Ep. 20 – Decoding QSL, From Paper Cards to Digital Confirmation

QSL is one of the most used words on the air and one of the least understood. When Jim asked what it actually stands for, all three of us stopped cold, so we spent an episode getting it right.

James (K8JKU), Jim (N8JRD) and Rory (W8KNX) work through what QSL really means, why keeping a log and confirming a contact are two different things, and how to navigate paper cards, QRZ Logbook, ARRL Logbook of the World and Club Log without drowning in it. Rory tells the story of the operator from Oregon who wrote him a letter after waiting 42 years to work one rare Michigan county, and makes the case that refusing to confirm cheats somebody else out of the state, grid or county they have been chasing. James walks through his own workflow honestly, cumbersome parts included, and Rory does the same. If you are new to HF and have not started logging yet, this is the foundation nobody hands you.

Before the main topic, Rory puts money down on the Icom ID-5200A and defends the price, Icom teases the X-026 ahead of HAM Fair 2026, Kenwood's TM-D750A firms up for September, and James argues the MacBook Neo is the best portable ham radio laptop you can buy right now.

In this episode:
Icom ID-5200A pre-order and the $999.95 question
The Icom X-026 teaser and HAM Fair 2026
Kenwood TM-D750A, September and day-one APRS
The MacBook Neo as a portable ham radio laptop
A new-in-box Alinco DJ-C5 for $85
Xiegu G7250, remote operating and 100 meters of Ethernet
What QSL actually means, and why logging is not QSLing
Paper cards, QRZ, Logbook of the World and Club Log
Our real QSLing workflows, start to finish
Ohio and Hawaii QSO Parties, August 22

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HhhoVukJI3s

Don't miss a single episode! Follow the Everyday Ham Podcast on your favorite podcast platform (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and more) and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Short show intro audio clip

Short outro audio clip

The Everyday Ham Podcast is hosted by James Mills (K8JKU), Jim Davis (N8JRD), and Rory Locke (W8KNX) – three friends who dive into the world of amateur radio with a casual, lighthearted twist. 

Follow us at: Website: https://www.everydayham.com/

Transcript

Welcome And Summer Shack Check

SPEAKER_01 0:13

All right, gentlemen, welcome back to another long form podcast from the Everyday Ham. It is episode 20, and we are halfway through the summer here in Michigan. Maybe a little bit further at this point. It is August. We have gone through the hottest month of the year. We've made it past field day, uh, and summer winding down uh as things start to cool a bit, and we saw our first big rain. So, welcome to the show. Lots of things to talk about tonight. Uh, we're gonna go back to some serious uh roots here on the show tonight and talk a little bit about uh logging the contacts that we make every time that we touch the radio. And if you're already thinking, gosh, I know what I'm doing, uh stick around. You might find out something that you don't, uh, you might hear a couple of uh best practices, and we're just gonna talk a little bit about that. But before we jump into the main topic, we're of course gonna touch on all of the hottest hardware sliding across the books. Uh, as I understand it, perhaps Rory has made himself an order, spent a little bit of that hard-earned cash uh on a brand new radio. So let's go around the shack and see what's going on. And I'm gonna start with Rory since he's got some exciting news.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Well, first let's uh let's shout out a couple folks on this episode. We uh, of course, have some some diligent listeners across all the platforms, and I was startled. I was jarred, I was stopped

New Radios And Sticker Shock

SPEAKER_03 1:36

in my foot foot footprints by by one gentleman posting on our Discord saying he went back and listened to our episodes again. So shout out to Ben, KB4LS. Um that was uh, you know, I it scares me that people even listen to us once, let alone go back and re-listen to episodes while they're waiting for the next one to drop. So big shout out to Ben for that. Also, uh Ethan down there in Tennessee, K04 FX, known as the Fox. I worked him out at a park and he he stopped his activation to chat with me for a second and thanked me for the conversation with Sebastian that we had a couple weeks ago, and it was good to get him in the lug as I tend to do when he's doing uh all sorts of POTA there in central Tennessee where he's at. So big two hellos there for sure, and uh appreciate everyone that listens, of course. So Jim led into it. ICOM has uh lots going on, and I do have a pre-order in for the ID 5200, which we should see in September. I uh put my money where my mouth is for once, and uh you did. I do have it ordered, so I'm looking forward to uh getting that in hand. And the plan for that rate, that rig is to uh become my primary mobile rig. I I have the ID51 and the hundred in the car, has been in the car for, I mean, better than 10 years, if not 12. Um, it's time for something new. So the 5200 will be the primary mobile rig. Looking forward to getting a refresh out there. So uh looking forward to that and looking forward to seeing um it's always fun to get my hands on a on a new rig. We certainly will uh be bringing everybody an unboxing vid and probably a setup video of that at some point and have some good conversation about that.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

And it looks pretty.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

It it looks nice, and we have we were hands-on with it. If you go back in time and look at our our hamvention videos, uh, we did get here. We got hands-on with it down there along with uh our friend Ray there at iCOM, gave us a full tour of it, and uh I'm excited. It looks nice. ICOM also indicates on their social media.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Wait, before you go too far, I do want to ask you one more question on this.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

It's $999 for a dual band mobile, Rory. Talk to me about how you feel.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

So I went back in time and realized I paid $899 for my first $5100.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Okay. Yep. I I saw a lot of folks doing the uh inflation comparison and arguing that when the $5100 landed, uh, it was very similar price point-wise. So uh just because inflation has affected our dollar doesn't mean uh that the hardware has gotten any cheaper. So I just was curious what your thought was. Clearly you moved forward.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

So I I think it's a lot of money. Don't don't get me wrong. I mean, that's not, you know, and we've had people comment on this, that's not everyday have money to go go.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

It's not to go change you find in your soapbox.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

Yeah, to go drop a grand on the radio just because you want something shiny in the car. But um, you know, I enjoy having a mobile radio is is important to me. I I enjoy it, uh, so it's it's worth it to me. And uh seeing what this product is, having known the 5100 was such a winner for me. I'm looking forward to the to the 5200. Um, certainly, you know, it's I won't be having a second one on the desk. Like I I have two 5100s now, but then again, the second 5100 I purchased for a $649 when I bought the second one. So, you know, prices change along the way. You know, when you get it right at the beginning, as I did with the 5100, you're paying a good chunk of money. But that's uh, you know, the price of the price of wanting something shiny, you gotta pay a few bucks.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

So well, I'm excited for you. I had to ask you what your thoughts were on the price because I think a lot of people thought it was sticker shock when when it when the number dropped, but to be honest with you, putting it in context, I'm starting to understand where they're coming from. We know that icom has built some seriously quality products. I expect that this is gonna be a day one operator, it's gonna work well for you. So I am excited to put uh my hands on your brand new ID5150.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

He's doing it for all of us. Well, I mean, you one or both of you is gonna see it come out of the box the same time I do, because we're going to uh we're not I'm not gonna open it. When we do the when we do the unboxing, it's going to be the unboxing. So kids on Christmas Easter. It's getting it's getting shipped to my office. I'm gonna I'm gonna hide it from myself until we're ready to film that. So looking forward to sharing that with you. Uh cut you off.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Go talk talk about the other icon things.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Well, what do you want a rate out of a radio? That's that's the next that's the next topic. Um and I I I am still in love with with iCOM's tactic with that at hamvention. Uh but they have indicated

