So reading a post on K2DBK’s Blog I decided to look at how things shaped up with my rather new HF/QSL experience.

First, all the Hawaii requests that were sent out were responded to. I just had an Alaska contact this past weekend and I just sent out a direct QSL to AL1G.

I’ve sent out 38 direct QSL cards, where each included a SASE in the envelope. Of those 38, I have received 17 responses. That leaves 21 responses I have not received back. All were sent in August. One of them is to the first HF contact I ever made which was K8HGX/M so I’ll follow up with him via email.  it looks like all the rest are all special event stations so they are probably going to come once they get the cards printed/mailed. Or so I hope.

An interesting tidbit is that of the 21 responses I have not yet received, 18 of them have “QSLed” via eQSL and none via LOTW. Since they are special event stations, that is understandable since LOTW isn’t really setup for temporary reusable call signs many special events use.

So for me, it doesn’t look bad, but I’ve only been sending out QSL cards for about 2 months now. It would be much harder for me to check the return rate on the DX cards sent to US QSL managers as I can’t easily filter that out from the data. I use HRD and I’ve made some requests to get additional options for setting QSL states such as Sent direct, sent direct to QSL manager (almost always US based for me if I send direct), sent via bureau and sent via bureau via QSL manager.

Edit: Well I come home from work just a couple hours after making this post and there is a QSL card from K8HGX waiting for me. A QSL card for my first QSO. Thanks Jack!

73, K2DSL