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THE ARRL INCOMING QSL BUREAU SYSTEM
Purpose
Within the U.S. and Canada, the ARRL DX QSL Bureau System is
made up of numerous call area bureaus that act as central
clearing houses for QSLs arriving from foreign countries. These
"incoming" bureaus are staffed by volunteers. The service is
free and ARRL membership is not required.
How it Works
Most countries have "outgoing" QSL bureaus that operate in
much the same manner as the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service. The
member sends his cards to his outgoing bureau where they are
packaged and shipped to the appropriate countries.
A majority of the DX QSLs are shipped directly to the
individual incoming bureaus where volunteers sort the incoming
QSLs by the first letter of the call sign suffix. One individual
may be assigned the responsibility of handling from one or more
letters of the alphabet. Operating costs are funded from ARRL
membership dues.
Claiming your QSLs
Send a 5 x 7-1/2 or 6 x 9 inch self-addressed, stamped
envelope (SASE) to the bureau serving your callsign district.
Neatly print your call-sign in the upper left corner of the envelope.
A suggested way to send envelopes is to affix a first class stamp
and clip extra postage to the envelope. Then, if you receive
more than 1 oz. of cards, they can be sent in the single package.
Some incoming bureaus sell envelopes or postage credits in
addition to the normal SASE handling. They provide the
proper envelope and postage upon the prepayment of a certain fee.
The exact arrangements can be obtained by sending your inquiry
with a SASE to your area bureau. A list of bureaus appears
below.
Helpful Hints
Good cooperation between the DXer and the bureau is important
to ensure a smooth flow of cards. Remember that the people who
work in the area bureaus are volunteers. They are providing you
with a valuable service. With that thought in mind, please pay
close attention to the following DOs and DON'Ts.
DOs
* DO keep self-addressed 5 x 7-1/2 or 6 x 9 inch envelopes on
file at your bureau, with your call in the upper left corner,
and affix at least one unit of first-class postage.
* DO send the bureau enough postage to cover SASEs on file
and enough to take care of possible postage rate increases.
* DO respond quickly to any bureau request for SASEs,
stamps or money. Unclaimed card backlogs are the
bureau's biggest problem.
* DO notify the bureau of your new call as you upgrade.
Please send SASEs with new call, in addition to
SASEs with old call.
* DO include a SASE with any information request to the bureau.
* DO notify the bureau in writing if you don't want your
cards.
DON'Ts
* DON'T send domestic US to US cards to your call-area bureau.
* DON'T expect DX cards to arrive for several months after the
QSO. Overseas delivery is very slow. Many cards
coming from overseas bureaus are over a year old.
* DON'T send your outgoing DX cards to your call-area bureau.
* DON'T send SASEs to your "portable" bureau. For
example, AA2Z/1 sends SASEs to the W2 bureau, not
the W1 bureau.
* DON'T send SASEs to the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service.
ARRL INCOMING DX QSL BUREAU ADDRESSES
First Call Area: All calls* -
W1 QSL Bureau
Y.C.C.C.
Box 216, Forest Park Station
Springfield, MA 01108
Second Call Area: All calls* -
ARRL 2nd District QSL Bureau
N.J.D.X.A., P.O. Box 599
Morris Plains, NJ 07950.
Third Call Area: All calls -
C-CARS, P.O. Box 448
New Kingstown, PA 17072 - 0448
Fourth Call Area: All single-letter prefixes (K4, N4, W4) -
Mecklenburg Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box DX
Charlotte, NC 28220
Fourth Call Area: All two-letter prefixes (AA4, KB4, NC4,
WD4, etc.) -
Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club
Call Box 599
Sterling Park, VA 22170
Fifth Call Area - All calls* -
ARRL W5 QSL Bureau
P.O. Box 44246
Oklahoma City, OK 73144
Sixth Call Area: All calls* -
ARRL Sixth (6th) District DX QSL Bureau
P.O. Box 1460
Sun Valley, CA 91352
Seventh Call Area: All calls -
Willamette Valley DX Club, Inc.
P.O. Box 555
Portland, OR 97207
Eighth Call Area: All calls -
8th Area QSL Bureau
P.O. Box 182165
Columbus, OH 43218-2165
Ninth Call Area: All calls* -
Northern Illinois DX Assn.
Box 519
Elmhurst, IL 60126
Zero Call Area: All calls* -
W0 QSL Bureau
P.O. Box 4798
Overland Park, KS 66204
Puerto Rico: All calls* -
KP4 QSL Bureau
P.O. Box 1061
San Juan, PR 00902
U.S. Virgin Islands: All calls -
Virgin Islands ARC
GPO Box 11360
Charlotte, Amalie
Virgin Islands 00801
Hawaiian Islands: All calls* -
Wayne Jones, NH6GJ
P.O. Box 788
Wahiawa, HI 96786
Alaska: All calls* -
Alaska QSL Bureau
4304 Garfield St.
Anchorage, AK 99503
Guam: MARC
Box 445
Agana, Guam 96910
SWL: Mike Witkowski
4206 Nebel St.
Stevens Point, WI 54481
QSL Cards for Canada may be sent to:
CRRL DX QSL Bureau System
Kennebcasis Valley Amateur Radio Club
Box 51
St. John, NB E2L 3X1
QSL cards may also be sent to the individual bureaus:
VE1, VE0* - L.J. Fader, VE1FQ VE2 - A.G. Daemen, VE2IJ
P.O. Box 663 2960 Douglas Ave.
Halifax, NS B3J 2T3 Montreal, PQ H3R 2E3
VE3 - The Ontario Trilliums VE4 - Adam Romanchuck, VE4SN
P.O. Box 157 26 Morrison St.
Downsview, ON M3M 3A3 Winnipeg, MB R2B 3V4
VE5 - B.J. Madsen, VE5FX VE6*- Norm Waltho, VE6VW
739 Washington Dr. P.O. Box 1890
Weyburn, SK S4H 2S4 Morinville, AB T0G 1P0
VE7*- Dennis Livesay, VE7DK VE8*- Rolf Ziemann, VE8RZ
Delta 2 Taylor Road.
BC V4C 4W7 Yellowknife, NWT X1A 2K9
VY1 - Yukon Amateur Radio Assn. VO1, VO2 - Roland Peddle, VO1BD
P.O. Box 4597 P.O. Box 6
Whitehorse, YU Y1A 2RB St. John's, NF A1C 5H5
* These bureaus sell envelopes or postage credits. Send a
SASE to the bureau for further information.
*eof
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
cards or less), enclose $1.00. You can't even get a deal like
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 particular
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.
OD Lebanon
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.
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the library file section.
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