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A Surprise Card in the Mail
24 December 2013 | by 
I was elated to work ZD8X on “Ascension Island” last month. I considered myself both fortunate, and lucky, to work this new DX entity for me. At the time, there were hundreds of operators trying to work him. This isolated Island in the Atlantic Ocean, between South America and Africa, was a long, long way from West Virginia, and there were thousands wanting him in their log books. .
I remember Jorma (OH2KI) skillfully pulling my 3 watt QRP signal out of the enormous bee hive. It was a difficult contact. My salutations and congratulations are to him for such a wondrous accomplishment!
Anyone who can do such a thing at 5,362 miles, is a true magician!
I rarely request a confirmation QSL card from a long distance DX station, and this card was no exception. My verification’s are normally done through the E-QSL site since postage is much too expensive now. For those wanting a paper card, I always require a SASE, and am happily willing to return my card to them. I’ll put his return card in the mail immediately.
The thing that really impresses me about this card is the time Jorma (OH2KI) took to send me an additional special acknowledgement:
He apparently read my comments from my earlier blog entry, and made the special effort to send me this note. Professional operators such as this, and the entire ZD8X team, are what makes this hobby so rewarding and fulfilling for all of us.
This is a nice Christmas present for me.
Thank You!
3 Responses to “A Surprise Card in the Mail”
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Excellent contact.
I never seem to get a good returned DX card anymore.
Even when I would put in an IRC. These are no longer used now, so I just don’t know why I never get the good ones. I am not inclined to put in US dollars.
Nice catch, John. Pretty card too.
Peter, I’ve had pretty good luck with QSLs, using (per W9NNI’s advice in The Complete DXer) a European sized envelope, metering it rather than having pretty stamps, and typing it too (never showing a callsign on the address). So this looks like a business letter o advertisement. I’m using brown envelopes, with a brown smaller brown SASE inside, and $2 cash + QSL inside that. (When I used white envelopes I’d wrap carbon paper around the contents.) Not perfect–I gave up on the Russians, even with registered mail–and I certainly use the Bureau whenever possible, or OQRS if asked to. But for the rare ones it seems to work pretty well.
I use the new International USPS stamp. They tell me it is the new international postage from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world. It cost $1.20 each and I have pretty good luck with them so far!
Russians well, thats a different breed over there. That is the way they do business. The russian way!