THE ARRL OUTGOING QSL SERVICE Note: The ARRL QSL Service should not be used to exchange QSL cards within the 48 contiguous states. One of the greatest bargains of League membership is being able to use the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service to conveniently send your DX QSL cards overseas to foreign QSL Bureaus. Your ticket for using this service is your QST address label and just $2.00 per pound. For those not quite so DX active (sending 10 that at your local warehouse supermarket! And the potential savings over the substantial cost of individual QSLing is equal to many times the price of your annual dues. Your cards are sorted promptly by the Outgoing Service staff, and cards are on their way overseas usually within a week of arrival at ARRL Hq. Approximately two million cards are handled by the Service each year! QSL cards are shipped to QSL Bureaus throughout the world, which are typically maintained by the national Amateur Radio Society of each county. While no cards are sent to individuals or individual QSL managers, keep in mind that what you might lose in speed is more than made up in the convenience and savings of not having to address and mail QSL cards separately. (In the case of DXpeditions and/or active DX stations that use U.S. QSL managers, a better approach is to QSL directly to the QSL manager. The various DX newsletters, the W6GO QSL manager directory, and other publications, are good sources of up-to- date QSL manager information.) As postage costs become increasingly prohibitive, don't go broke before you're even halfway towards making DXCC. There's a better and cheaper way -- "QSL VIA BURO" through the ARRL outgoing QSL Service! How To Use The ARRL Outgoing QSL Service 1) Presort your DX QSLs alphabetically by parent call-sign prefix (AP, C6, CE, DL, F, G, JA, LU, PY, 5N, 9Y and so on). NOTE: Some countries have a parent prefix and use additional prefixes, i.e., U (parent prefix) = ES, R, YL, 4K,... . When sorting countries that have multiple prefixes, keep that country's prefixes grouped together in your alphabetical stack. Addresses are not required. DO NOT separate the country prefix by use of paper clips, rubber bands, slips of paper or envelopes. 2) Enclose the address label from your current copy of QST. The label shows that you are a current ARRL member. 3) Enclose payment of $2.00 per each pound of cards -- approximately 150 cards weigh one pound. A package of ten (10) cards or less costs only $1.00. Please pay by check (or money order) and write your callsign on the check. Send "green stamps" (cash) at your own risk. 4) Include only the cards, address label and check in the package. Wrap the package securely and address it to the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service, 225 Main Street, Newington CT 06111. 5) Family members may also use the service by enclosing their QSLs with those of the primary member. Include the appropriate fee with each individual's cards and indicate "family membership" on the primary member's QST address label. 6) Blind members who do not receive QST need only include the appropriate fee along with a note indicating the cards are from a blind member. 7) ARRL affiliated-club stations may use the service when submitting club QSLs by indicating the club name. Club secretaries should check affiliation papers to ensure that affiliation is current. In addition to sending club station QSLs through this service, affiliated clubs may also "pool" their members' individual QSL cards to effect an even greater savings. Each club member using this service must also be a League member. Cards should be sorted "en masse" by prefix, and a QST label enclosed for each ARRL member. Recommended QSL-Card Dimensions The efficient operation of the worldwide system of QSL Bureau requires that cards be easy to handle and sort. Cards of unusual dimensions, either much larger or much smaller than normal, slow the work of the Bureaus, most of which is done by unpaid volunteers. A review of the cards received by the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service indicates that most fall in the following range: Height = 2-3/4 to 4-1/4 in. (70 to 110 mm), Width = 4- 3/4 to 6-1/4 in. (120 to 160 mm). Cards in this range can be easily sorted, stacked and packaged. Cards outside this range create problems; in particular, the larger cards often cannot be handled without folding or otherwise damaging them. In the interest of efficient operation of the worldwide QSL Bureau system, it is recommended that cards entering the system be limited to the range of dimensions given. [Note: IARU Region 2 has suggested the following dimensions as optimum: Height 3 1/2 in. (90 mm), Width 5 1/2 in. (140 mm).] Countries Not Served By The Outgoing QSL Service Approximately 270 DXCC countries are served by the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service, as detailed in the ARRL DXCC Countries List. This includes nearly every active country. As noted previously, cards are forwarded from the ARRL Outgoing Service to a counterpart Bureau in each of these countries. In some cases, there is no Incoming Bureau in a country and cards therefore cannot be forwarded. However, QSL cards can be forwarded to a QSL manager, i.e.; 3C1MB via (EA7KF). For this reason, the ARRL Outgoing Service cannot forward cards to the following countries: A5 Bhutan A6 United Arab Emirates A7 Qatar C9 Mozambique D2 Angola EP Iran ET Ethiopia J5 Guinea-Bissau KC4 U.S. bases in Antarctica KC6 Belau V6 (KC6) Micronesia KH1 Baker and Howland Is. KH4 Midway I. KH5 Palmyra and Jarvis Is. KH7 Kure I. KH8 Am. Samoa KH9 Wake I. KH0 Mariana Is. KP1 Navassa I. KP5 Desecheo I. P5 North Korea S2 Bangladesh T2 Tuvalu T3 Kiribati T5 Somalia TJ Cameroon TL Central African Republic TN Congo TT Chad TY Benin TZ Mali V4 (VP2K) St. Kitts & Nevis VP2E Anguilla VP2M Montserrat VQ9 Chagos VR6 Pitcairn Island XT Burkina Faso XU Kampuchea XW Laos XX9 Macao 1Z (XZ) Myanmar (Burma) YA Afghanistan ZA Albania ZD7 St. Helena ZD9 Tristan da Cunha ZK3 Tokelau 3C Equatorial Guinea 3C0 Pagalu I. 3V Tunisia 3W, XV Vietnam 3X Guinea 4W North Yemen 5A Libya 5H Tanzania 5R Madagascar 5T Mauritania 5U Niger 5X Uganda 70 South Yemen 7Q Malawi 8Q Maldives 9G Ghana 9N Nepal 9Q Zaire 9U Burundi NOTE: SWL cards can be forwarded through the QSL Service. NOTE: We no longer hold cards for countries with no Incoming Bureau. Only cards indicating a QSL manager for a station in these particular countries will be forwarded. Downloaded from the ARRL's BBS Printed copies of these files are available directly from the ARRL. American Radio Relay League, Inc. 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 (203)666-1541 Current copies are available from Hiram, the ARRL's BBS, at (203) 665-0090, 2400-8-N-1