ICOM Teasers And Kenwood Watch

SPEAKER_03 6:01

that uh the X026, which I expect that we're gonna hear the the real name uh here very soon, yep. Uh, is is slated. We're we're we're supposed to get the whole story at uh Tokyo Ham Fair, which is in a couple weekends. So um looking forward to that. I think some of our our YouTube friends are going to be live streaming and uh getting that information to us uh very quickly. So I'm sure we'll be talking about that as soon as we know. But uh I'm excited about this one. Um I don't know that I will be buying it uh right on day one, like I like I'm hoping to do with the the 5200. Um I I think that might be uh a wait a little bit out there, but this one if it's um if it's what I hope it is, and and again, what do I want it to be? I want it to be a new uh a new 7100, essentially. A new, you know, somewhere in that icon 706, 7100, all all band, all mode, um, compact mobile, which I mean that's that's what I'm thinking it is. I there's there's a in this video that's playing right now for those that are watching on YouTube, there's a little little one of the lines in there made me think, and I don't remember exactly what it said. I'm trying to see if it pops up. I wonder if it's going to have some sort of advanced um it looks good internet connectivity with it. I I one of the lines there made me wonder if there's going to be something new or or improved with uh with iCOM in their and their remote software. But that's just a guess. I I wish I could remember what the line was I saw on there. I said, maybe that's a trick. But then again, they like to be tricky with their their marketing. Now, the big question our our friends at Kenwood, we've not heard from them yet on the 750.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

And we have not seen FCC approval yet either.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

Have not seen the FCC approval yet. So um there's some rumblings about that one towards the end of the year still out there, but those are just rumblings, and you know, we know they can't be anything more than rumblings until that FCC approval um becomes a thing. Because we we heard through the grapevine that the the 5200 FCC approval you know came out. Uh, I don't remember which day we were talking about it, but you know, uh right as rain, two or three days later, Ray was starting to push the 5200, you know, and we and we knew it was out there for uh for coming soon. So it was uh looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

And for those, as Rory alluded to, for those interested to learn more about the X026 when it comes out, uh the ICOM Japan and ICOM America Facebook pages have been pretty active and posting. That's where we found that video from that we were showing here for those watching on screen. And if those would those would like to go find it. But as Rory also mentioned, uh at Ham Fair Tokyo, it's confirmed in the video that they're gonna give a bit more of an announcement. Uh Ray Novak has confirmed that they will be streaming with ham radio crash course. So I'm sure if you you're really interested in that radio, go follow that channel. Uh you can probably get a little bit of a sneak peek there when they make the big announcement. So that would be pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

I am excited. It's always good to get uh get some new toys in the ham radio world.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Well, very good, Rory. It sounds like your shack is uh on the verge of upgrading, uh which I can uh very much appreciate. I didn't introduce us, so if you're still sticking around at approximately nine minutes into the podcast, it is NHJRD here with the Everyday Ham. Of course, James, K-H-J-K-U, and Rory, W8KNX. So I'm sure if you've been around for 20 episodes, you knew who was talking. But uh, if it's your first one, welcome to the show, and we do appreciate you stopping by. James, tell me a little bit about what's going on in your shack. Uh what's going on, what's new?

SPEAKER_00 9:38

So I I'll keep this brief. I think for me, uh, I'm gonna give a quick product plug. Uh not sponsored, however, as as many

MacBook Neo For Portable Ham

SPEAKER_00 9:47

know, uh I purchased a MacBook Neo. And well, let me get the logo there upside. Uh a MacBook Neo probably a month ago. Uh the purpose was I wanted something a little bit more mobile, uh friendly, lightweight, uh good battery life, and then sort of just an easy-to-use interface. Uh so I purchased that. I've been out poding with it now for a few roves. Love that MacBook. I I think it may be the best portable ham radio laptop you can buy right now for the price on the market, even with that little bit of a price increase that they gave. And by a little bit, I mean about $100. Uh, so now they start at $6.99 at retail for the base model. However, I really do even think with the price increase, it is definitely worth that price. Uh, I've had nothing but good things to say about it. I know another club member, Lewis N8LEK, also bought one for POTA, uh, was out on some serious robes with it, and also is really enjoying it. So on the Reddit and on the Facebook, I always see people recommending what is the best laptop to get for mobile. And I know the uh the little Acer guys are always recommended out there that are out, you know, kind of cheap on the market, refurbs and stuff like that. But honestly, the Neo, it probably takes the cake because I've done all those paths and uh it's good and I like it.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Well, there's a couple things that are worth mentioning on the Neo, right? First of all, you're gonna say it only has eight gigs of RAM. And everybody, everybody is like, oh MG, I shouldn't buy a laptop in 2026 with eight gigs of RAM. First of all, I agree with you. It's a tough sell for eight gigs of RAM.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

But we're in the middle of Ramageddon right now, so RAM is at a hot commodity.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

I would like to uh uh commiserate with our folks out there that are saying that eight gigs is too little. I appreciate it. I think Gen 2 of uh MacBook Neo is gonna get 16 gigs. Uh Apple's on that uh that trend. But we already saw a $200 price increase as a result of unfortunate uh conditions in that market. And uh I'll tell you what, if you grabbed it at $500, it was a no-brainer for me. I was recommending it up and down before I even had my hands on it. Now that I've had my hands on it uh at 700, I agree with you, James. Uh what stands out on the Neo is the power efficiency. It is a beast. You can put it on the charger, charge it up, and take it out, and you don't have to worry about running it out of juice.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Yep. I I can charge it on my car's uh USB-C ports. So for those that have it, I think it outputs it about uh 55 watts there. No issues of charging it. Uh so on the go, I get a little bit of juice in between the POTA stops. Uh also I've run WSGTX with grid tracker going and other applications on top of it. Uh Polo, so Ham2K Polo. Uh didn't close anything, had my messages going and all sorts of other integrations. No performance issues. Handled just fine, no staggering, no slowdown. And then other people may be saying, Well, are you just probably an Apple fanboy? Absolutely not. I am a uh I am a uh uh a hoe for many, many different varieties of operating systems, and I love them all.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

So James is is the guy just like I am that likes to try all technology, and uh if Apple's the best, he'll let you know. If it's not, he'll certainly let you know as well. I I think it's an excellent recommendation, James. I actually uh regret not pulling the trigger at the $4.99 price tag when they popped out the early ones with the limited storage and the no uh fingerprint entry and all that stuff, because that was such a killer price. But uh great little rig.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

And I did buy it literally the day before the price went up. I wasn't quite sure. I happened to be in the store. They said they're in stock. I said, okay. Nailed it. And uh it worked out for me pretty well there.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

So I I transitioned to a full pretty much a fully Mac user myself back in 2004. So I'm used to what some would consider the struggles of of running a Mac for my primary computer. James, I know you this was your first adventure into the Mac with first recent adventure into the Mac web.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Yeah, recently.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

Um how how would you refute what would you say about those who say, but nothing runs on a Mac? What's your experience with that?

