One of the first things you want to do when you passed your ham exam is start designing your qsl cards. It’s a nice occupation for when you don’t have your licence yet.

What is a QSL card?

First of all, QSL is a Q code and stands for an acknowledgement of receipt. The QSL card is a written confirmation.

Basic rules

There are a few rules, you need to follow, when designing your QSL card:

  1. Size: 90 x 140mm (as per IARU), but in any case maximal DIN A6
  2. Thickness: between 170 and 220 g/m^2
  3. A bottom margin of 1cm should be free of print on the backside. (Area for automatic sorting)

Furthermore the QSL card must include:

  • Callsign (of the recipient)
  • Date/time (in UTC)
  • Frequency or band
  • RS(T)
  • Operating mode (2way should be included if not SWL)
  • Signature

Notes:

  • If the Number 0 (Zero) is used, it is to be crossed out (Ø). This way it is distinguishable from O (Oskar).

How to design your QSL card

If you want to design your QSL card on the computer I advise to use the free and open source program Inkscape.

Effects you could use for the face:

  • Stroke and fill of your text can have different colours
  • Duplicate text objects and blur to get a neat smokey effect
  • play with opacity
  • use faint colors instead of black and white

Helpful for the back:

Further reading

  • Rules as per OEVSV (german language)