My friend, Macon Dail (WB4PMQ), is the Transmitter Plant Supervisor for the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station in eastern North Carolina, USA. He recently sent the following note and asked that I post it here:
“If anyone asks about the status of their QSLs from our station, please tell them that we had several returned over the past months as not deliverable. We think that the Covid-19 pandemic may have stopped some of the international mail delivery. I plan to resend them in the next week or so to see if they can make it through the postal service. “
Thanks for sharing the update, Macon!
In fact, this is not the only shortwave station experiencing problems. If you’ve requested a QSL this year, it could take much longer to get a response. You might make a note to follow up with broadcasters once this pandemic is in the rear-view mirror. Not all will be as careful about following up like Macon.
Unfortunately, the USPS news on this isn’t terribly up to date ( https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/welcome.htm ). Service to Bermuda and other places have certainly been resumed. It’s worth waiting to see what evolves. Unfortunately, as with all things to do with SARS-Cov-2, things are highly volatile, not least of which is the health of US (and other) airlines. As an extreme example Qantas isn’t taking any international flight bookings until NEXT summer [July 2021]! That pretty well cuts off direct flights from the Americas. Anyone who has tried travelling trans-Atlantic recently will know just how bad the situation is (my sister-in-law just went through a truly awful experience with British Airways/American Airlines and their booking and ‘information’ system). Postal services are under considerable stress.