August - Mike And Key Amateur Radio Club

August 2007
QSL Manager... [Continued from Page 3]
France, but you are sending the QSL to his QSL
Manager, G3ABC in England – for all QSL Manager
directed cards, just make sure you print the QSL
Managers call sign on both the front and back of all
such QSLs, e.g. F6ABC VIA G3ABC.
Here is a real solid QSL “card” (6”H x 12”L x 2”Thick)
mailed from the South Pole
The ARRL Incoming QSL Bureau is initially
sorted by U.S. call districts. The Incoming QSLs
directed to the 7th Call Area are shipped to someone in
that area, who, in turn, sorts all the cards by the letter
after the “7”. Thus all 26 letters (W7A, W7B, W7C – all
the way to – W7X, W7Y, W7Z) go to as many as 26
different hams in the 7th call area (some fellows handle
more than one letter). The fellow who handles
K7LED’s incoming cards and those of all the “L”s is a
great guy named Russ Fillinger, W7LXR, who lives in
Portland, OR. Before leaving home for Field Day in
Seattle, I contacted Russ and arranged a short visit
when we drove through Portland – I thought it would be
worthwhile meeting him as he is the one who will be
mailing K7LED cards to me. As a side note, for 12
years, I handled the “T”s for the 6th District Incoming
QSL Bureau – Russ, however, has many more years
of service under his belt. It was sure nice to meet him
and as it turned out, he wasn’t very far off the I-5 at all.
For our efforts, Ann and I both received the grand tour
of his card processing routine.
K7LED Relay
Russ, W7LXR, is a real DXer with a sizable
tower behind the house – he has one trophy he
showed me, a special QSL he received from a station
in Antarctica to whom he had given some helpful
assistance (see photo).
Regarding my role as QSL Manager for
K7LED, there are two things to keep in mind. First,
when the club finishes Field Day, there are a number
of hams who following a contact with K7LED, want a
K7LED QSL card and so send their QSL to the Mike &
Key ARC – my role is to respond to that request.
Second, if K7LED is used for any HF or VHF contest
event, then plan on providing me with a copy of the
associated K7LED log – that allows me to respond to
an incoming QSL request.
I used to QSL everyone I worked and have
accumulated thousands of QSL cards, but when I got
active in contesting, keeping current became an
overwhelming task. You see, each contest
represented between 500 and 1500 contacts. I still
QSL – but my days of 100% QSLing are long gone.
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On The Lighter Side of Ham Radio...
Best Behavior
Contributed by Sam Sullivan N7RHE
As we get on the air, some of us with new privileges,
we must be mindful of the shared resource we enjoy.
We must present a good face to all those who listen in
especially the not yet licensed. Hiram Maxim, “The Old
Man”, realized this and created some behavior
warnings which are displayed at ARRL headquarters.
I’ve seen them first hand.
Rettysnitch...at the ready.
The Rettysnitch: Invoked by ''The Old Man'' during the
early years of the hobby to combat poor operating
practices. The Wouff Hong: Every amateur should
know and tremble at the history and origins of this
fearsome instrument for the punishment of amateurs
who cultivate bad operating habits and who nourish
and culture their meaner instincts on the air. We can
only imagine the pain these corrective measures
brought.
This real solid QSL “card” was mailed from the South
Pole to Russ-W7LXR (address in center, return address
in upper left corner, and stamps in upper right corner)
4
Wouff Hong.
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