Getting Started with QSLing
There are four reasons to send out a QSL card:
- to request a QSL that will confirm a QSO whose confirmation will advance your award progress
- because during the QSO, your partner asked you to QSL
- because you received a card confirming a QSO, and the card said "please QSL!"
- because you believe that a QSL card is the polite completion of every QSO, and wish to send one without waiting to be asked
Reason #1 is handled by the DXKeeper's Add Needed function, which automates the process of generating QSL Queue entries for QSOs whose confirmation will advance your progress towards the DXCC, Challenge, and/or TopList award programs.
Before you use Add Needed you must specify the bands and modes you are pursuing by checking the appropriate boxes in the DXCC/Top Bands & Modes panel on the Config window's Awards tab. Having all boxes unchecked in this panel means "my goal is one confirmed QSO with each DXCC entity on any band and mode" . Any band box you check means "I want to confirm every DXCC entity on this band"; and mode box you check means "I want to confirm every DXCC entity in this mode". SpotCollector also uses the information in the DXCC/Top Bands & Modes panel when determining how to color each SpotDatabase entry.
By default, DXKeeper considers a DXCC entity confirmed if its QSL_Rcvd item is Y, S, or V, or if its LotW_QSL_Rcvd item is Y, S, or V. QSL_Rcvd represents confirmation status by QSL card; LotW_QSL_Rcvd represents confirmation status via LotW. Y, S, and 'V mean "Yes!", "Submitted to ARRL", and "Verified by ARRL " respectively. You can optionally configure DXKeeper to consider a DXCC entity confirmed via eQSL.cc, though the ARRL's DXCC desk does not recognize such confirmations.
When you click the Add Needed button, DXKeeper scans all QSOs in the Log Page Display for unconfirmed QSOs whose confirmation would advance your progress towards the goals reflected in the DXCC/Top Bands & Modes panel on the Config window's Awards tab, creating an entry in the QSL Queue for each such QSO.
The difference between Add Needed and manually choosing QSOs for confirmation is that the latter lets you make the decision when there is more than one QSO that can be used to confirm a needed entity, entity-band, or entity-mode. DXKeeper currently has no way of knowing that TT8KR is a better QSLer than TT8PK; DXKeeper will always choose the most recent QSO, which may not necessarily be the most reliable.
"Reasons to QSL" numbers 2, 3, and 4 all involve responding to (implicit or explicit) requests from your QSO partner for a card. The Add Requested function scans the Log Page Display for any QSO whose QSL_Sent item is set to 'R', creating a QSL Queue entry for each such QSO it finds.
Reason #2 is handled by setting QSL_Sent to R before logging the QSO. In the Capture window, do this by checking the QSL Requested box; in the Main window, click the RR button in the QSL panel.
Reason #3 is handled by filtering the Log Page Display to locate the QSO, and then clicking the CFM button; if you've already sent out a card for this QSO, another will not be sent.
Reason #4 is handled by checking the Preset QSL Request box on the QSL Config window's General tab; its equivalent to checking the Capture window's QSL Requested box at the beginning of each QSO.
Given the need to load one's printer with the appropriate card stock or labels, QSLing via cards is inherently a batch operation. The assumption is that once a week, you'll run Add Needed to populate the QSL Queue with needed outgoing QSOs, run Add Requested to populate the QSL Queue with requested outgoing QSOs, and then print them all in one batch. You can of course do this more or less frequently.
With its encryption requirement, uploading to Logbook of the World is still best dealt with in batches. In contrast, eQSL.cc is fully interactive; by checking the Upload each QSO... box on the QSL Config window's eQSL.cc tab, DXKeeper will automatically generate an outgoing QSL via eQSL.cc whenever you log a QSO via the Capture window.
Generating QSLs
There are four steps to generating QSLs, whether they be cards, labels, or electronic uploads:
set the QSL Via panel to indicate the kind of QSLs you plan to generate (cards, labels, LotW, eQSL.cc, ADIF, tab-delimited file)
populate the QSL queue with the QSOs for which you want to generate QSLs (by clicking Add Needed or Add Requested)
- generate the QSLs (print the cards, print the labels, upload to eQSL.cc or LotW, or generate the files)
uncheck the QSL box of any QSL queue entry that was not successfully processed (e.g. ran out of ink while printing, or QSO couldn't be delivered by service because no outgoing bureau is available)
- update the log (which also empties the QSL Queue)
clear the QSL Queue of any unsucessfully processed entries
Once you populate the QSL queue in step 2, your freedom to change QSL Via is limited. You can switch among cards, labels, ADIF, or tab-delimited files, but you cannot switch between any of those and eQSL.cc, between any of those and LotW, or between eQSL.cc and LotW.
Steps 3 and 4 were intentionally separated, rather than having the log update occur automatically after the QSLs are generated. This allows you to inspect printed cards or labels and, if necessary, repeat the operation for some or all of the QSLs if, say, you smeared a card while removing it from your printer.
If you are filling out QSL cards by hand, set the QSL Via panel to tab-delimited file in step 1. In step 3, click the Save TDF file button, and print the tab-delimited file DXKeeper generates; this file provides the information you need when filling out your outgoing cards. Then continue with step 5 when you're done.
After printing labels or uploading to LotW, click the Update Log button; this will update each logged QSO to reflect the successful generation of an outgoing card/label or electronic confirmation.
If you want to generate both labels and upload to LotW, you must traverse the above process twice; the first time through, set QSO Via to labels in step 1; the second time through, set QSO Via to LotW.
At any point in the process, you can click the QSL tab's Clear button to empty the QSL Queue; this allows you to change the QSL Via panel to any style of outgoing QSL.
After you've mailed your outgoing QSL requests, DXKeeper can help you manage them.
Other Topics
QSLing with an External QSL Generator Like BV7 or QSLDesignAndPrint or QSLMaker
Processing a DXCC Credit Slip received in response to a submission