QSL Maker 2.2 – ticket on the knee

Getting a QSL ticket is a reason to rejoice for most radio amateurs. HAM spirit says, that a QSL request is required 100% to respond. For a beginning radio amateur, printing several hundred tickets means considerable expense.

Definitely everyone who has a computer with a printer, the idea of ​​printing QSL tickets at home has already crossed my mind. Some logs even offer this option. An alternative is also to design them in a text or graphic editor…. But this is quite time consuming. What a specialized program?
John WB8RCR wrote one such program – QSL Maker, currently in version 2.2. Any computer with W95 + and a printer will suffice to start. Installation is hassle free, after its completion you will lose from the disk about 1,5 MB.

Once launched, you can start your own design. That you don't know how? As an inspiration, John prepared several types of QSL tickets. At the beginning, it's a good idea to try editing them. Change brand, address, a picture, font color, move table….

There is a toolbar in the upper left corner of the window:

• first button “Page” allows you to set the number of tickets and their orientation on one sheet of paper.

• button “Card” the background is set – one color and because with a picture (format BMP to DIB).

• “Call”, that is, the brand, used to enter your brand, fonts, color and its location on the ticket.

• “Address” inserts four lines, in which it is recommended to enter your own address. You can set the font again, its color and location of rows.

• “Block” is a table, into which the data is entered. Unfortunately, only the font can be changed, the individual fields are preset. The table can be transparent, or filled with paint. It is also possible to omit the space for the sticker.

• “Greeting” used to enter the greeting and QSL status.

• “Extras” allows you to insert two more texts, for example, device information, note, etc..

• “Edit QSOs” opens the connection editing window. The entered data is entered into the QSL cards in the selected font and color.

The remaining functions of the program are hidden in the menu. However, there are not many of them, these are common things like saving / loading a design, print, copy / paste, etc.. However, it is worth mentioning the import of source data in ADIF formats, YP Log label, TR Log label a Log EQF verzie 9.

And there's the finale! Load hard paper in the printer (drawing) and print the tickets. Up to four QSL tickets can fit on one A4. These, of course, need to be separated. A sharp knife worked for me, long ruler and pad. This is the hardest part of production….

QSL Maker 2.2 is constantly improving. Some parts don't work quite well (change some fonts, the background image is displayed poorly, inability to edit table columns). However, a few tickets are enough to print a single ticket.

Program QSL Maker 2.2 can be found in the Download section of CQ.sk.