The legacy of "Old Time" Ham Radio Operators can be found in the QSL Cards they left behind. This Website is dedicated to those Old Time Radio Operators.
I have a Collection of Old (US and Canadian) Ham Radio QSL Cards dating from the early 1920s. 
A complete list of Old QSL Cards now totaling more than 56 THOUSAND can be accessed by clicking on the Master File Database Link below. Over 22 Hundred Online Scans of Old QSL Cards are also available by clicking on the required Scan Link.
I now have over 5000 NOVICE cards listed in the database.
Improvements and updates will continue to be made, as the Collection grows and I learn more about this WEB PAGE DESIGN "stuff", so check back often.
Old QSL Cards are an important part of our Ham Radio History that need to be preserved. The Goal of my project is to save as many of these Old QSL Cards as possible to keep them from ending up in the Land Fills of America. It is also my goal to get as many of these Old QSL Cards back into the hands of the families where they originated or to the people they mean the most to.
Please help me with this important project. I appreciate all donations including Old QSL Cards (1920s - 1989), especially from old Silent Key Estates. Send me that shoebox full of Old QSL Cards that you've been wanting to get rid of.
If you are looking for an old HAM friend (Elmer), relative, or just searching for a card from the former holder of your new "Vanity Call", check my database then email your request (by CALL SIGN). I will make scanned copies of any QSL Cards I have, and make them available to you. I have hundreds of Novice Old QSL Cards listed as well.
HELP ME PRESERVE AN IMPORTANT HISTORICAL ARTIFACT OF HAM RADIO HISTORY.
" If you turn on an old dusty tube type receiver, listen very carefully using an old pair of headphones and tune the receiver ever so slowly, you can still hear their faint signals off in the distance ..... "
Share your thoughts and suggestions via my Guest Book. I appreciate all the positive comments left in my Guest Book by you the Ham Community. Guestbook comments can now be as long as needed. No Books please (HI). Please tell me of any problems with loading the page or bad links.
Any card listed in the DATABASE File can be yours with a few exceptions. If you spot one and are interested and want to know more about owning the card let me know here. I want to see as many old QSL cards back into the hands of the people they mean the most to. Many of these old historic documents will find their way back to families from whom they were first sent. All donations received are used to help offset monthly website expenses and to allow me to purchase more old QSL Cards for the collection. All your donations are certainly appreciated. I recently celebrated my 14th year of researching, locating, maintaining and updating this site. Help me continue this project for another 14 years.
I have archived my guestbook to make more room for your comments. Click on the Archive 1 or Archive 2 Link to read more Guestbook entries and comments. The file is in PDF Format.
A "Special Thanks" to all of you who have helped by donating to my project, given me the help and encouragement to keep this going for more than 10 years. There are now too many to name but you know who you are.
I will continue to offer a VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to Bob Ballantine W8SU for his continued Articles, Contributions, and Guidance.
"Gone, but Not Forgotten"
 
 
contributor w8su
- many more 1950s-80s including more NOVICE cards were added & more are coming soon!
- I have many more US and Canadian Old QSL Cards that are not listed in the current database. Feel free
to email me so I can check my unlisted cards.
If you enjoyed your visit here and found yourself remembering your own recent past and want to assist me, your DONATION will help with funding for this project to save our "Ham Radio History". Thank You!
Over 184 Thousand visits to this website since it's
creation in October 2004.
Link - Old Time Radio Shacks continues to be a viewer favorite. See how your current shack compares to some from the 1930s and 40s. You will find operators took special care to make their shacks very special.
To view my Old QSL Cards On Line Scans click the links below:
Link - Before the Bombings and Invasions, before the Offensives and the Retreats, before the Death and Destruction known as WWII, before they were Allies or Axis, they were HAMS and SWLers
View these 1930s photos Link If you are familar with this group or these photos and can share some insight please email. I received these from K5FNG Dave McCombs in Spring, TX. The W8PJB old QSL Card is part of my "QSL Cards from the Past" collection.
Early Warning Notice Click here
This is a Warning Notice issued by the William B. Duck Company in Toledo, OH issuing a Warning to all new wireless operators to be careful of what they see as a "GOOD DEAL" that might not necessarily be. Thank you Bob Balantine for the article.
 
Click here
Read about ABC News Anchor
Peter Jennings SWLer. New full 30 minute Peter Jennings 1986 behind the scenes video unedited from London's ABC Studios
Watch this 30 minute video produced by Hallicrafters in 1944 showing their War effort to produce Mobile Radio units that would help to coordinate radio communications in the field during WWII.
"The Voice of Victory"
After reading about the old "Spark" transmitters of the early 1900s
have you ever wondered what they really sounded like? Watch Bruce
Kelley(sk) demonstrate these old "Spark Gap" transmitters.
Click here and watch the 10 minute Video.
Last Contact before the Ham Radio Blackout during WWII W2NYY   Read about this Dec. 7, 1941 Ham Radio contact and the tragedy that followed at Pearl Harbor.
Ham Radio Operations came to a halt after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and America's entry into WWII. Stateside, everybody worked to produce materials needed for the War effort and many contributed by buying WAR BONDS There are no QSL Cards to show during the War years but here are some WAR BONDS posters displayed during those years.
W8QCS  Bruce Batchelor's
brush with History in the summer of 1937
Click  to read the story
behind this magical card!
 
Looks like he took a night off from his busy Presidential Campaign
having received the Nomination just a few weeks earlier, to relax
and "Chat with his Ham Radio friends".
Some "Old Time"
Radio Shacks
Response to "Old Time Radio Shacks" has been very good. If you have a favorite picture and would like it posted on this page, please email the picture to me in jpg format. I will make room here for all good pictures of "Old Time Shacks".
LINK Click here for MANY more HAM SHACK PICS.