SPEAKER_00 13:38

It's it's learning curve. I think at this point in time, any application, again, speaking ham radio applications and some basic applications that I go out and and use, um, no issues, easy to install. Once I got them up and running, the configuration was pretty much the same as anything I've used on Windows or Linux. Uh so I no issues. Honestly, the couple months I've had it, uh, it's been fine. Now I am an iPhone user, so I can hear the Android fanatics out there grumbling. Uh I have been using that, so I think that helped my curve a little bit. But honestly, no, no issues. It's been a great ham radio specific laptop. I'm not gonna edit this video in it uh by any means, but for what I'm using it for, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

Well, I'm sure you could. I mean, we'll we'll get we'll give people a little behind the curtain. You did you did edit all of our ham cation videos on underpowered iCad iPad. So you're welcome. Thank you for that. We appreciate your help.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

All right, Jim, over to you then, I think.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Well, uh yeah, I think that this is uh a good segue to uh the final thought here and uh in the NHJRD shack. Always uh things changing, ebbing, and flowing. Uh if you're joining us on YouTube tonight, you're wondering

Vintage Alinco And Budget Gear

SPEAKER_01 14:48

what is on your face, Jim, and that's a brand new mustache. I have brought you uh what I believe the young kids are doing, uh, which is the mustachio. Uh it's coming back uh from the 1980s or early 90s, I don't remember when. Whenever Top Gun was cool, so I'm trying to pull it off. If you love it, leave a comment down there. I'm just kidding. Well, welcome back to the shack. I I do have a couple of cool things here. First of all, over the course of the last month, I have been very tight on cash. Uh, the tax bill hit, I went and voted no on the latest millage today. Uh, and boy, it was it a big one. So I've actually been getting rid of more than I'm keeping, but I did see uh this little guy, which is a Linko DJ C5. And if you have not seen this, this is a credit card size 300 milliwatt uh two-band transceiver. Uh, this thing is brand new in the box, and I am extremely excited to have grabbed it, grabbed it for really cheap on uh QRZ, somebody clearing out their shack. 85 bucks. All of the stuff's in here. That's a killing joke. We're gonna do an vintage unboxing on this C5 because I feel really strongly that this is one of Olinco's coolest drops uh back when they were bringing out strange and unusual products. Uhinko, of course, gone the way of whatever the dodo is at this point, uh, but uh do have a D DJ C5. Now, I do have one that I've been using for a long while as well, out of the box, but uh couldn't pass up the opportunity to grab a brand new one just to get that vintage unboxing feel and talk a little bit about what I think is a really cool piece of radio gear uh from uh your uh essentially. I will also acknowledge uh that the sticker on my microphone has changed as it usually does between podcast episodes. So if you're watching on the video, uh we are uh wearing Cyber Radio's uh gear tonight. And uh, if you haven't checked out Rory's channel, Cyber Radio, go check it out. Uh, we like to uh give a shout to some of the folks that we bump into as we're wandering around, ham fairly.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

And that's not that's that's the rare other Rory. That's not me. That happens so infrequently. I was that was a jarring experience as it always is to me when we were at uh the uh four days in May vendor event, and he and and Rory from from Cyber Radio introduced himself to us and uh actually he was yelling Rory across the parking lot, which I I I'm I'm I'm startled easily. Don't you didn't know what to do. I don't know how to handle things like that. So um shout out to him for sure. Cool guy for sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Last thing here, because we like to keep up on all of the latest rumblings, and we've been talking ID 5200, we've been talking about uh all of the things coming from iCOM. I will acknowledge Rory said uh we don't know what's happening with Kenwood, and actually Phil over in the uh Kenwood TMD750 Facebook made a post uh indicating that this thing is coming. It is coming in September, is what they're they're currently speculating. Uh they're saying that the price is probably gonna be higher than the iCom. So uh button up your boots. Uh, it's gonna cost a little bit more. We're expecting still probably $12.99. Um and there are a couple of really interesting things that popped out here. One, uh the draft manual is being fine uh going through final revision, so Phil was looking at that. Uh, there's a couple of things here on the pricing, right? Uh we know that's gonna be a little bit more expensive, and also uh they're making a little bit of an angle at uh APRS firmware being ready day one on Kenwood's TMD 750, whereas on the ID5200, we're not clear yet whether or not APRS will be ready on day one. Now, I'm just reading the facts as they are on the display. I love it. I love this battle of brewing. I really do. So if you are interested, uh you can go check it out. This is Phil Parton N4 DRO from the NSM AMA products uh folks over on the Kenwood side. So it is a fairly reputable source. He has posted uh on other topics uh related to Kenwood. It is coming, guys. I suspect that, like James has uh already said out loud, September is gonna be a month uh to remember for dual or tri-band big mobile.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

This Christmas season at least is gonna be a very exciting time. Uh and I I think you always have a little bit of an advantage when you launch second. So it's easy now to kind of throw the shade into the comments when when you kind of see the competitors pricing, what they got. But again, the iCOM, we know, looks good. I think that Kenwood looks good. So I think in this hobby, we should be excited to see what shapes up for both of them. Competition is good.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

Long game full transparency. My hope is to have the 5200 in the car and the 750 in the house. That's that's long game for me, if but it just won't be all at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

All right, guys. We talk a lot about hardware on the everyday hand. There's one last big thing going on. I spent way more time than I should have uh talking about the G7250 from Zygu. Go check that video out if you have not. It hit saw a ton

Zygu G7250 And Remote Operation

SPEAKER_01 19:33

of traction. But this morning, Zygu has gone ahead and given us even more to chew on with the 7250. Radiodity uh reached out actually to us uh in the CQ at Everyday Ham email and they wanted to chat. So I do believe that they may have seen some of our conversation on the topic of G7250. Uh, and there are more pictures, and we're really excited to see these. They give a little bit more understanding of what is going on with this radio, but they leave some questions still unanswered as well. And if you're looking on screen, you're seeing those pictures slide by. A couple of interesting things. One, there appears to be some sort of ICOM style tuning interface, a modular four-pin jack on the back that's new. Big deal. I see two antenna ports on it. I love that for a radio like this. I hope that that means that we have selectable antennas, RX antenna, uh, diversity antenna, maybe some way to configure those. Uh, and I see, of course, the Ethernet port, which is what we're getting very excited about, is the idea of remote operability. One of the other things we found out this afternoon is pre-order listings started to pop up on some sites. I suspect that those sites may be guessing, but the price with a uh uh uh exchange rate applied to them uh is 950 bucks. So if it comes in at 950, gentlemen, I think this has a lot of opportunity to disrupt the mid-level market for HF rigs. Uh, is it gonna be a major HF competitor? I don't know. I I have my doubts. I it still is not gonna carry the big name brand, uh, and we still don't know enough about the hybrid SDR that's built into it to know what the selectivity looks like and whether or not it's gonna be a competition level rig, but it is cool looking and I like neat stuff. So uh I had to make a mention here because it is pretty.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Um they also posted a video here that I'll play on the screen. Uh why I say this comment. So what you put mentioned, the exchange rate. Uh I'm a big believer that you should always add about 30% to whatever you see. Uh so they can put it closer to 1200, is my guess on the actual USD release to market pricing. Yep. But it is it is a pretty radio. They got it working here. Uh, we're also curious if um they mentioned 100 feet of uh Ethernet, so you can separate the body and the head by 100 feet. That is the exact length that cat 5e and above is is good for a uh single length of sending signal across about 100 sample accounting. 100 meters. Sorry about that. Yeah, 100 meters. So we're we're we are curious if we're gonna have some internet and remote capable operation. But it's pretty. And competition, as Rory said, is good.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

Yeah, competition's good. I uh I'm not blown away by the appearance of this rig. Okay. Um and that that shouldn't Surprise anybody. But okay, if it if it is truly a competitor in the remote rig uh world and it comes in at that you know reasonable price and and it performs, I'm I'm always thrilled to see you know radios that come in at a price level that that's more accessible to everybody. I'm I'm always happy to see that. So I uh I'll be glad to see what it does. There will not be one in my shack, but uh I I look forward to seeing it in Jim's shack when the time comes.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Is this the first time is this the first time Flex Radio and let's say Elecraft has really seen some competition on the remote head space?

