Postage costs just keep rising, but you don't have to go broke before you're even halfway towards making DXCC. There's a better and cheaper way: "QSL VIA BURO" via the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service!
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 proof of ARRL Membership and just $4.00 per pound. (Those not quite so DX active can send 10 cards [or fewer] and 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 are on their way overseas usually within a week of arrival at ARRL HQ. The Service handles approximately 2,000,000 cards each year!
QSL cards are shipped to QSL bureaus throughout the world, which are typically maintained by the national Amateur Radio Society of each country. 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 US QSL managers, a better approach is to QSL directly to the QSL manager. The various DX newsletters, the GOLIST QSL manager directory, and other publications, are good sources of up-to-date QSL manager information.)
How to Use the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service
Note: The ARRL QSL Service should not be used to exchange QSL cards within the 48 contiguous states.
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). 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, paper slips or envelopes.
2) Enclose proof of current ARRL Membership. This can be in the form of a photocopy of the white address label from your current copy of QST. You can also write on a slip of paper the information from the label, and use that as proof of Membership. A copy of your current Membership card is also acceptable.
3) Members (including foreign, QSL managers, or managers for DXpeditions) should enclose payment of $4.00 per each pound of cards or portion thereof--approximately 150 cards weigh one pound. A package of ten (10) cards or fewer sent in a single shipment costs only $1.00. Eleven (11) to twenty (20) is $2.00. Twenty-one (21) to thirty (30) is $3.00. Please pay by check (or money order) and write your callsign on the check. Send "green stamps" (cash) at your own risk. Do not send postage stamps or IRCs. (DXCC credit cannot be used towards the QSL Service fee.)
4) Include only the cards, address label and fee in the package. Wrap the package securely and address it to:
ARRL Outgoing QSL Service
225 Main St
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 proof of Membership 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 inches [90 mm], width 5-1/2 inch [140 mm].)
Countries Not Served By The Outgoing QSL Service
The ARRL Outgoing QSL Service serves approximately 260 DXCC countries, as they are defined 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
D2 Angola
J5 Guinea-Bissau
KC6 Belau
KH0 Mariana Is.
KH1 Baker and Howland Is.
KH4 Midway I.
KH5 Palmyra and Jarvis Is.
KH7 Kure I.
KH8 American Samoa
KH9 Wake I.
KP1 Navassa I.
KP5 Desecheo I.
P5 North Korea
S7 Seychelles
T2 Tuvalu
T3 Kiribati
T5 Somalia
TJ Cameroon
TL Central African Republic
TN Congo
TT Chad
TY Benin
V6 (KC6) Micronesia
VP2M Montserrat
XU Kampuchea
XW Laos
XX9 Macao
XZ (1Z) Myanmar (Burma)
YA Afghanistan
ZD9 Tristan da Cunha
3C0 Pagalu I.
3C Equatorial Guinea
3V Tunisia
3W, XV Vietnam
3X Guinea
5A Libya
5R Madagascar
5T Mauritania
5U Niger
5W Samoa
70,4W Yemen
7Q Malawi
8Q Maldives
9N Nepal
9Q Dem. Rep. of Congo
9U Burundi
9X Rwanda
If you have any questions concerning this list, please email them to the Outgoing QSL Service at [email protected].
Additional information
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.
When sending cards to foreign QSL Managers through the Outgoing Service, use the Manager's call in the sort, rather than the station's call.
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.
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Page last modified: 12:58 PM, 15 Dec 1997 ET
Page author: [email protected]
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