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be discarded for being out of date.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

_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD atsign mindspring dotsign com
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001

() wrote in :

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 had the same thought; heck, $2 bills ara a curiousity even here.

I'm currently scouring the city looking for post offices which
actually have IRCs; they're pretty scarce.

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've uploaded all my contacts for all my calls going all the way back
to about 1963; 3200 contacts (I was surprised at how few there were,
but I go inactive for years at a time) and only 31 QSLs.

Hope this helps a bit.

It confirms my guesses.

Who are you working these days?

Practially nobody :-)

Waiting for the sunspots to come back ...

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
() wrote in :

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 had the same thought; heck, $2 bills ara a curiousity even here.

I'm currently scouring the city looking for post offices which
actually have IRCs; they're pretty scarce.


They can order them for you. Unless they have a regular call for them, most
post offices don't stock them. Generally a polite request is sufficient but
sometimes you have to be more assertive.

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've uploaded all my contacts for all my calls going all the way back
to about 1963; 3200 contacts (I was surprised at how few there were,
but I go inactive for years at a time) and only 31 QSLs.


Contesters and big DXers seem to be the best about being signed up for LOTW
and using it. I've uploaded about 6000 and gotten about 1000 confirmations
in LOTW.

Hope this helps a bit.

It confirms my guesses.

Who are you working these days?

Practially nobody :-)

Waiting for the sunspots to come back ...


There's lots of stuff out there right now if you are patient and persistent.

Dee, N8UZE

Bert Hyman wrote:

I'm currently scouring the city looking for post offices which
actually have IRCs; they're pretty scarce.

I know what you mean. I've had post office employees tell me there was no
such thing as an IRC. :-)

I've uploaded all my contacts for all my calls going all the way back
to about 1963; 3200 contacts (I was surprised at how few there were,
but I go inactive for years at a time) and only 31 QSLs.

I did the same thing a couple of years ago; took the time to create an
ADIF export routine for my homebrewed log, uploaded them all, 190
countries, about 175 of them verified on paper--and got a total of 31
countries verified via LotW the last time I looked. :-)

Who are you working these days?

Practially nobody :-)
Waiting for the sunspots to come back ...

I hope they're on the way. I've been inactive for 2 years but wound up
dragging out a radio, antenna tuner, and my PSK/RTTY interface--looking
forward to giving it a try again! :-)

73 de AC4RD!

_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD atsign mindspring dotsign com
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001