SPEAKER_03 22:51

So that's an interesting, interesting. I I I had that thought when I was going through Jim's notes. Yeah. So I I had I I Jim, of course, we have our our you know corner office chat on the Discord that the three of us tend to go on and on about nothing all day, shocking the three of us talking about nothing even more.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Um keeping track on the pulse of ham radio.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

So we were talking about this radio at at length today, and Jim, when he gets excited about something, the messages get longer and longer and quicker and faster. And and furious typing. Oh my god, it's so hard to keep up, but it's exhausting. But anyway, um it made me think, and I I just didn't have time to sit down and put my thoughts about this together. Um and I had that same thought, James. Is this is this truly going to be something that they're trying to aim for, you know, a a true uh lower cost, another option for that remote setup. And we won't know yet. I don't think there's enough information out there yet. But if it is, I I I'm like I said, I welcome the competition. Um and you know, we'll it's it'll it'll be fun to see what they do.

unknown 23:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

And at the very least, it does have an ATU button, so it may have one of the best tuners in the business available to it. So we know it's a three to one.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

That could just be to engage that that that that uh jack on the back that appears to be. We'll see what happens. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

All right, so G7250, it is coming and uh more screenshots. So if you haven't gone and checked it out, go over to Radiodity.com. We'll have a link down in the description. Full disclosure. Uh, we do have a uh Radiodity affiliate affiliate link uh here with the Everyday Ham now. So we do appreciate them uh taking an interest in what we're doing here on the Everyday Ham channel and uh giving us a little support. So if you do buy

Discord Community And Merch Store

SPEAKER_01 24:32

something from Radiodity, check it out through our link. Uh a couple of things here, gentlemen, before we transitioned into the main topic, I want to invite anybody that's listening tonight to go check us out on the Discord. In fact, our topic tonight uh was birthed from the uh everyday ham community on Discord uh a couple of mornings ago. And each morning as we get up, uh a coffee chat begins uh around 6 a.m., well before I'm out of bed generally. Uh, and it continues to proceed about till noon uh when we're all uh setting down for our lunch. And uh we got going on a really great topic about how you QSL and how you log and what tools you're using and how you can effectively do that. And I think that's where we're gonna go tonight. And I want to acknowledge the Discord community for being super involved and uh encourage you if you're listening out there to go join us on Discord. Uh it's free to jump in and uh it's a real friendly community down there. Uh so absolutely come over there, uh throw some ideas out, and uh, we'll try to respond and see what uh what you're up to uh in your shack. Uh the other thing I want to mention is the everyday ham website was recently redesigned. So if you haven't checked that out, go check it out on everyday ham.com. Uh James, we appreciate your uh redesign of the website, cleaned it right up. Uh and the merch store has been published with a couple of new things in it, including uh James's Everyday Ham mug and everyday ham shirt, but also some more, some more, some more low-cost things. We actually uh did get some feedback saying, hey, I'd love to just get some stickers or some patches. Uh, we added those to the store this month. So really excited to put those in the store. A little more affordable. Understand that we are using a uh shipper that uh prints these things for us, and so uh costs are uh somewhat out of our control, but uh, we are trying to keep things affordable. Uh a little bit comes to us, and that does help make sure that this thing stays on the air. So appreciate everybody that has come out, bought something. Uh real big thank you to uh Rob, uh who had just made a major purchase, and uh Terry as well, who made a pretty good size purchase uh here this last month. And so, gentlemen, that brings us to the topic at hand tonight, which is QSLing. And I asked everybody before we got started, what does QSL mean? What does the Q code

What QSL Means And Why

SPEAKER_01 26:42

QSL mean? And honestly, I was I we all kind of stopped because you say it, you say it over and over on the radio, right? QSL, QSL, QSL. What does it mean? Do you know? I'm sure some of you do. You're probably like, Jim, of course we do. It actually means I am acknowledging the receipt of your traffic, right? So QSL means I am acknowledging the receipt of your traffic. And longer form, the idea of QSLing, of course, is the idea that we're logging the contacts that we make on the radio. Uh, we're making sure that we match those contacts with somebody else's log. Uh, and then we're getting credit for those contacts so that we can show the the process of us operating that radio and show the uh the growth that we have across all of the different bands when we're running it. So you some people, some people certainly have more interest in QSLing than others. Some folks will spend all their time uh writing it down in a paper log, and that's all that they need to be fulfilled. And if that's you, 100% do what you do. But in the time that uh James and Rory and I have gotten on the air, things have changed dramatically as far as online QSLing. So we're gonna spend a lot of time talking about our methods of QSLing using the online logbooks tonight. So, guys, before I get started, QSLing, I know it's not a totally sexy topic, but it's one of those things that I think uh it deserves a little attention because there's a lot of ways to QSL. There's no wrong way to QSL, and there's some traps that you can get into uh that can be really obnoxious if you're just getting into the hobby. So, James, what do you what are you thought?

SPEAKER_00 28:12

I was gonna say the only wrong way to QSL is to not QSL. So but no segue's to Rory. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

Yes and no. Um on that, I don't know that that that I don't want to cut you off if you had more going.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

No, go ahead, bud.

SPEAKER_03 28:27

Because there's two things I want to comment on on not QSLing. So I I had I worked someone on the um North American Q so Party CW contest this past weekend, and and I go through and I'll pull up QRZ pages at uh at times. And the guy's QRZ page said in big letters, I've been a ham 70 years, I'm not QSLing anymore. You you you get to the point that it's it's cumbersome for you, whether it's paper QSL or electronic QSL, and or you've already worked all the countries you're gonna work, I think was what he was saying. Um, you know, so there there is that. So I don't know that it's wrong to not QSL. What I do want to comment on, where I think it is is a disservice to yourself and probably wrong, is to not keep a lug at all. Now I was licensed in uh mid-2000, I'm sorry, yeah, mid-2002, uh, end of 2002, somewhere in there. Came in as a tech, upgraded later. But in that time frame, I had many QSOs that I just made in passing. Yeah, you know, I never had a serious station for a lot of years, uh, lived at home with the parents, and the radio is up sometimes. Sometimes there's a wire hanging out over a tree, sometimes I was operating a friend's house, whatever the case might be. Um actually the wire here at this house is very much like the wire at my parents' house. I just that just came that just came full circle in my head. Anyway, um in all those years I made I made a lot of contacts that were were, you know, in some cases rare DX or or stations that I would have wanted to have in a log, would have wanted to confirm, and I and I did not. Wasn't important to me at the time. It wasn't until I got reinvigorated in the last couple of years where I was really realized, oh, this is a thing. I should I I actually want to start chasing uh certain awards, certainly not all the awards. I certainly wanted chase DXCC. I certainly want to work all states, work all states on on you know digital phone and CW now that I'm doing that. So I I lost a lot of time where I probably would have had a jump start on all that um uh by by not having all those years logged, certainly to not be able to confirm any of those, whether it was sending cards or or or doing it electronically. But on the flip side of that, it's never too late to start. If if you if you haven't um if you haven't started doing this, and in whichever method and we're gonna talk about whichever method works for you, you can always start and and start racking up those those QSL uh counts.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

Yep. Start logging. And that that's a first question here, too. Is logging QSLing? Because a lot of people have a logbook, paperform or NF3JP or whatever platform they're using. So what's the difference?

