This week, revisit radio's past by viewing old radio station verification cards, which are better known as QSLs.

Ever since I was a kid, I collected something. Coins, stamps, rocks, comic books, baseball cards, Matchbox toys, beer cans, Mad magazines, etc. Before I became a ham, I collected QSL cards from shortwave broadcast stations.

After I became a ham, I collected QSL cards from other hams. Collecting QSL cards got me into collecting postcards. And today, I have over 3000 postcards and QSL cards in my collection, which brings us to Web sites that feature old QSL cards.

The K8CX QSL Card Gallery Web site has hundreds of ham radio QSL cards and there is a search engine that allows you to search the collection by call sign (WA1LOU bats zero, but W1AW has four hits). There are QSL cards from all the 335 current DXCC entities, as well as QSLs from entities deleted from the DXCC list.

The SWL QSL Card Museum web site has hundreds of QSL cards online including cards from radio stations like the Polish Pathfinders Broadcasting Station.

The K8CX collection includes "antique QSL cards," i.e., cards dating from 1959 and earlier, and cards that are considered "interesting" for one reason or another, for example, a variety of QSL cards from Barry Goldwater, K7UGA, and a QSL card from DP0SL, i.e., the 1985 Space Shuttle mission with German astronauts. There are also QSL cards from maritime mobile stations and "unverified operations," i.e., not necessarily illegal operations, but "cards that were not approved by the ARRL for DXCC, for one reason or another."

The Harvard Wireless Club Antique QSL Cards Web page displays samples of ham radio QSL cards from the mid-1920s including one from WJS, a fascinating QSL card from the famous Hamilton Rice Expedition of 1924-25 that explored the headwaters of the Amazon River.

The SWL QSL Card Museum Web site has shortwave station QSL cards representing 228 countries and 847 unique stations. The Old Time QSL Collection Web site displays a collection of broadcast band and shortwave stations QSL cards that were sent to Robert C. Schmarder in the 1930s.

These four are the more prolific QSL card Web sites. You can find more by Googling "old qsl cards," "antique qsl cards," or just plain old "qsl cards."

Old Surfin's

Earlier this week, I received an e-mail asking if past installments of Surfin' are accessible on ARRLWeb. I answered that all 205 installments of Surfin' are available.

To find a particular installment of Surfin', use the "Search site:" feature at the top of each ARRLWeb page. For example, if you were looking for a Surfin' in which I wrote about QSL cards, type "Surfin QSL" in the "Search site:" field, click the Go button, and the search engine will list all the Surfin's that mentioned QSL cards. Or just search on "Surfin" and the search engine will list all the Surfin's from day one to today.

Until next week, keep on surfin'.

Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, writes Surfin' on a weekly basis, rain or shine, QSL or no QSL, VLF or UHF. To discuss neat stuff, especially if it's related to radio, e-mail Stan.

Previous: FCC Proposes Additional Fine for Former California Amateur Licensee

Next: The Amateur Radio Crossword Puzzler