[QSL-Announce] 4x6uu abou globalQsl

[Paul Gross 4X6UU]

>From HAGAL Magazine, March-April 2007:


                              GLOBALQSL  IS UP AND RUNNING


 It looks like Azar 4X6MI has a winner.  A few months ago we gave you a 
preview of how the business of sending real QSL cards was being 
revolutionized.  Well now it has become reality.

    To get started, one logs into www.globalqsl.com.  If you decide to 
register (a registered member can see his incoming cards from GlobalQsl even 
before he buys cards) you download the QSL card editor.  I can say that a 
lot of work has gone into this, and after having been frustrated by the 
earlier beta version (one of the joys of being a beta tester!), the present 
version is a pure joy to use.  You simply design your own QSL card as YOU 
want it to be In my case I uploaded a photo I took of my antenna tower 
sporting the national flag and superimposed my call letters in white.  On 
the flip side, I uploaded a self-portrait image, printed in my personal 
information along with my Holyland and Maidenhead Locator squares.  You have 
a zillion fonts to choose from.  A space is left blank where the QSO 
information will be added.   You can also choose all kinds of symbols, flags 
and insignia to add.  The sky is the limit.

   Now, the beauty of this is that at any time you can change your QSL 
design, as the cards are printed only when they are needed to be sent.  You 
also upload designs for other callsigns you may happen to hold.  This is the 
time to kindle those latent artistic talents you have.

   When the time comes to start "filling out" QSL cards, you have two 
options, manual and uploading of an electronic ADIF log.  Your reporter is 
the old-time paper log type, so I logged into the Global QSL site, and 
started the manual  process.  It took a while to get the hang of it, yet 
after a few score entries, I found that I can now enter the information just 
as easily (and much more legibly!) and fast as I can write 'em out by hand.

  This should really shine with you electronic log whiz-kids, where you 
don't have to type in anything, just transfer your log entries. No matter 
what method you use, you review your entries to make sure that they're 
correct, authorize the affair, and there's nothing left to do.   The good 
folks at Global QSL will send out your cards to the QSL bureaus,

You can select one of three options how to get your incoming cards, and for 
reasonable added fee you can get it direct to your private address.



   How do the cards look?  I personally haven't seen how my design came out 
in the real world yet. (And I'm rather full of anticipation, as I've sent 
myself a card via the bureau to find out!) I have seen other cards that have 
come from the shop of Azar 4X6MI, and I can say that they are truly first 
class - thick high-gloss stock with excellent full-color on both sides.  I 
had suggested that he make a cheaper model available on thinner stock and in 
black and white only, yet at this time Azar wants to go only with the 
high-class product, so that's what you get!

    There are all kinds of neat features built in and to be discovered, one 
is that if you have multiple QSOs with a station, say in a contest and on 
different bands, the system will automatically put up to five entries 
together on one QSL, so you'll be charged for one card, even though you're 
confirming five contacts.  It sorts the cards by callsigns, and you can keep 
track of them from your desktop (also incoming cards from Global QSL). As 
well, you can manage up to ten secondary callsigns with different QSL 
designs.

   The Global QSL service was just released a week before writing this (beta 
testing and fine-tuning has been going on since the summer).  I was told 
that already over a hundred people from around the world have signed up, and 
it looks, if we can say so this early in the game, that the venture is 
headed for success.

   I wish Azar and his team Godspeed with the project.  It will be indeed 
interesting to see all the creative designs hams will be turning out.  This 
should make QSLing a lot of fun.

   Ron Gang, 4X1MK
********************************************************************
             Paul Gross 4X6UU
Executive Committee - Treasurer  and Inventory -
            Israel Amateur Radio Club
E-mail: 4x6uu at globalqsl.com
           4x6uu at iarc.org
           paulg at actcom.net.il
Homepage:                 http://www.iarc.org/~4x6uu
Globalqsl Home-Page: http://www.globalqsl.com/