+++++++++++++++++++ From: "Francis Belliveau" To: "'Elecraft List'" Subject: Re: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 08:09:37 -0500 Post card stock is one good way to go if you can get it in a finish or coating that you like. Fro cutting the cleanest way to go is with a rotary cutter. These are sold ad quilting supplist. The quilting rulers that they sell make things easier also becaues you can see through them. They also sell a special mat to use but a stack of newspaper of cardboard will work for small quantities. The mat will just keep the blade sharp longer. Note that this is not the cheapest way to go, just the easiest to control cleanly. These tools are readily available in most fabric shops. You can start with just the cutter and then add the ruler and mat later. There are three sizes of cutter, the small blade will probably not work well. My wife uses the almost 2 inch ones; the bigger ones may work better but may be less economical. Rulers and mats also come in many sizes, just think about the size of the stock you plan to use. Fran +++++++++++++++++++ From: "Wallace, Andy" To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Subject: RE: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 08:54:35 -0500 > -----Original Message----- > From: Jack Brindle [mailto:jackbrindle at earthlink.net] > > Now that I am back involved with, and fully enjoying, ham radio HF > operation with this wonderful K2, I need to do something I > haven't done for quite a while - get some QSL cards. Hi, Jack. Well I went to www.w4mpy.com "The QSL Man" after just doing a search on what printers are still around. I used the Elecraft K1 picture from their website, and used MS-Paint to cobble up a quick design with my callsign and info on it. I had intended to just print them on my computer, or go to an office supply store and have a bunch run off -- four to a page kind of thing. I had W4MPY make 1000 up for me in two-color with my callsign in red. They look fine. I even put www.elecraft.com on the card because I love the K1 so much and want people to know about it. Well along those lines I think it would be great if Elecraft had their own card made up. National, Collins, and perhaps other manufacturers used to do that -- it was a generic card with no callsign. You filled yours in. I got a card from a Polish ham that was like that -- the area for the callsign had an area which was fuzzed out to white so he could write in his call on the front. Since the Elecraft rigs are so classy, an Elecraft card should be, also. My idea for such a card would be a full-color, postcard quality card. The front would have shots of the K1 and K2 together and operating, with Elecraft's name and space for your callsign. The back would have all the usual full-data QSL info, including checkboxes for what rig (K1 or K2) you were using, and a box for power used. My thought for personal name and address was to use self-stick address labels -- any Sunday newspaper or magazine has ads for them at like 1000 for $4. There would be a space on the back where you could stick one of those, rather than having to fill that in. (Or a rubber stamp could be used.) The photo for the front should be high quality and clearly show the rigs, dials, and buttons. The cards would be generic, so one rev would probably be all that is ever needed (if the proper QSL info is settled upon for the back of the card). Now, taking W4MPY's site as an example, full color postcard QSLs are expensive, as you would expect. $255/1000. If you have the money to sink into 10,000 of them, it's $725 -- which makes the price $72.50 per 1000 of that quantity, a great deal when you think about it. With these being GENERIC cards, Elecraft could order that many or more. Now...here's the neat part. I'd GLADLY pay $100+shipping for 1000 of these. At that 10,000 price break above, Elecraft would make over $25 per thousand, and it would cost me a dime a card. Similarly, they could price them at $10/100 for smaller quantities. Still a profit. And here's another thing to think about: every such card a ham sends out is advertising for Elecraft. How many companies do you think would love to have people paying for cards to send out, advertising their products? It's a big win, in my mind, for Elecraft. If the cards are tastefully done, I don't think anyone would object to seeing the website on the card and promoting the rigs we already love. How many of you would buy such cards? I like QSLing -- always have -- and have used up a few hundred of the W4MPY ones already. I actually sent this idea to HQ, so DON'T bug them yet. If it floats, I am sure they will consider it. Andy +++++++++++++++++++ From: "Charles Bland" Organization: Entropy Reduction, Inc To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 06:48:10 -0800 Subject: RE: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? Reply-To: BlandRanch at BlandRanch.net > Well along those lines I think it would be great if Elecraft had their > own card made up. National, Collins, and perhaps other manufacturers > used to do that -- it was a generic card with no callsign. You filled yours > in. I found a font that looks like LCD Display characters. With a little magic from LView, my K2 display has my callsign. If anyone is curious about the font or the picture, let me know. Chuck +++++++++++++++++++ Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 10:06:51 -0800 From: Bob Nielsen To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? A good, inexpensive source for quality custom QSL cards is Valery, RA6YR (http://www.octavia.com). He will work with you on the design and has a large number of samples on his excellent web site. Full color cards with printing on the back are $106/1000, including shipping. I'm definitely a satisfied customer. 73, Bob N7XY -- Bob Nielsen, N7XY n7xy at n7xy.net Bainbridge Island, WA http://www.n7xy.net IOTA NA-065, USI WA-028S ++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 13:40:17 -0500 From: "rich a." Subject: Re: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? To: Bob Nielsen , elecraft at mailman.qth.net Reply-To: "rich a." Another possible good source of cards may be EA7JX , (http://www.qslcard.org/). He is charging 81 euros (approx $81 USD) for 1000 color printed cards, which includes shipping. I use the words "possible" and "may be" because the cards haven't been delivered yet and I'll have to wait until I have them in hand before passing final judgement.......but he got very good reviews on eHam.net. Only thing is they are taking some time (I ordered on Jan.11th) but that is to be expected for an out of US printer. Impatient types should probably order elseware. Rich K2CPE K2 #1102 ++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 14:51:44 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time) From: W2AGN Subject: Re: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? To: nielsen at oz.net, elecraft at mailman.qth.net I guess you can call me "impatient," but last summer I ordered some simple stock" cards from Octavia. It took me over 6 months to get them! I guess you could say I'm NOT a satisfied customer. +-++-++-++-++-+ John L. Sielke |W||2||A||G||N| http://www.w2agn.net [UPDATED] +-++-++-++-++-+ Ex-K3HLU,TF2WKT,W7JEF,W4MPC,N4JS ++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 14:49:02 -0500 To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net From: Kevin Cozens Subject: RE: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? Greetings, all. A couple of other places that haven't been mentioned are: Rusprint (http://www.rusprint.com/) Royal Printing (http://www.royalprints.com/) My first QSL card was a two-colour custom card of my own design. Now I am finalizing a new design which will be full-colour (plus a gray-scale photo will be used on the back). The idea of a photo on the back came from a QSL printer I found plus one or two cards I had received. Personally, I'm leaning towards using FDS Graphics (www.fds-graphics.com). They charge 95 UK Pounds (~$176 US), which includes shipping, for 1000 cards which have full-colour fronts and backs which can also include a photo but the backs are in gray-scale. You can order as little as 125 cards for 32 pounds. They also have reduced rates for re-orders. They are more expensive compared to some QSL printers. They are supposed to have a fairly quick turn around though. My new design will include a picture of me with my K2. Based on comments made by Andy, I will think about a caption to add below the picture which will include a link to the Elecraft web site. Scroll down to the bottom of "About Me" section of my web site if you want to see samples of the design in progress. Cheers! Kevin. (http://www.interlog.com/~kcozens/) Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172 |"What are we going to do today, Borg?" E-mail:kcozens at interlog dot com|"Same thing we always do, Pinkutus: Packet:ve3syb at ve3yra.