Category Archives: QSL Gallery

The story of a 1970s CB Radio QSL card print house

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ulis (K3LU), who shares the following story of a popular CB Radio QSL Card design and print house:

73s and 88s :: The Ballad of Runnin Bare and Lil White Dove

We set a custom screensaver on Our AppleTV. Told it to pull images from Flickr tagged with “British Columbia.” After my wife and kids and I spent a few weeks in Vancouver and in various places on Vancouver Island, it had become one of our favorite places. We missed it.

And so, at night, after a show or movie ended and the AppleTV sat idle for a few minutes, a slideshow would automatically begin. The Parliamentary Buildings in Victoria, the Inner Harbor, the wild, rocky, tidepool-rich shores of Tofino, the murals of Chemainus.

Then, every once in a while, an illustration of some sort. I couldn’t tell what. A one-panel comic? Some kind of advertisement or flyer? It would be gone from the screen before I could really get a good look. Weeks would go by and I wouldn’t see it until, once again, there it was. It looked old, like something from the 60s or 70s. And it had numbers on it, like a code or a message: 73s and 88s.

It was the numbers that got me. Like the park rangers in The Shining calling for Wendy Torrance on the radio: “This is KDK-1 calling KDK-12. KDK-1 calling KDK-12. Are you receiving me?” They seemed to be saying something. But what? I had to find out. So, I took to Google, and began my search.[…]

Click here to continue reading the full article.

FYI: Although the CB Radio landscape is quite different than it was in the 70s, most modern shortwave radio receivers can tune to CB channels. Here’s a quick tutorial from our archives.

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Check out this amazing QSL and off-air audio from shortwave pirate “The Purple Nucleus of Creation”

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This morning, I uploaded a recording of 2001 shortwave pirate The Purple Nucleus of Creation to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive (SRAA). The recording was submitted by Adam C. Smith, a regular over at the SRAA.

Adam’s six minute off-air recording was made on October 27, 2001 at  0009UTC on 6,928 kHz USB with Adam’s Grundig 800 and 100’ wire antenna. Check out the audio embedded below or via the SRAA.

But first? Check out this extraordinary QSL card:

This QSL is more intricate than a wedding invitation! I love it! Thanks for sharing, Adam!

Here’s Adam’s off-air recording:

Adam also included other correspondence from The Purple Nucleus of Creation:

Again, thanks so much, Adam, for submitting this recording and memorabilia with everyone via the SRAA. Now your recording will (literally) be shared with our thousands of podcast subscribers and also streamed to devices across the globe via TuneIn. It’ll also be permanently preserved on the SRAA website and the Internet Archive.

Note that you can subscribe to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive as a podcast via iTunes or by using the following RSS feed: http://shortwavearchive.com/archive?format=rss You can also listen via TuneIn.

Of course, one of the best ways to listen to recordings and read all of the recording notes is by visiting the SRAA website.

Post readers: Did you log The Purple Nucleus of Creation back in the day?  Who sent you your favorite pirate radio QSL card? Please comment!

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One amazing SWL QSL card from 1995

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ulis (K3LU), who shares the following note:

I have one of the most detailed SWL QSL cards that was given to me by Fred Laun, K3ZO who is a very well known Contester and DXer. A retired USIA officer, Fred had an amazing career.

Fred runs the ARRL Third Area QSL Bureau and I am one of his sorters. We have long shared many common interests and one day he surprised me with this QSL card (see below). [L]ike you and I, Fred started out SWLing as a kid.

I suspect the SWL who wrote this card is now QRT. But it’s spectacular that he wrote all of this and with a real typewriter:

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Wow, Ulis! What a treasure of a QSL card! Thank you so much for taking the time to share it with us.

I can’t imagine using a typewriter to pack so much information onto a QSL card. I struggled using a typewriter for letter sized pages!

I am curious if anyone knows the SWL who created this card: Mr. Hank Holbrook. If so, please comment!

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2020 Radio Prague QSL Cards

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who writes:

“These are the new 2020 QSL Cards from Radio Prague International.
The theme of this year is “Transmitters” (Antennas):”

(Source: Radio Prague)

The three letters – QSL – constitute one of the codes originally developed in the days of the telegraph. All codes consisted of three letters beginning with “Q”. Later some of these “Q” codes were adopted by radio-telegraphists and radio listeners. QSL means “contact confirmed” or “reception confirmed”.