SPEAKER_03 31:11

So let's go back to the definition of QSL. Do you acknowledge? So if you're writing it down in your book and it's not going anywhere, no one's acknowledging anything.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 31:21

So no, logging, just logging and not sending it anywhere is not QSLing. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

And I think the nice thing is you mentioned there's a lot of online services that provide them. We'll go through them here in a second. Uh a lot of them have integration, so like NF3JP, uh Ham Radio Deluxe, they'll send your contacts to a QSLing service like uh QRZ.com. Uh but you know, you look at some of the log popular loggers out there like Ham2K, they are not really integrating. They may look up contact information in your log book to make sure it records name and other information, but that is not necessarily QSLing. I think that's one important thing.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

They're not integrated yet. You have to say, integrated yet. Thanks for having me. You have to say not yet.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Yes, that's always true. So I love I love just drawing the distinction here, right? The idea that just recording the things that you're doing on the radio is almost a requirement of operating the radio, right? You should be keeping a log for the purposes of audits at some point or another, which likely never will happen. Uh, if somebody asks what you were doing on the radio, right? That's that's a good practice as a licensed amateur that you should be doing. What we have built on top of that, of course, is the idea that we can confirm those contacts and that we can get sort of credit for them. We can start to track our progress talking to all the states in the United States or all of the countries or all the DXCC entities across the entire world, right? So there's lots of different ways that we can take that and apply it to our logbook and start to understand how we're doing with the radio. And if that matters to you, that could be a really fun way to gamify the ham radio experience a little bit. Now, I love that Rory gave you the kind of foundation where he got started because I felt the same way. When I got started on amateur radio, the club that we joined is so POTA-centric that really my introduction to HF was just doing PODA. And when I did POTA with my DX10 here on the desk, I know I started with a nice radio, that's fine. Uh when I did POTA and I was hunting from my my shack here, right? I wasn't logging those POTA contacts either, right? I was just excited to key up the mic, give my call sign, give the exchange, and see it pop up on my page when they logged it for me on PODA, right? Yeah. It didn't even occur to me even just a couple of years ago that I would want record of those things that I was doing early on, like talking to Texas, which was one of my first POTA contacts, by the way, was all the way down into South Texas. I thought that was so cool. I was like, wow, that's a really long distance contact. Now I've talked around the world and uh it feels a little bit shorter, but the world does get smaller with ham radio, and that's not uh totally unusual. But I love that Rory brought that context to it, which is you know, as you get started, there's a lot going on. You're you're you're drinking from that fire hose proverbially proverbially. And if you're not ready to log, don't feel too bad about it. Just start learning to use your radio and then step into the logging when it starts to feel comfortable. Once you've got those base operating foundations set, then start logging and then step into you know getting your logs online, getting them confirmed, and move up from there. So don't expect if you're hearing us tonight and you're just getting started in HF or Ham Radio in general, uh, that that you absolutely have to log. We're not saying that. What we're suggesting is keep it in mind because you may want to learn more about it down the road. You may regret not starting earlier uh if it's been something that's on your mind. So I just really think this is a is a great foundational topic for uh uh some amateurs as we're getting started. Now, if you're one of those loggers, uh like Rory said, who has done it all, I also don't hate that, right? If you've already got all the DXCC, if you've already worked all the states, maybe that's the fun for you now. Maybe the social aspect is the fun for you now, and logging those things isn't important. But what I will counter on is you're cheating somebody out of the opportunity to confirm that grid square, that state, that country. And that's a little bit of a bummer. So I mean, if that's what you're doing, I totally understand it. But do remember it's a two-way street when it comes to QSLing.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

So yeah, I I had this conversation with someone recently about, you know, what what's I don't need to log for myself, but you're you're potentially cheating someone else out of you know, uh any number of things. If you're if you're a lot of us are in metropolitan areas, you know, it's not EN 82 isn't anything special, Oakland County isn't anything special, Michigan isn't anything special, you know. But you know, it it might be someone working towards that work all counties in a state that actually does need Oakland County. You know, we uh Jim brought up brought up people doing PODA, not sending their logs anywhere to any of the the services for confirmation. Now that's something to think about because a lot of these work doll counties is a thing. And a lot of people have to wait for the the annual QSO parties. Um, and I brought this up a number of times. That's one reason I like to work rare uh activate rare counties during QSO parties because it's another opportunity for people who are trying to work all counties in a state. And every year uh I've done a rare county, I've had one or two requests actually for physical QSL cards, uh electronic as well, but physical QSL cards from those rare counties. I I had this this uh when I did Ascoda County last year, uh a gentleman from Oregon had been waiting and he wrote me a letter because he wanted that QSL card. He had been waiting. I should find the letter. I kept it because it was fun. He had been waiting 42 years to get Ascoda County, Michigan to complete his worked all county. I was his last county to work all counties, Michigan. Pretty cool. Uh it's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

Yeah, I mean he's honestly a super wholesome, a wholesome Q so man.

SPEAKER_03 36:47

So he he actually got a I made a special um uh QSL card. I personalized one, made a picture of the cabin I was set up at for the, you know, I did the whole thing because I thought that was special, but and he ended up sending me another note about that. But yeah, that's a big thing. Yeah, shortchanging people who are working towards something doesn't take that much work to get your logs up into all these various services, especially since most of them integrate with one another and and and talk to each other.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

So let's let's maybe talk about these services a little bit, maybe starting with the paper QSL cards, because you brought those up just a few seconds ago, Rory. Uh so a paper QSL card is the oldest of uh method to confirm a QSL.

Paper Cards And Online QSLs

SPEAKER_00 37:26

Uh they're typically postcards uh-sized um mailers, uh, usually a fun design on the front, and then a uh information to confirm the contact on the back. And are you confirming a QSO or are you saying thank you? Uh thanks for the confirmation, I'm sending you one back in return. Uh so they're they're pretty cool. I actually love paper QSL cards, by the way. Uh when I got into the hobby, I thought it was it's a little retro. I get it. It's not cheap either. Uh sending a postcard stamp in the US is definitely still pretty expensive. Yeah. Uh, but there are bureau services if you're an ARL member to send them. Uh, and I like expressing. This is your chance sort of to express your individuality, uh, even if you're not gonna mail them. If you have an eyeball QSO with someone at a ham fair or something, you can also hand them uh as kind of your business card, I guess, is lack of a better saying. Uh, but I I love paper QSL cards. I think they're a lot of fun uh and a definitely a good method for confirming uh QSOs.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

There's a there's a really interesting part here too that we're gonna talk about probably as we go through the idea of QSLing, which is some QSL methods are accepted as official confirmation of a receipt of talking to someone. And some are not. And and some of them are just cool, right? There's online EQSL services now that can be set up to integrate with your logbook so that when I have a contact with James, he automatically gets an email that says, Hey, thanks for the contact. Here's the uh the RST and here's my call sign and thanks for the Q. So and he gets a fun email. Now, some people love those, some people that find them to be junk mail, but they don't count in the official capacity for the purposes of like an ARRL award, like a worked all states or a DXCC, right? So we do have to be careful when we say uh QSLing because it means different things again to different people. And and this is the this is the classic layer of ham radio that it's very than a hobby. But but but we're gonna we're gonna keep it uh like pretty approachable here. I think that's a great option. We held up a bunch of QSL cards. If you were you're listening to the podcast, we're holding up each of our QSL cards. I've got a custom one, it's got my poodle on the front. It's me up at Michigan Tech University in the north part of the Michigan. Uh, we have a W8EDH card if you've got that one. It's a fairly rare bird at this point. Uh the pig on the front uh with our uh our colors uh Pantone approved, by the way, uh, and uh the RST on the back. Uh and uh custom message usually if you've uh gotten one of those. But very few of those have been sent yet. And Rory was holding up some examples from him. James was actually the first QSL card I ever got, uh, a physical postcard.

SPEAKER_03 39:56

I remember when that happened.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

And I was very excited as a young ham two years ago getting James's from Clarkston, Michigan, uh, and uh thinking that that was just really cool. And James has a couple, he has like a series of cards that he has.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

I like to I like to personalize them. So when I go on trips or I see something cool, uh, you know, like going up the upper peninsula, which is very scenic in the US or in Michigan, uh, you know, I'll snap a photo and I like to try to make it something that I've been and do. But again, there's no wrong, like like everything, there's no wrong way to do it. Uh if you just want a simple my call sign across the front, it's okay. It's it's a start and you can personalize it over time. Um and there's a lot of services out there too that can make paper QSL cards for you. Uh if you're in the US, Staples can print postcards. Uh I actually use a service um called QSLconcept.com. Uh, use that one. Very popular. They're really good. I've had good experience with them. Not sponsored. I I've just used them personally and with my own monies. Uh, but you know, you can do, and they'll help you also make your card and get the front and back how you want it. Anyway, there's a lot of things out there. It can be very approachable and easy. So cards are the most OG way of Q.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

The original essentially. This is the original way, right? When I was recording my logbook written down uh back in maybe the 70s, and then I was uh reaching out to Rory, I'd send him a card, and Rory would look in his book, he'd say, Oh yeah, I have that uh QSL. I'll write a card and I'll say TNX on it. Thanks. And I'll send it back to Jim, and boom, we have a confirmed Q so because we have those cards. But in today's day and age, folks are moving much quicker, obviously, right? It's too unlow. Gosh darn it. We are. We we love instant gratification. Some of us love it more than others. I understand that. Rory's already uh grinning at uh James and I who just love uh the uh instant, fast, fast, fast.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

I I am actually uh for free QSL for QSLing, for example. I worked uh Southcook Islands the other day. I'm glaring at a QSL in my or QSO in my log here that's not confirmed yet. It's not big as you know, because that's a QSL. It's a that's a new country for me. I'm like, come on, buddy, upload your logs. I have I worked Alaska on CW during the CW contest last weekend. They have not they have not confirmed yet. Um and and they may not. That's that's the other thing. Someone most people during cot doing contests do upload their logs to to Logbook of the World and the other all the other places, but you they don't have to. So that that Alaska CW contact may never confirm. I'll just have to sit and wait.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

And I think we're we're we're as we move beyond the idea of paper, because that's that's where it started, right? Like as with all ham things, we're building on a foundation uh that has been around for a long time. A lot of folks have been doing ham radio for a long time. We're building on a foundation, we're adding a little technology to it. So where do people go from there? And I think what I'll suggest is a lot of folks are starting with a QRZ logbook, qrz.com, right? It is the easiest way to get started. Now, again, we're not

QRZ And LoTW Logging Workflow

SPEAKER_01 42:45

sponsored by QRZ. And if you don't like their software, I totally understand. There's a million ways to QSL, there's a million ways to log. But the QRZ logbook, if I'm a brand new ham, I'm gonna have a page that they've generated for me uh as a result of me being licensed, and I'm gonna have a button right there that I can say start my logbook. And it it takes five seconds to get a logbook going, and right on the web page, there's an option to enter a call, click add a QSO, uh, add a thing that I've done on the radio, and then I'm gonna record the the ban, the mode.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

You can't log yourself.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

Yeah. Ban, the mode, right? The frequency, and then the RST and how much power. And I can hit save record, and I have just started on the path to online logging, right? It does not have to be difficult. And I think that a lot of folks, when we're getting started, don't know where to go. And QRZ is a really good starting point. I love what they've done with the QRZ logbook and making it so accessible for a beginning ham, or maybe a technophobic ham. Maybe I'm just not usually a computer guy. I'd rather uh do it a different way. It's a really easy way to get started with logging, and it's a really good way to get a bunch of confirmations because there are a ton of folks that got started just like you on QRZ, and confirmations come through QRZ very rapidly.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

And I would say QRZ is the most, let's say, integrated platform from logbooks to a service.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

Whether you like it or not. Whether you like it or not.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

And it's and it has a freemium version or a free version. And then of course you can pay for more services like um an API to outport your logs and stuff like that as well. So there are there are a lot of upgrades if you're interested. And they have their own award system too, which can be a lot of fun if they're not going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 44:25

Those can be a lot of fun. And and I I for me the QRZ logbook has become my my logbook of truth. That's where I that's where everything I can I I everything's uploaded to for me. That's where I double check everything. I mean, we have all these other platforms. There's a number of them that have come up. I like a lot of these things. I like a lot of these software packages of online programs, but um QRZ became when I really got actually logging was the easiest place because they do offer import and export. Um made it to be the easiest place for me to get started. Everything went in there, and then I went went from there when I needed to get it to the other places as well.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

There's something to be said for QRZ's exposure to amateurs in general, right? Everybody knows QRZ.com, and that means that you have a really good chance of confirming a QSO through their logbook system. Uh and that's that's a really encouraging way to start logging. It's a really encouraging way to start seeing your QSLs roll in. And so that's a really good starting point. But you've heard us say already L O T W, Logbook of the World, the real gold standard for logging. If you're gonna build a base that you want to have awards be generated out of, uh, the logbook of the world is really where you need to land. And of course, the ARL uh and I believe Yesu sponsor logbook of the world still to this day. The site is an older feeling site. Uh the setup is a little more difficult. And we understand that, again, the reason QRZ is favored for beginning hams is because it doesn't take long to get started. But with Logbook of the World, you want to have that available to you at some point. So you should really go through the process. And it's a little bit more cumbersome, guys. Who walked through Logbook of the World's experience? Yeah. Who walked through their logbook of the world experience and wants to talk a little bit about like what the experience looks like?