#con.on.ca.na| Try to assimilate the world!" #include | -Pinkutus & the Borg +++++++++++++++++++ Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 14:54:45 -0800 From: Bob Nielsen To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? That is a bit excessive. My custom order (about two years ago) only took two months. On Fri, Feb 07, 2003 at 02:51:44PM -0500, W2AGN wrote: > I guess you can call me "impatient," but last summer I ordered some simple > stock" cards from Octavia. It took me over 6 months to get them! > I guess you could say I'm NOT a satisfied customer. ++++++++++++++++++++ From: "Dave Sergeant" To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Date: Sat, 08 Feb 2003 15:17:55 -0000 Subject: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? Associated, but not directly related to this theme, is the subject of electronic QSLs (http://www.eqsl.cc/qslcard/index.cfm) which are now commonly used by many operators. I accept that they are not valid for DXCC (but are for some other awards), but they certainly give me satisfaction and can be easily printed to stick on the wall. My eQSL (you can design your own card from several templates) has a picture of my own K2, easily done with a digital camera. If you want to see it of course, you will have to QSO me and then exchange the log information on eQSL.. I obtained my DXCC with QRO years ago and am no longer interested in chasing cards direct for that purpose. But I do of course still send cards via the bureau and direct for special ones. But some of the cards I have received via eQSL have given me much satisfaction - 8N1OGA Ogasawara Is received immediately after the QSO, would have taken ages the old way. 73s Dave G3YMC dsergeant at iee.org dsergeant at btinternet.com http://www.dsergeant.btinternet.co.uk ++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2003 16:08:56 +0000 From: "Julian (G4ILO)" Subject: Re: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? To: "Elecraft List" I was pleased with the quality and service provided by FDS Graphics, who made me some nice cards a couple of years ago with a nice Lake District view on the front, and a monochrome image of my K2 on the back, as a "backdrop" to the QSO details. But I shan't have any more printed once these run out. Colour cards are pricey, the return rate through the bureau is too disappointing, and too many DX stations don't seem to use the bureau anyway. I don't QSL direct no matter how rare the DX, it's too much hassle and too expensive. I think electronic QSLing is the way to go. It's cheaper and, as you remark Dave, much faster. Although the eQSL system does have some shortcomings, it does work very well, and it's on the way to achieving the critical mass of users. What surprises me is the interest in printing QSLs direct from the computer log on to the printer, to send via the post or bureau. I'd have thought that these would be literally not worth the paper they are printed on. The point of the eQSL system is that the QSL cards are generated from a log entry submitted by the sender, who can be authenticated. But anyone with an art package could knock up and print a false QSL from some needed country in order to claim an award, if they wanted to. 73, -- Julian, G4ILO. (RSGB, ARRL, G-QRP, K2 #392) G4ILO's Shack: http://www.qsl.net/g4ilo +++++++++++++++++ Date: Sat, 08 Feb 2003 11:28:56 -0600 From: Randy Moore To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] K2 QSL Check this out! I was motivated by the recent thread on QSLs http://mywebpages.comcast.net/wrmoore47/K2QSL.htm 73, Randy, KS4L ++++++++++++++++ Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2003 16:08:56 +0000 From: "Julian (G4ILO)" Subject: Re: [Elecraft] QSL Card recommendations? To: "Elecraft List" I was pleased with the quality and service provided by FDS Graphics, who made me some nice cards a couple of years ago with a nice Lake District view on the front, and a monochrome image of my K2 on the back, as a "backdrop" to the QSO details. But I shan't have any more printed once these run out. Colour cards are pricey, the return rate through the bureau is too disappointing, and too many DX stations don't seem to use the bureau anyway. I don't QSL direct no matter how rare the DX, it's too much hassle and too expensive. I think electronic QSLing is the way to go. It's cheaper and, as you remark Dave, much faster. Although the eQSL system does have some shortcomings, it does work very well, and it's on the way to achieving the critical mass of users. What surprises me is the interest in printing QSLs direct from the computer log on to the printer, to send via the post or bureau. I'd have thought that these would be literally not worth the paper they are printed on. The point of the eQSL system is that the QSL cards are generated from a log entry submitted by the sender, who can be authenticated. But anyone with an art package could knock up and print a false QSL from some needed country in order to claim an award, if they wanted to. 73, -- Julian ++++++++++++++++++