eQSL cards… these tend to stir up quite a few emotions in amateurs, some love them, some hate them. This post will look at the advantages and disadvantages of eQSl cards so you can make your own mind up.
First of all my experience of eQSL cards has been positive and inescapable. As a datamode operator these are pretty much sent and received for every QSO, this process is mostly automated as a lot of datamode software sends these each time a new QSO is logged.
One of the main criticisms levelled at eQSL cards is that they cannot be used for awards as you cannot be sure they’re genuine. While this is true, for me i know i really had the QSO with the other station and didn’t photoshop the eQSl, so it serves as a nice memento of the QSO.
I use the eQSL.cc service and have found it to be good. I donated some money to become a bronze member so i could customise my QSL card design…
Advantages
- Near instant QSL cards – quite often you’ll receive the eQSL card as soon as your contact logs their QSO, compare this to the wait of several months or even years for bureux sent QSL cards!
- You’ll receive many more QSL cards – you receive cards where the other chap wouldn’t normally send a paper eQSL
- Very cheap – no printing and postage costs
- eQSL.cc offer a number of awards you can apply for with the eQSL cards you collect
- Storage is easier than paper QSL cards
- You get quick confirmation that a QSO was confirmed at the other end
Disadvantages
- They can’t be authenticated so most award programs don’t accept them
- LoTW is a better online system for award credits
- Displaying eQSLs can be a challenge (see tips for displaying them below)
- Because they’re automatically generated and sent eQSL’s can feel a bit cold and inhuman, compare to a hand written paper QSL card
- Some eQSL cards use default designs offered for eQSl.cc’s free service, these aren’t particularly interesting and you’ll receive many using the same design
Setting up Fldigi for eQSLs
Fldigi can be set up easily to automatically send eQSLs each time you log a contact. This can all be automated so you don’t even need to remember to send the eQSL. Follow the steps below to configure Fldigi to do this (you’ll need an eQSL.cc account before you can do this)…
Go to Configure > QRZ/eQSL in the menu and then enter your details:
Tips for Displaying eQSL Cards
Once you’ve received your eQSL cards how can you display them? Here’s some ideas:
- Use a digital photo frame to display them in the shack
- I do this (see image below) and can store thousands of eQSL card files on a single SD card
- Print them
- Use them as rotating desktop wallpaper
Received eQSL Cards
Below are just some of the eQSL cards i received in 2013:
Conclusion
I think if you accept the merits of eQSLs they can be very helpful and interesting, but are they a replacement for traditional paper QSL cards? I think not, there’s still nothing quite like receiving paper cards from distant lands. What they do give you is a near instant confirmation of your contacts and it allows you to receive more QSLs than you would through paper QSL cards alone.
For the purpose of awards i prefer to use traditional QSL cards and Logbook of the World (LoTW), between these two you can get many contacts confirmed, but eQSL gives you something interesting and you can always use both eQSL and LoTW which is what i do.
Thank you for the unbiased Blog on eQSL. Hope it is okay to add my experience too?
As a QSL manager for some DX peditions and rare DX, i have tried eQSL a few times. There is a real problem with the eQSL upload tools, they cannot handle larger log files, when the log upload fails there is no way of telling as the tool just hangs. It took me eight hours to upload one of my logs.
For logs that I do upload i have to make up a email address just for that upload because of the hundreds of spam emails that the website generates. When i complained about this to the system operator they just did not want to know.
If you can imagine uploading a log of 80,000 Qs and then getting 500 emails it creates far more work than paper QSLing for a QSL manager such as myself.
You have mentioned very well some of the advantages and disadvantages of eQSL. Thank you for the blog entry, interesting.
Kindest Regards, Tim Beaumont, M0URX
Glad you found it interesting Tim! I’d never thought about it from a DXpedition point of view but i can imagine that would be very frustrating, i personally would split the log into much smaller, bite size chunks for the website to process, less likely to timeout then… but splitting 80,000 QSO’s into 80 smaller logs of a thousand would still be a pain!
Try and remember the joy it brings the recipient when they receive the confirmation 😉
Cheers,
James M0JCQ
2 years later and this is still a great post. I enjoyed reading it. I for one love EQSL. Thank you for this post and your site.
Mike-KD2KOG
I have tried and tried for 10 yrs to set up this EQSL for sending but not achieved it after 23,000 plus contacts see my QRZ.COM ..It is so complicated and frustrates me , Other genuine op who take the trouble to EQSL to me and not get a reply must think I am selfish.. Any help welcome Thank you agee 80 yrs … Geoff M1EDF..
Stumbled on this page and topic and agree with you about the benefit of quick confirmation. Like the idea of displaying too. I am a fan of EQSL’s
Thanks for the site
Tim G0TYM
Thanks for this blog. As far as eQSL goes, I fully agree. Someone said he had trouble setting up eQSL. I cannot see why – for me (years ago) it took perhaps 5 minutes. I work mostly digital modes and my logging software uploads the QSO info there automatically. On the other hand, LotW is impossible to set up, especially for a DX station (as related tu USA). I tried twice and that was enough. ARRL’s instructions for LotW are VERY confusing and their helpdesk for LotW is very rude and not helpful at all. I’m not an award collector, anyway. So, I use only eQSL for electronic QSLing and otherwise hand written printed (“paper”) cards, either via bureau or direct. And I NEVER charge anything for my QSLs and expect the same from other hams.