SPEAKER_00 46:12

I I still fumble. I'll let Rory take this one, but I still fumble through Logbook of the World and and their process. Uh, but I will say ARL.org on their website. If you search Logbook of the World, there are a lot of setup videos and how-to information out there. Um but it may be when we we laugh at Tam Radio websites being old and right Geo Cities 1990-esque. Yeah that's logbook of the world to a T.

SPEAKER_03 46:38

So we have to think about Logbook of the World and when it was created. I don't know the year, but we we back up a few steps to what we were just talking about with with paper QSL cards. People used to have to bundle up their bundle of QSL cards, send them to a QSL card checker, or go to a swap or hamvention where there was a QSL card checker, stand in authenticity checking. Stand in line and have these people go through and figure out whether they were eligible for work doll states, um, uh DXDC, any of the awards. That was like that for an exceptionally long time. When Logbook of the World came onto the scene and said, we're gonna elect electronically validate these awards, they had to they had to put a lot of processes in place at that time because the Hams had a lot of questions of how are we actually gonna guarantee that this is real? Yeah, the credibility was there. The credibility was there. Everyone talks about logbook of the world, of course, to get your initial password is a postcard process. And uh you have to wait for that to come in the mail. I think in some occasions now that does come by email, but um that take you know it has to go to your address of record on your license to get started with your logbook of the world. It was a it was a whole thing. So that's why I think Logbook of the World was as clunky, is as clunky as it as it seems to be. They they were coming out of the dark ages when they created that.

SPEAKER_00 48:05

And I've heard rumors that they're looking to update it, but for those watching this podcast, um, there are ads flashing at me as I'm showing Logbook and the World, and it is very distracting. And I was in here just trying to show show your QSOs. Wow, we I'm I'm also fumbling through that process as I'm trying to. If you hit most recent QSLs, it'll show you the most recent confirmed ones, and that's probably the easiest way.

SPEAKER_01 48:27

There you go. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:28

Oh, that's a W D D H one. Apparently we worked we worked me. Um okay.

SPEAKER_01 48:33

Um so I think you guys said a couple things here which I want to reiterate, right? Logbook of the world is tougher to set up, but don't let that dissuade you from doing it because everybody that operates seriously now has set up a logbook of the world. It really has become the sort of uh what do I want to say? If if Bitcoin is the uh crypto gold standard, logbook of the world is the uh gold standard for ham radio logging, right? Like there's just a funny comparison. Like there's there's lots of logbooks, right? Uh just like there's lots of different uh uh cryptocurrency, but logbook of the world really is kind of the Bitcoin of the logging world. It is the thing that a lot of folks are using as their source of truth, and everything else sinks into it. The reason it is, is because some of the most prestigious awards come from the ARL's logbook of the world check. And what are those? DXCC is one of the biggest, it's one of the biggest pieces of what folks joke is wallpaper. There are awards that you're gonna get if you're interested in chasing those types of things. Logbook of the world is free to set up. Uh, and just like QRZ is, it's a little more involved. But if you want to submit for awards out of Logbook of the World, you must be an ARL member. And they do charge you for the award and per Q cell. So you so you have to really be careful because it can get costly uh when you get into the logbook experience. But I digress. If we keep it on the high level here, guys, logbook of the world, you should go get it, but it maybe isn't your starting point if you're getting started with logging.

SPEAKER_03 49:57

And it it's a really good thing to have in the back of your and again, going back to what I was talking about earlier, getting getting your QSOS into Logbook of the World might help someone else. Yeah, you never know. Um it's it's it's good to have them in there. It's it actually shows you when you start working towards um those awards who the person was, who the QSL QSO was that gave you credit for that particular state or that particular country. And it's actually fun to see which one was the one that gave you credit. So it each Q each QSO counts. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 50:32

Yep. And and looking back at the survey on our Discord channel here, we've covered now the top three, according to the survey, uh, methods of QSLing, which was direct mail, uh, QRZ logbook of the world there, or QRZ logbook and ARL logbook of the world. So uh it is definitely those are those kind of cover the hot bases, let's say. Uh and just to give Mike here who posted the survey some credit, uh, you can see the Discord channel.

SPEAKER_01 50:57

K2KNP Mike has been very involved. We appreciate him uh bringing some interesting discussion topics to the Discord. Here it is right now. But one of the things that it it was on here, and we rebuilt this survey because we thought we overlooked it, was Club Log. I won't discount the idea that uh certain DX entities uh require uh you to use uh paid uh QRS services, QSL services rather. Uh, and Club Log is one of those uh where if you're looking for more rare DX, it does come with cost. I don't love that myself. I'm actually a staunch opposer of uh paid QSLing. I don't pay for QSLs. I have not paid for a single uh confirmation. And if that means that I don't get DXCC 150 or 200, I'm okay with that. Uh if you are a competitive person, uh you may end up uh wanting that. So just be aware that there are other logbooks out there that are important, depending on what path you take in amateur radio. Uh, and and be aware that you don't feel pressured. Uh don't feel pressured to go uh buy those QSLs on those things. There's a lot you can do for free in QRZ on Logbook of the World. And I think that brings us to the sort of how do we get everything in there, guys? How what how do we do it? And and that's kind of where I want to maybe end off the idea of QSLing tonight. James, just laughing. What do you got?

SPEAKER_00 52:12

I was gonna say this is actually my favorite topic because it is a very personal experience on your path of QSLing. And everyone's gonna tell you, this is how I do it, and you should do it, and this is the golden ticket. Um, and and it depends on if you're a POTA person or a soda person or a qrz.com person or uh World Radio League person and how you're gonna do it. So let me tell you my path that I take for QSLing personally. Can't wait. And then we can kind of compare. Uh so I mainly do a lot of POTA operations. I log in ham 2K Polo, which right now does not have direct integration uh so with QRZ or any other service. So I take my logbook, I out put it as the ADI file, I upload it into POTA.app, and I say, cool, that activation is done. Yay me. Then I want I want to pause you, I want to pause you right here.

SPEAKER_01 53:02

You said ADI file. And if you're uh brand new ham, you probably don't know what an ADI is. It's a diff, or it's it's a structured uh file that lives on your computer that says operator, time of QSO, RST, what park I was in if I'm doing PODA or any other significant information that represents that QSO. So that file is just a structured file. We'll say ADI more as we talk about computer QSLing because that's the standard that we're using. Go look at ADIF, though. It's actually a really extensible format for uh the purposes of carrying your contacts between platforms. Uh, and that is exactly what we're talking about when we move a platform one one from one platform to another. Keep going, James. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 53:39

So yeah, and it's actually there's an ADI standard, by the way, and then there is an ADIF, which is amateur data interchange format uh standard as well. So just so everyone knows what we're talking about, it's basically the.txt of interchangeability of files or the CSV if you're used to Excel. Right. Anyway, so I upload that in the log, I say, cool, all done. Activation set. I then go to my logging program, which right now I am testing out uh logbook of the world just because I wanted to give it a shake. Uh that's another thing, by the way. You don't have to stay in one logbook. I I've actually changed logbooks a few times. Uh, and I do what Rory did, and I store everything in QRZ.com as my kind of master of truth. So don't be beholden uh if you start early in this hobby that you just have to stay with one logbook. Anyway, I I load it into the data importer of logbook or uh yep, in into the World Radio League. I say, okay, it's imported there. Now they have an integration to QRZ. And you may say, K JKU, why are you not just hitting the send to qrz.com? That's because I've had issues with that exporter and I don't trust it. So I then take an additional step and I take that same ADIF file and I go into QRZ.com and I say import ADI file. I load it in there, and then I say, okay, QRZ, please push these to Logbook of the World for me. And then I also retract after a day or two. I say, okay, send me back confirmations from Logbook of the World into my QRZ account. So I kind of like that because it basically keeps my source of truth verified on both sides and synced up there, which is, you know, always nice.

