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 The
New Look QSL Bureau
At the 2004 SARL AGM when the continuance of the QSL Bureau was
under threat, members voted to supply the Bureau with SASE (114 x
162 mm) for the despatch of their incoming cards. This process is to
be implemented as from now
Incoming Bureau
The bureau will
now despatch incoming cards to all SA amateurs whether members
of the League or not.
It will however now be required for all amateurs to submit self
sealing SASE DL (114 x 162 mm) to the bureau for the mailing of
their cards. About 15 cards will fit in an envelope.
Many of the clubs have made arrangements to collect cards from
the bureau making for speedier delivery. Perhaps more of our
members could consider this.
Outgoing Bureau
This bureau will
only handle cards for SARL members.
The dispensation is that it will despatch, free of charge, 3 kg
(about 1000 cards) per annum per member to a DX destination
serviced by a QSL Bureau.
Once the 3 kg card limit has been reached all further outgoing
cards will be frozen. You will be asked to purchase one or more
additional kg units at a rate of R100 per kg. Once payment has
been received your cards will be released up to the new kg
limit.
How to use the QSL Bureau
Sort all outgoing
cards by prefix call sign, except for the USA, and put together
in alphabetical order. Remember that some countries have more
than one prefix, so cards for these should be put together. e.g.
Hungary HA and HG, Russia all R, and UA-UI, etc. For Call sign
information please refer to the Country listing here.
USA cards must be sorted in numerical order i.e. all 1’s, 2’s,
etc. together irrespective of the prefix. It would also help the
bureau if the cards for Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Alaska etc. could
be separated (see list).
Do not tie each bundle (country) in elastic or string. No
cardboard or other separator is necessary as long as the cards
are correctly sorted
Please note that not all countries have Bureau facilities.
Please refer to the Bureau column in the country listing. Do not
send cards for countries marked as N as these cards will
eventually be returned to you.
Where a QSL manager is used, the card must clearly marked on the
back with the managers callsign, turned over to be sorted to
that country, and not to the original call.
The QSL Bureau now uses a software program linked to the master
membership database. This program allows automatic lookup of
special event callsigns and also duplicate callsigns that
members may use from time to time. In order to fully utilise
this feature it is necessary that members complete a
registration form found here. This form allows a member to
register any number of linked callsigns to his or her master
callsign. The master callsign must be the callsign that is the
paid up callsign on the SARL database. Please note that QSL
cards arriving at the QSL Bureau for any special event station
or any other callsign not linked to a paid up master callsign
will not be processed and will be returned to the sender. A
further advantage of registering these callsigns is that they
will appear in the Electronic Callbook and be available to
anybody making such an enquiry on the SARL website.
Mail your cards to:
QSL Bureau
PO BOX 1721
Strubensvallei
1735
Please also contact the bureau for any other queries or
suggestions. Your comments are welcomed and might help to
improve our bureau service. On the incoming side, many of the
clubs have made arrangements to collect cards from the bureau.
For more information contact the Bureau Manager at (011)
675-2393 or fax (011) 675-2793. Email:
admin@sarl.org.co.za.
Some useful Information on the QSL Bureau
What volume of cards are handled?
Each month the bureau handles approx. 25,000 incoming cards and 5,000
outgoing.
How often are cards dispatched overseas?
The most cost effective way of sending cards overseas is to send them in
batches of a full kg. The Bureau will therefore accumulate cards until a
full kg or multiples of a full kg is available for posting. Popular
destinations will therefore be dealt with more frequently than the less
popular ones. If a less popular destination is taking too long to reach the
1kg stage – a partial shipment may be considered, even though this is less
economic.
When are cards dispatched to local Hams?
On a continuous basis the bureau despatches envelopes with more than 20
cards. For quantities less than 20, each region is cleared completely in
rotation every 3 months, no matter how many cards in an envelope. This means
you may wait up to18 months if you receive very small numbers of cards. When
a member requests his/her cards, arrangements are made to post no matter
what quantity is held. Members are encouraged where possible to collect at
the bureau, and many clubs now provide a list of call signs which are put
together for one member to collect. Members must provide one or more SASE
envelopes and when these are made available on a regular basis – cards will
be despatched more frequently.
QSL BUREAU OFFERS ADDITIONAL SERVICE.
Are you a member of the SARL and do you have more than one
call sign? You can now register any number of call signs linked to
your master call sign free of charge. Your master call sign must
be the call sign that is used for payment of your SARL membership
fee.
Are you the responsible person for a Special Event call sign? If
you want the QSL Bureau to handle any cards for such a Special
Event station you are required to do one of 2 things:
You can link this call sign to your own call sign. If you are a
paid up member, these cards will be handled by the QSL Bureau
with the weight of the DX outgoing cards being allocated to your
personal weight limit of 3kg ( approximately 1000 cards). You
can purchase additional weight units in increments of 1kg at a
price of R100 per kg (approximately 330 cards).
Or you can register and pay for this call sign as an ordinary
member of the SARL, in which case the cards will be handled as
though this was a normal member.
The benefit of registering such call signs is that a) The
call signs will appear in the SARL Web call book, usually within a
week and b) the QSL Bureau will have instant access to the QSL
detail relating to any of these call signs. Failure to register
these call signs is likely to result in any cards for such
call signs not being processed by the QSL Bureau.
The form to be used for registration is available on the SARL
Website. Please also check the website for further details
relating to recent changes made at the QSL Bureau.
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