A few nice cards in from the IRTS bureau

I got a delivery of QSL cards from the IRTS bureau today, and there were some nice countries included in the small pile. I'm particularly pleased to receive cards from 5W1SA Samoa, A52AEF Bhutan and AH0BT Saipan. I got several cards from South Korea, which is unusual, plus some from Japan, and one from 9H Malta, OH0 Aland Islands and 3A Monaco.

Some nice eQSL cards in my inbox today

I am delighted with this one. Austral was a brand new DXCC for me this year and now I have it confirmed both on eQSL and Logbook of the World.

Guatemala is not that common on the bands. I need a lot of slots with this DXCC. I am glad to have my digital QSO with Emmanuel confirmed.

This was a contest QSO. Philippe in French Polynesia was calling for Europe only at the time. He was still being called by lots of US ops, but I managed to make it through the QRM. Shortly after this he started working USA only so I was happy to get through when I did.

This was a nice QSO into Saipan, Northern Marianas, with Matt, signing as WH0/K0BBC. We have seen some nice action on the high bands this past couple of weeks. Long may it last!

A break from radio over Christmas

As you might have noticed, it's been a while since I updated the blog. I haven't been very active at all on HF, although I have maintained local activity here in Drogheda on the UHF and VHF bands. I had a busy and enjoyable Christmas and have been trying to clear a backlog of QSL cards, both direct and via the bureau.

The latest QSL card in the letterbox yesterday was from 3D2C,
Conway Reef dxpedition, confirming seven band slots.

I must say the bureau cards have become an absolute chore. I've been receiving over 200 cards for the last number of deliveries and it takes a while to get through them all. I've decided now that I will only be sending return cards via the bureau TWICE A YEAR - there simply isn't enough time to do everything! I have to prioritise direct cards, and I am a big fan of ARRL's Logbook of the World, which is by far the best and easiest way to QSL in my humble opinion.

There have been a couple of wind storms this week which have given my antennas a good battering, although at this moment in time everything seems to be fine.

In 2013, I hope to be one of a number of EI hams activating a new special event callsign, EI13CLAN, which is in celebration of a big event next year called "The Gathering", which aims to promote and celebrate all that is Irish. You can see more information about The Gathering on this website.

The special callsign EI80IRTS, celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Irish Radio Transmitters Society, will cease to be active on December 31st 2012, just a couple of days away, so if you hear the call on the bands, work it quickly before it's too late!!!

In the meantime, you can read more about EI13CLAN on QRZ.com. Meet you on the bands in 2013!!

The ups and downs of QSLing

One aspect of amateur radio which can be both rewarding and frustrating is the exchange of QSL cards. I get a lot of QSL requests in through the IRTS bureau. Having processed some 700-800 cards over the past number of months, I had the pleasure yesterday of sorting all the outgoing cards into continents and countries so I could send them to the outgoing manager. Above is a photo showing the sorted cards. It can take a number of hours to process each incoming bundle and fill out the return card and mark everything off in the log. This amount of cards probably took about five or six hours to process. It is a time consuming business!

On the slightly less frustrating side of the QSL bureau is when you get some nice cards incoming. Today I received 183 incoming cards from the bureau. There were quite a few from the 'usual suspects' including Germany/Sloevnia/Bulgaria etc., but some nice and unusual ones too. Above is a card from JD1BMH, Ogasawara Island, which would be a new DXCC confirmed. Also on left is DP1POL from Antarctica. Other highlights include ZD8W Ascension Island, 9M2TO West Malaysia, and a bunch of cards from Japan. Nice.

Some nice QSLs via the bureau

I recently took a delivery of QSL cards via the IRTS bureau service, which I must start processing. I got about 160 cards, and some interesting DX was included, which is pictured here.

I got cards from BV100 (Taiwan), RI1FJ (Franz Josef Land), VE6WQ (Alberta, Canada), UN0C (Kazakhstan),and a couple of stations from PJ4 (Bonaire). I love getting the nice cards through the bureau.