Wild Postcards

Ham radio operator Phil Shea may have just gotten lucky to get such a cool callsign, but more than likely it’s a vanity callsign he specifically requested. And why not? He did live in Massachusetts, after all, less than an hour from Salem. Also, take note of the fact that Phil was l33t before the rest of us.

This card acknowledges transmissions from Phil picked up by our friend Bill Seaback on February 13, 1960. It looks like Phil saved some money on his QSL cards by having only one side printed. Regardless, it makes for a great Halloween post.

This will be the last of Bill’s QSL cards to be posted. I’ve been in touch will Bill’s daughter, Jennifer, who tells me that Bill was 15 years old in 1960; as I suspected, he passed away a few years ago. I’ve sent off the 30-odd remaining cards to Jennifer. I’m sure that these cards will mean as much to her as my great-grandfather’s postcards mean to me.

Ham radio operator Phil Shea may have just gotten lucky to get such a cool callsign, but more than likely it’s a vanity callsign he specifically requested. And why not? He did live in Massachusetts, after all, less than an hour from Salem. Also, take note of the fact that Phil was l33t before the [...]

This is a QSL card which, in ham radio, is an acknowledgment from an operator that they have received your report of having heard their transmissions.  This particular card was sent to Bill Seaback of Tacoma, Washington, on 16 May 1960, all the way from Mike Nelson of Kakaha, Hawaii.  Bill was apparently a ham radio listener rather than an operator, and collected QSL cards from all over the Western Hemisphere.  I have several of his cards and most of them, like this card, were apparently displayed using thumbtacks.

Most QSL cards are personally designed by each operator.  Mike chose to reproduce some of the Olowalu Petroglyphs, which are prehistoric rock drawings on Maui.  It strikes me that Mike chose drawings that resemble, after a fashion, a ham radio operator and an antenna.

Mike acknowledges that Bill did indeed hear him talking to K7DQV on 7 May 1960.  It turns out that K7DQV was Fred Nelson of Puyallup, Washington; let’s assume that Fred was Mike’s brother.  If you think about it, it’s really ingenious; in the days before reliable, inexpensive, transoceanic communication, Fred and Mike could talk on a regular basis via shortwave — and Bill could eavesdrop.

There’s no card from Fred among Bill’s collection, so it may be that Bill only heard the half of the conversation coming from Hawaii (which is entirely possible despite their proximity, especially since Fred was probably aiming his signals across the Pacific).  Or it could be that Bill just wasn’t interested in receiving a QSL card from someone in his backyard.

I was able to learn from the FCC that Mike relocated at some point to South Beach, Oregon, which is a straight shot down Interstate 5 from Fred, about five hours away.  I assume that both Mike and Fred, like Bill, have since passed on. Fred last renewed his license in 1994; Mike, in 1988.

This is a QSL card which, in ham radio, is an acknowledgment from an operator that they have received your report of having heard their transmissions.  This particular card was sent to Bill Seaback of Tacoma, Washington, on 16 May 1960, all the way from Mike Nelson of Kakaha, Hawaii.  Bill was apparently a ham [...]

This is what’s known as a QSL card, which is how ham radio operators acknowledge receipt of their transmissions. QSL cards are usually about the same size as a standard-size postcard, and in fact most of them are sent through the mails. In this case, it doesn’t appear that the card went through the postal system, and was likely sent via courier to the US with a batch of other cards going the same way by Japan’s amateur radio bureau.

Most of the QSL cards I own were collected by a man named Bill Seaback who lived in Tacoma, Washington. Bill was apparently not an operator himself, but a shortwave listener (SWL). In this case, he reported to the Japanese operator, Kenzi Akimoto, that he had received the signals between Kenzi and another station (K6UIP, probably in California) on a given date and time (in this case, 10 December 1960 at 2315 GMT). Bill reported it expressly for the purpose of getting a QSL card in return. Most of Bill’s QSL cards appear to have been held up by thumbtacks.

Unfortunately, I do not have a card from K6UIP for the other side of the conversation, which may mean that Bill didn’t hear that side of the conversation; that he didn’t report reception to that operator; that the operator didn’t send him a card; or that the card didn’t make it into the lot of cards that I bought.

I like QSL cards because they are usually privately printed by the operator, and are frequently very imaginative. This card certainly is.

This is what’s known as a QSL card, which is how ham radio operators acknowledge receipt of their transmissions. QSL cards are usually about the same size as a standard-size postcard, and in fact most of them are sent through the mails. In this case, it doesn’t appear that the card went through the postal [...]