QSL cards are postcards sent between amateur radio operators, scanning the airwaves to connect with radio operators in other countries, who would swap personal details and then send each other a postcard (a ‘QSL card’). As our communication habits have changed so much, especially with the growth of the internet, we have forgotten how important amateur radio was for individual radio operators keeping in touch with their international friends. 

QSL cards are a strange hybrid between the newer technology of radio, which became more affordable in the later half of the 20th Century, and the postal system, which grew across Europe in the later half of the 19th Century. In essence they’re all saying “I heard you on the radio, here’s a postcard”.

The physical QSL postcards were collected in vast numbers by radio operators, often wanting to connect with others on the other side of the planet and/or in small and far away places with few operators on the airwaves. Because of their physical nature, each operator could build up potentially a vast collection of QSL cards over decades and decades. 

Each QSL card has a radio operator’s call sign, their unique identifier, and often details about their country and the equipment they used to transmit. 

Radio, before the internet, was the first way that people could randomly connect with others around the world, in real-time. Because radio operators were looking to connect with like-minded people (other operators), the culture built around radio operators accordingly - the cards tend to reflect messages of peace and international unity. After all, each radio operator was part of the same global community, with the same passion for connecting with other radio operators.

QSL cards have largely been consigned to the past as operating a radio in your basement, living room, school or college, is not such a popular hobby anymore. The internet killed it. And with that, old collections of cards, built up by operators over years, tend to come on the market, sometimes in bulk and sometimes for not much money. After all, why would you want to remember a hobby that has past it’s peak, where the romance is lost and, sadly, even if you were keen there would be far fewer other operators around the world to connect with today.

For us, aside from their aesthetic beauty, the QSL cards represent a hope and optimism for a more globally connected world. For anyone yearning for a world that, looking back, may feel a little simpler, there’s a charm to the cards. Because each card and each call sign essentially represents a person, the individual radio operator with their own unique call sign, saving these cards helps preserve the memory of the culture and its operators.