ARRL QSL Bureau Sees Rise in Number of Cards Sent

Despite the fact that sunspots have been virtually non-existent, the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service is doing a brisk business. “We are seeing bigger numbers this year as compared to last year,” says ARRL Outgoing QSL Service Manager Sharon Taratula. “It’s amazing, considering where we are in the sunspot cycle.” In 2007, the Outgoing QSL Service sent out 1,035,225 QSL cards, she says, compared with 1,000,475 cards sent during 2006 — a difference of 34,750 QSLs. The volume of outgoing QSL cards reflects the trend, although not all cards received — especially those destined for rarer DXCC entities — go out right away in the monthly mailings to foreign bureaus. In 2005, the Bureau sent out 1,137,550 cards. “Now that the new solar cycle is here, we should see even more cards,” Taratula said. In the last solar cycle (Cycle 23), the number of cards shipped via the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service topped 1.9 million cards in the 2001-2002 period. The Outgoing QSL Service sorts and forwards QSLs received from US radio amateurs to bureaus in more than 220 countries.

http://www.arrl.org/?artid=7943

This entry was posted on January 15, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under ARRL Web Extra. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.