SPEAKER_01 55:13

But to give it to give it a little bit of uh kind of color commentary on top of this, you're saying uh there's two way, two-way communications happening. It's really like the logbooks sending QSL cards to one another that we were talking about earlier, right? When uh when when logbook of the world gets a QSL card, it can send it over to QRZ and it can say, hey, confirm that contact with Rory that James that Jim made, right? And and then when we sync it back, QRZ can say, Hey, Logbook of the World, let me know uh that you made this contact, right? So it's it's very much a transactional contact.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

And one thing that's cool is if you're again, if you're watching the video, sorry, I'm on QRZ.com showing my personal logbook here. Uh in QRZ, you'll see these little star icons that are under uh confirmation status. And the star means it's confirmed. So the person also uploaded their contact into QRZ and the the details match enough, and it's it's giving you a confirmed status. If you scroll down here, you'll see a green circle around that star. And that also means that it was confirmed, uh, either confirmed by the logbook of the world. So because of that, uh also QRZ recognizes as a confirmation as well. So you get the star and you get the green circle, and that is a really cool feeling when you get both of those as well. So to your point, it is pretty visible, and I do like seeing and tracking that as well. So my process, though, to summarize, very inefficient. I recognize that, uh, very cumbersome. I think I've gotten it down now to about five to ten minutes to go through my process, depending on how big my rove was for PODA. Um, but I like to just make sure QRZ is my sort of log of truth as well as my QSLing of truth. So I'm sure you guys have a much more impressive process.

SPEAKER_03 56:51

Mine is uh very, very similar to yours. Um it but it depends what I'm doing, you know. For example, for PODA, I'm using uh ham2k polo always, but for a contest, I may or may not be using ham 2k polo. Uh a lot of, of course, since I'm a Mac user, some of these contests I prefer having a a true contest logger, and and I use Skookum Logger, which is a Mac product. It's kind of the stepchild of of N1MM. It's it's loosely related, does some of the same thing. So that's generally my contest logger. Um or I log into to QRZ if it's a one-off contact. So regardless, any of those things all generate an ADIF file that can be used to upload to to uh logbook of the world, QRZ, and all the things get there in in one swoop. So it's it's very similar. I don't think it's that cumbersome. It's it's if it's a POTA activation, I'm I'm always logged as long as I have connection. I'm c my um Podo logs always uploaded before I leave the park. And I I have a I I'm wondering, that's a there's a there's a probably an unpopular opinion I have on Podo log uploads. I think I think activators are slowing down on uploading their logs. I'm not getting as many hunter uh credits as as I think I should be getting. Um so that I'm curious what's what the story is there, but uh could just be me being crazy. But um, yeah, that's pretty much my my workflow. Jim.

SPEAKER_01 58:24

Well, gentlemen, I think that that's uh both great workflows. I I'm not gonna add anything to them. I do want to encourage everybody, if you've been listening this evening and you're just getting started in amateur radio, to log some things, uh to write down the things that you're doing on the radio if you're ready to do it, right? The idea tonight was really to just talk about you know what QSLing means, uh, how you can make it uh happen on your computer, uh, how you could do it uh via paper and kind of get you going on the idea of uh perhaps uh confirming some contacts and uh getting a little credit for them. And like we said, it's a two-way street, right? It benefits you, it benefits the person you talk to on the air, and a lot of folks really do get gratification of operating the radio from doing that. Uh and like I said, operate the way radio the way that you want to, uh, log the way that you want to. There are a ton of logging options out there. I just installed Nexus this evening, came out of beta today, uh, and I'm playing with that. It's a whole ham radio in a box kind of set up with logging and FT8 and sideband all built in. But polo, right, is a purpose-built logger for logging soda, PODA, uh, all those activities you're doing in the field. Ham2K is building the desktop logger. It's gonna land here in another month.

SPEAKER_00 59:32

It's wavelog or hosted local. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 59:34

There you go, right? There's all the all the options. So go explore them. Come into the Discord, share what you're doing, and let us know what things you have found that are working for you. And you might find something that uh is useful there in the Discord because QSLing can actually get very complicated and we don't have enough time. It's very burning to go deep on it, but to make sure that you're getting Grid Square confirmations, county level confirmations. Sometimes you have to do things different when you upload those logs, uh, and the A diff just can't do all that stuff for you. So there is some magic there, and there are a lot of experts in our channel as well as online that could help you through the process. So encourage you to get out there and operate your radio. Slipping the ham radio, everyday ham experience here, podcast episode 20. I'm uh thinking we're right at the time, gentlemen.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:19

So I do I do want to get one quick plug-in before we close because uh this will happen before our next episode. Uh the weekend of August 22nd, Saturday, August 22nd, Eastern time,

Ohio QSO Party And Signoff

SPEAKER_03 1:00:31

noon to midnight, Ohio QSO party. Uh a few of us will be finding ourselves in Ohio, and I know I will be operating, uh I wouldn't say competitively, but I'm gonna try and get a good run on that CUSO party. So my call sign will be up and we'll be in uh Lucas County, uh, which is not a not a rare county, but um looking forward to uh getting that county on the air from there. So if anyone's Ohio, I'll be on uh phone and and CW for sure for the Ohio Cuso Party.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:00

And if you're listening from Ohio, we'll be in the Maumee Bay State Campground, the Maumee Bay State Park, uh for that weekend as a uh ham radio club. So in full glory. That's right. You'll you you won't miss the end.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:12

The hex beam's got to go up because it's uh Hawaii Cuso Party weekend, also. So we've got to try and get it. We need that directionality. We've got to get a few Hawaii's in the lug. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

Hawaii is totally DX from Michigan, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:23

It's hard.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:23

It counts. It counts. Yeah, it was my unicorn state for a long time.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:27

I still need an LCW, so I'm hoping we can get that done.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

We'll get that done.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:31

All right, gentlemen, this has been episode 20 of the Everyday Ham Podcast. I am N A J R D. We'll be back here next month with more. Uh, stay tuned for those episodes that drop in the middle of the month. Uh, we've got some fun stuff coming, the ID5200, the vintage unboxing of the DJ C5, and we have some gear coming from Radiodity 2 that we're going to be looking at, and we appreciate them uh giving us a little bit of a chance to uh perhaps prove ourselves here on the channel. Guys, 73 roaring 737.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:58

I was gonna say don't forget, like and subscribe, and five star ratings wherever you listen to the podcast as well. 73. We appreciate you guys.