With the recent explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) art generators that are making the news of late for all the wrong reasons, I decided to see if I could put it to good use and design some futuristic QSL cards.

Having recently been contacted by the Special Callsigns QSL Manager and being advised that there were 18 QSL cards waiting for me, I decided it was time to create some QSL cards of my own for future use.

Having never used any form of online AI and not having any artistic abilities I was amazed how easy it was to create images using nothing more than a paragraph or so of text to describe what it was I wanted to create.

Since all the QSL cards I received were for contacts on the QO-100 satellite, I set out to create a visually futuristic QSL card that was based around a radio HAM operator and satellite communications.

To my surprise the results of my first image generation were surprisingly good. The AI generated an image that resembled the simple text that I entered, although I never requested a one legged HAM operator!

Pleased with my very first attempt I gradually improved the description of what I was looking for, adding more and more detail to the text and including things that I wanted to see in the image. Over a fairly short period of time this approach started to generate some very interesting images.

With each iteration I gradually got closer to what I was trying to achieve but, never quite got exactly what I wanted so, I decided to rewrite the descriptive text adding even more information than before. The text was now a full blown paragraph with quite specific things described including the angle at which the scene was being viewed from.

The other option I wanted to try out was the theme functionality that the AI offered. This allows you to set a theme for the image from things like steampunk, cartoon, manga, real world and many more. The results were quite impressive and added yet another angle to the image generation.

I disappeared down the theme AI Art generation rabbit hole for quite some time and generated some very interesting and fun results. The best by far though was the Thunderbirds themed image, this did put a smile on my face!

At the other end of the spectrum I tried the Salvador Dalli theme, it produced an image that was very like the work of the famous artist but, wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

After much fun I eventually settled on the image I was after, a futuristic scene of a radio HAM with a satellite ground station over looking a mountain range and city below.

I’m really pleased with the results from my ventures into AI generated art. The next challenge is to create a QSL card for HF bands Contacts.

More soon …

It’s always slightly confusing getting a letter with your own handwriting on it, but that means it’s bureau delivery time!

Interesting to get a SWL (shortwave listener) card confirming they heard me make a contact with someone else. It was a QSL with PB37EUDXF, which I remember having a hard time copying as I wasn’t expecting their callsign to be so long!

I laughed out loud at this guy’s card:

Amateur radio is about the experimentation and education of radio, and politics and world affairs aren’t part of the hobby. I’m sure he doesn’t want the war as much as any other regular person.

A new eQSL received from Radio Intersound who I heard on June 1 on 6380 kHz. He was using 5W with a new transmitter. Many thanks.

Unfortunately, a few days after Carl W3HC (ex-W3HCW) celebrated his 100th birthday, he fell ill, declined rapidly, and passed away. We can’t complain as he lived a full life and got to enjoy a beer at his birthday party.

Photo credit: Karen Vibert-Kennedy, Williamsport Sun Gazette

Carl was an avid photographer all his life. The Williamsport Sun Gazette featured an article and video on his time in Berlin during World War II, taking photographs. While in a bombed out home, he found a roll of film which he took home and later developed. He was shocked to discover the photos were taken by a German photographer and even included pictures of Himler, who was the #2 in Germany at the time. Many of his photos are featured on his Flickr site.

I owe my grandfather a lot of gratitude as he’s the one who got me into amateur radio which led to me getting my first two jobs in wireless and communications, and laid the foundation for a rather successful career. I continue to be active in amateur radio, with QRP, field operation, circuit design, open source software development, and homebrewing equipment being my favorite activities.

Carl was first licensed in 1956 as WN3HCW, back when Novice calls had the WN prefix. After upgrading to Technician, the FCC dropped the N and he became W3HCW. Later in the 90s when he upgraded to Extra he shortened his call to W3HC. During my time with him as a youngster and teenager, he operated nearly all HF phone and enjoyed DXing, but he also did a lot of 6 meter AM work in the 60s. He operated the W3HCW QSL Fund which funded QSL cards for DX stations, and he was a QSL manager for about 130 stations over the years.

Carl McDaniel, W3HC, SK at 100 years and 6 days. dit dit

This article was originally published on Radio Artisan.

I heard Radio Cuckoo yesterday evening and received this great eQSL. Many thanks.

Many thanks to Panda Radio for the eQSL after I heard him on Saturday night. This Dutch pirate has been a regular on 48 metres for many years. Last year Panda won the Pirate of the Year award at the Dutch summer meeting. 

Ever since I got back on the air, I’ve had envelopes at the ARRL Incoming QSL Bureau.  Over the years I’ve received a few envelopes, perhaps 25 DX cards, and a couple dozen from the W1AW/x operations during the 100th anniversary.  I had used Forever stamps on the envelopes and had clipped extra stamps to each one.  But I hadn’t received any envelopes in years.  I just figured QSLing was a thing of the past.

About a week ago, I received an email from Paul W4FC, who informed me he had recently taken over the part of the bureau responsible for my call, and that he had received hundreds of pounds of cards that were unsorted when he took things over.  His preliminary sorting indicated that there were a few ounces of cards for me, and he wanted to know if I was interested in receiving them, or if he should just recycle them.  Of course I said yes, and we made arrangements to cover any shipping fees.

