This is an article that I wrote a couple of years ago for eHam. It’s still valid except the postage prices have went up a couple of times and IRCs went the way of the buffalo nickel.

by Steve Miller/W6SDM. The stamp: 98 cents. An IRC: $2.10 – and expect these both to go up next time the post office has a rate increase. Over three bucks and we haven’t included the cost of printing a QSL card and the cost of envelopes – both sending and return.

When I started in his hobby, stamps were a nickel, a gallon of gas was thirty-five cents and I never thought I would see either climb to over three bucks. But here we are and at least we can count on the price of gas going down if Michele Bachmann gets elected (snicker.) Not so for the price of sending a QSL card. Continue reading →