Hamfest, L'Anse Creuse, MI