The expression “QSL card” or just “QSL” gradually came to be used among radio-amateurs and then more broadly as radio began to develop as a mass medium. Radio stations were keen to know how well and how far away their programmes could be heard and began to send their listeners “QSL cards” in return for reception reports. The card would include letters making up the “call sign” of the station – the system still used in the United States – or the broadcasting company’s logo or some other illustration. The card would also include a text stating the frequency and the transmitter output power, and a confirmation of when the listener heard the station.

Domestic broadcasters do not tend to use QSL cards these days, but their popularity remains among radio stations broadcasting internationally. They are still keen to know how well they can be heard in the parts of the world to which they broadcast. In the era of shortwave broadcasts Radio Prague sent out QSL cards for reception reports received. After curtailing our shortwave transmissions as of February 1, 2011 we will continue issuing QSL cards for reception via the Internet.

Here you can look through our current and past series of QSL cards:

Click here to view all of the new QSL cards from Radio Prague.

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LRA36 and Radio Kuching QSL Cards

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Schreiber, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

After reading recent SWLing Post articles on LRA36 and Radio Kuching, thought I’d send along these images of QSL cards from both stations – dating back to 1981 and 1977 respectively.

I lived in Colorado at the time and heard both Kuching, Sarawak, and Argentine Antarctica from time to time and was fortunate enough to receive QSL’s.

You’ll notice on the envelope the special postmark of the Esperanza Army Base in Argentine Antarctica. In those days the covers were often as interesting as the cards.

73

Thanks for sharing those QSL cards, Richard! I think this is the first time I’ve seen an LRA36 QSL from the early 80s. Those cars are to be treasured!

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Lennart’s Malaysia QSLs

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Radio Malaysia QSL

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Lennart Weirell, who shares the following in reply to our recent posts regarding Radio Malaysia and Radio Sarawak:

Back in early 80-ies (1981-1984) I lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I used my Panasonic DR-28 with a short indoor wire to listen.

RM Sabah QSL

Of course some of the loggings were “local”, i.e. RAAF Butterworth, RM Sarawak and RM Sabah. RAAF Butterworth answered with a letter and RM Sarawak with card and RM Sabah with letter and card. All these 3 QSLs are from 1982.

RAAF Butterworth

Brilliant, Lennart! Thank you for sharing these QSLs.

I’m very curious how many listeners were able to snag the 1,000 watt Butterworth signal on 1,445 kHz from outside of Malaysia. Please comment!

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Radio Malaysia QSL and memories

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In response to our post regarding Radio Sarawak, SWLing Post contributor, M Breyel, shares the following:

These were the shortwave frequencies RTM used in 1975. This is my QSL card for an RTM transmission originating from Penang, as received on Denver, Colorado. [Click images to enlarge.]

Most MW stations in Malaysia ceased operation after 2000. That said, a 750 kW MW station in Sabah remained operational as late as 2008, if I remember correctly. My guess is FM became more prominent thereafter.

Certainly here in peninsular Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), particularly in 1987, we had six government FM stations. Sign-off was usually at midnight or 1 am, depending on the station. An annual license (tax) was issued for each radio owned.

Note, the QSL card [above] appears to have first been printed in 1973, judging by the smaller date printed at the bottom of the card. It was one of the few folded cards I received in my DXing years from 1967 to 1980. It features three sections, folded twice and printed on both sides. The Angkasapuri studio in Kuala Lumpur, map and flag of Malaysia, caption about the country, transmitter sites and frequencies and verification data is depicted on it.

This particular card was issued for a reception report I posted on 22 November 1975, nearly 40 years ago. Unbeknownst to me then I had picked up Radio Malaysia via Penang, according to the frequency legend (4.985 kHz) stated on the card. I assumed it was Kuala Lumpur and, more importantly, I was excited to have logged a new country to my growing list of international broadcasters.

At the time I lived in Northglenn, Colorado — a suburb north of Denver. As I recall Radio Malaysia was usually received in the early morning hours between 5 and 8 am. Reception was always weak, yet music and speech was audible despite atmospheric noise.

The receiver I used was a Zenith Trans-Oceanic H-500, a 5 valve/tube radio originally manufactured in the early 1950s. The antenna was an inverted L, elevated at over 30 feet, spanning approximately 75 feet in length.

This is a photo of Angkasapuri, the RTM Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, as it appeared in 1987. The HQ as changed very little since then:

Interestingly, the Australian Armed Forces had a radio station based in Penang in the late 70s-early 80s.

For more on vintage QSLs from Malaysia, please refer to my blogsite.

Or see this video.

Wow–thank you for sharing your DXing experience with us! It sounds like the Zenith Trans-Oceanic H-500 served you quite well back then! What a classic set.

Post readers: Please check out M Breyer’s blog for more interesting DX and radio history.

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