Bert Hyman wrote:
What's the current preferred way to include payment for return postage
to the US?
Is $2 enough, usually?
How well are IRCs accepted?
Are two-dollar bills to weird to use?
Bert, it's been a couple of years since I've been active, but until the
smart guys get here I'll put my own opinions out FWIW:
If you want a direct reply, $2 US is the minimum for a lot of foreign
hams--airmail rates have gone up in recent years in a lot of the world.
You can find specifics for various countries--airmail costs, etc., on the
web, and you can also find information from hams in other countries about
how well IRCs work--some people have a lot of trouble with them, others
don't. THis newsgroup used to be a good source of information but usenet
seems to be dying off--I'm sure there are websites with this sort of
information. THere may be some countries left where $1US will pay an
airmail reply, but probably not many and I'd hate to count on it if the
QSL is important to you.
I would be hesitant about using a $2 bill to help with postage--too many
people in the US are dubious about them, but even in Indonesia and
Svalbard, the standard $1 bill is familiar.
I love paper QSLs--I was just looking at some of mine earlier today,
enjoying remembering the QSOs, the exotic locations .. but you'll probably
want to sign up for "Logbook of the World" in addition. It looks darned
useful on the face of it, even if you (like me) still want those paper
QSLs when possible.
I used to send QSL requests in old envelopes from work--ones that were to
be discarded for being out of date. Laser-print the address on one of
those with no callsign visible and it looks like a regular business
letter, less attractive to pilferers, I think.
Hope this helps a bit. Who are you working these days? I've been
inactive for a while but I'm toying with the idea of setting up a little
PSK31 operation, and seeing if 15meters is any good these days ...
73 de AC4RD
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Ken Kuzenski AC4RD atsign mindspring dotsign com
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see?
www.duke.edu/~kuzen001