A few days ago, he emailed again and said he actually had almost two pounds of cards, and was sending them to me via Media Mail.  I was shocked when they showed up yesterday.  A quick count indicated there were over 250 cards!  Many dated back to 2012, about the time I started to get serious about DXing.

While I haven’t been able to verify everything yet, I did notice a card from Tasmania, Jim, VK7SM.  This is of significance because I have 55 of the required 60 WPX prefixes for Oceania, and with this card I now only need 4 more Oceania prefixes to qualify for the rare CQ WPX Award of Excellence.

I am absolutely stunned at how quickly Paul has handled all of this.  I can’t even imagine how many cards must have passed through his fingers!

As always the CQWW Contests are a great source of entertainment and also a great chance to increase your DXCC totals…. This one was no different

This year I operated in a S & P (search and pounce) mode for approximately 8 hours in total. The rig I used was my Yaesu FT991a and the antenna of choice was my “Modified” Coastal-20 vertical antenna

I made 42 contacts in 22 DXCC entities covering 4 continents (NA/SA/AF/EU) using 10m-15m and 20m

I was able to contact stations in:

Alaska, Argentina, Aruba, Bonaire, Brazil, Canada, Canary Islands, England, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, St Lucia, Turkey (Turkiye), United States of America

Now if everyone confirms I believe that there will be one new DXCC for my DXCC totals, but also there should be a couple of new ones for my 5 Band DXCC which I am hoping to complete sooner or later but most likely later

More on this once the confirmations come in via either LoTW, QRZ.com or EQSL.

For now its back to Playing POTA…

73b0b

Some time ago I wanted a logging program that would do things my way. Although there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the various offerings they generally try to be everything for everyone and none of them really sat well with me. So I wrote my own in PHP (learning Python is high on my list of things to do, along with Mandarin, Morse, cooking…) which uses the QRZ.com logbook as the backend. Ok then, really I wrote a series of various scripts in PHP that make it all work. The advantage is it does just what I need and nothing more and can easily be modified to add functionality. The downside is I never was a coder (well, ok, I have a certification in COBOL from the 1970’s!) and it is not going anywhere other than my own server. So you can’t have it…

The way I tend to log stuff is via wsjt-x or other software that logs to a local file. I then have a script that takes the ADIF data and populates QRZ.com on a QSO-by-QSO basis. Somehow having to actually do something after each QSO feels like I am actually engaging in the process. But I am not a contester… it would simply not work for any stress situations (but then I could easily make it work if I so desired…)

With QRZ.com being the master a script then populates a local database which does all manner of stuff that I personally need. For example, it holds records of eQSL sent/received, real QSL sent/received, and various tabular data for Worked All Britain (WAB).

Scripts also modify the wsjt-x log file on all my systems such that each has a record of all QSOs. As QRZ.com is globally accessible (not tried from China mind… not that I plan to take any radio gear there anyway) and my main database is on a VPS so is also globally accessible the various scripts work from anywhere.

I do plan to move the database from the VPS to a system at home once we get FTTP broadband and use the VPS as a backup, synchronising between the two. But that will wait.

One plan which is more immediate is LoTW integration because as yet my LoTW logging is via QRZ.com which means an extra step. No biggie, I mean it’s its a few clicks and a password… but it would be nice to integrate it. The same goes for eQSL sends, but as yet I only send on receipt and I have scripts to deal with that anyway.

The team uses a service called OQRS to deliver QSL cards

https://www.m0urx.com/

You can search the submitted logs and then you add the contact details and use PayPal to get a QSL card sent to your door

You can also donate to their cause as well to help defray their costs

As you know the pileups were fierce and you needed to work SPLIT

I worked them from home on 15m and thought hey lets try 12m from the park as the pile up was not too bad. So I grabbed my radio, coax and the antenna and took off to the park.

I used the JNC MC-750 vertical on 12m and caught them just as the operator returned from a washroom break. The frequency was clear for a bit and I called out a few times after a few minutes and BINGO he called me back. Lucky for me he the split was the same so he could hear me properly. Then he went QRZ and pandemonium broke.

I tried them on 10m and 20m but had no luck after 45 minutes as QSB and the lids prevented more QSO from being made.

Tuner uppers, swearing, radio police, “whats the call whats the call?”, carriers all by frustrated hams. These hams dont know SPLIT because they caused trouble on his transmit frequency so that tells you the class of operator they are.

A great eQSL received from Radio Cuckoo to mark St Patrick's Day. Many thanks.

An eQSL from Central Radio International, who returned to the airwaves recently after a few years away. Good to hear you back on again. Many thanks! 

eQSL from Archangelsk. Hi.

Rig:            FT-817
Antenna:    End-fed

Here I show a few paper QSL cards, that I received for QRP QSO's.

DR50AGCW op Tina DL5YL

Fred DL5YM

Ian MZ5B

Fabian Kurz DJ1YFK - LCWO