I spent the evening in the shack catching up on QSLing.  I had a stack of cards I have received that needed to be marked as confirmed in my logbook.  I also have a large stack of bureau cards that I also need to mark as confirmed in DXLab.  However the bureau cards take a quit a bit longer because many of them are requesting return cards which need to be queued and processed using Global QSL.  The process involves preparing an ADIF file which I upload to Global QSL.  After asking a few questions the cards are printed and sent to the appropriate bureau.  I generally do not use the bureau when I really need a return card.  Many DX stations and QSL managers do not respond to bureau cards.  I always verify the QSL route through QRZ.com or the DX news letters before I send a card.  My return rate on bureau cards is probably less than 20%.  My QSL rate with LoTW is over 40%.  My return rate on direct QSLs with SAE and green stands is well over 80% so far.  OQRS seems to be the best way to QSL if your willing to invest the $2-4 for the card.  Of course that is a reasonable cost when compared to the cost of a QSL I mail via international air mail with $2 of green stamps.  I have had a 100% return rate on OQRS cards thus far.  While i worked on the QSLs I listened to the bands and worked a little DX.

The next thing I did was start the process of upgrading the hard drive in my shack computer to a Solid State Drive.  I installed the new drive but I put off the cloning of my C drive to the new drive until tomorrow since I wanted to clean up my C drive and defrag it before cloning the data to the new SSD.  The SSD should significantly boost the responsiveness of my computer; especially when running N1MM.  I’ll report on the improvement once I complete the upgrade.

73,

Fred