How to Obtain Short Wave Radio Station QSL Cards

Set up your shortwave radio listening post. If you do not have a multiband shortwave radio receiver, you can use your standard AM broadcast radio. If your radio has a built-in antenna, you are all set. If not, then you will need to attach an antenna. Usually, a small indoor wire antenna will be sufficient if your radio has a place to attach one. You will also need an accurate clock. A 24-hour (military time) clock set for Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is ideal. A small notebook, logbook or some three-by-five-inch cards and a pencil complete your shortwave radio listening post.

Listen to your radio to find stations from whom you would like to receive a QSL card. There are many online guides and printed books available with shortwave station frequencies and program information. Listen to your AM broadcast radio (0.5 to 1.6 MHz) at night to hear stations as far away as 2,000 miles or more. Tune and listen carefully between the loud signals. Even the local AM stations that you hear are happy to send you QSL cards. The AM radio band improves during the winter months because it has less static and signals travel greater distances.

Tune around and become familiar with the various radio bands while looking for stations that interest you. Frequency bands above 10 MHz (Megahertz) or below wavelengths of 30 meters are generally open to you during your daylight hours; and those below 10 MHz (above 30 meters) are open to you during your afternoon and nighttime hours. You will hear stations from all over the world on the 7.0 MHz band (40 meters) most afternoons and evenings, especially during the winter months.

Record carefully the date, time (in UTC), radio station call sign, type of station (commercial or amateur), frequency, location (QTH), distance (DX or local), signal strength (on a scale of 1-9), audio quality, your radio model, and any specific details about the station's programming or two-way communication transmission to which you are listening in your notebook, logbook or three-by-five cards. You can also create a computer log (database) to record your SWL and QSL activities. You will include all of these log details on your QSL cards and reception reports.

Create your QSL card reception report by providing all of your log details neatly and creatively on the back of your local picture postcard. You might fill these details in by writing directly onto your postcard QSL or by printing out a computer label with all of the information in an attractive and easy-to-read format. Radio stations will appreciate and respond to your handmade QSL cards, but you may want to create and print out quantities of your QSL cards or even have them professionally printed.

Obtain the address for each radio station you wish to QSL by looking up the station's call sign or call letters on the Internet. Most commercial broadcast stations worldwide have websites or on-line listings at SWL web sites. Most shortwave stations periodically give out their website addresses and mailing information on the air. Radio stations value your reception reports and QSL cards. If you wish to QSL with an amateur radio station, look up the station's call sign at QRZ.com, which is the main worldwide directory of amateur radio stations.

Send out your QSL card report and request to the radio station. Be sure to include an SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) and ask specifically for a QSL card in return. When sending QSL requests to stations in other countries, it is polite to send along an IRC (International Reply Coupon) postal exchange coupon from your Post Office because U.S. postage stamps are useless in other countries. IRCs cost about $2 each and they cover return airmail postage from most countries. Two dollars in cash is also effective and is welcomed by foreign amateur radio operators to help pay for the return postage. Include a bit of local lore, postage stamps, sports cards, or a local pamphlet and you might receive similar items from around the world.

Mount your incoming QSL cards in an album, scrapbook or format that suits your personal taste and creativity. Pages arranged with the QSL card, a photocopy of the reverse side of the card, and the stamped envelope in which it arrived all mounted on nice paper are attractive and sometimes suitable for framing.