[amsat-bb] Re: QSL CARD EXCHANGE

[Wayne Estes]

Stuart Underwood wrote:

Very anxious, I sent out seven QSL cards.  Waiting to get some back.  I 
received only one.  My questions is, is there a protocol for sending and 
receiving QSL cards for satellite work?

Wayne replies:

The satellite QSL protocol is essentially the same as for terrestrial 
contacts, except we put slightly different information on the QSL card.

Did you send a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) with the QSL 
cards?  In my experience, about 20% will send a card back to me if I 
don't include a SASE.  The response rate is about 80% when I include a 
SASE.  This is very different from when I was a novice in the 1970's.  I 
had a high response rate then, and I never sent SASE's.

I assume you were referring to domestic contacts because the ISS has a 
small footprint.  For international contacts you need to send either an 
IRC or dollar bills for return postage.  This gets expensive.  A dollar 
is sufficient for a reply from Canada or Mexico, but you need to send 3 
dollars to get a reply from Germany.  It's difficult to buy IRC's in the 
United States.  The U.S. signed a treaty that requires post offices to 
stock IRC's, but most U.S. post offices don't stock them.

Wayne Estes W9AE
Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik