How To Get Started In Our HAM Radio Community
Your Logbook, Digital QSL Cards, QRZ & LoTW Sync, Clubs, Events & Connections: Everything A HAM Operator Needs In One Place
Create Your Free HAM Radio Operator Account
Getting started takes about a minute, and if you're a licensed operator, most of the work is already done for you.
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Enter your callsign and press Look Up. QSL Shack finds your license record and fills in your name, city, state, grid square and country of license, and for US callsigns your license class and expiry date. You confirm what it found and correct anything that's wrong, rather than typing it all.
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Add your email and password and follow the verification link we send you. No lengthy forms, no credit card, no subscription. QSL Shack is free, permanently.
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Not licensed yet? Press No callsign and choose a screen name. Unlicensed enthusiasts, license candidates and SWLs can post, join clubs, follow operators, attend events and send Courtesy Cards. Add your callsign from Account Settings when you earn your ticket, and nothing has to be redone.
What Gets Filled In From Your Callsign
- Your name
- City & state
- Grid square
- Country of license
- License class & expiry date (US callsigns)
Set Up Your Station & Your First Logbook
The first time you sign in, a two-step guided setup gets you ready to log. Both steps are filled in from your license record, so you're mostly checking rather than typing.
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Where you operate from. Check the location QSL Shack proposes. A license record shows a mailing address, and that isn't always where the antenna is. Find this place fills in the city, county and grid square from a town, a park or a landmark.
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Your first logbook. Name it and choose its callsign. Each callsign has its own logbook, and every contact you log carries your station details with it.
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Your QSL card is already built. QSL Shack makes a default card for every callsign, so you can exchange cards from your very first confirmed contact. Design your own whenever you like.
Every Location Can Carry
- The grid square that sets distance and bearing on every contact
- Your rig, antenna and power
- POTA, SOTA, WWFF and IOTA references
- A ship or aircraft position, moored or under way
- As many places as you operate from: home, portable, every park and summit
- Several callsigns? One account holds them all, each with its own logbook and card
Design Your Digital QSL Card
Each of your callsigns has its own QSL card. The card designer draws it around your picture and fills in the details of every contact it confirms. Nothing to print and nothing to mail.
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Pick a picture. Upload your own artwork, or browse the QSL Shack image library by subject and click the one you like.
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Choose a layout and a color. Six QSO panel positions place your identity band and the contact boxes: bottom, top, left, right, and two corner layouts. The card color sets the band and the border.
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Decide what it says. Edit your name, city, state, country and grid square, and hide any line you'd rather not print. Your callsign and license class come from the license register.
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See it as you work. The card redraws with every change, so what you save is what you see. A card that has already been exchanged never changes; your new design goes out on your next contact.
The QSL Card Designer
JPG or PNG, landscape, about 11:7
At least 550 by 350 pixels and under 5MB
1100 by 700 or larger looks best
Tip: upload your artwork without a box for QSO details. QSL Shack adds that panel for you.
Log Your Contacts In Your Online HAM Radio Logbook
Your logbook confirms your contacts against other operators automatically and keeps your station details, so you never re-key them. Use any mix of three ways in.
Log By Hand
Enter the callsign and the frequency, and the band fills itself in. The UTC date and time are already set, and QSL Shack tells you if the operator you worked is already a member.
Import ADIF
Bring your existing log in from any logging program that exports ADIF. A preview shows what would be added and what is a duplicate before anything is written, and uploading the same file again is always safe.
Sync Automatically
Connect your QRZ logbook or Logbook of the World and new contacts arrive on a schedule, or the moment you press a button.
Nothing Is Discarded In Silence
Anything an integration cannot write, in either direction, is listed with its reason on your Exception Reports, along with the controls that clear it. Each contact can be public on your logbook or private, your notes are always yours alone, and you can export your log as ADIF at any time.
Connect Your QRZ Logbook & Logbook of the World
Keep the logs you already have. QSL Shack exchanges contacts with QRZ and with ARRL's Logbook of the World in both directions, from the same logbook you keep here.
QRZ Logbook Sync
- Pull your whole QRZ logbook in, with a preview before anything is added
- New QRZ contacts checked for automatically every four hours
- Send your contacts to QRZ by hand or automatically
- A contact that differs between the two logs is never overwritten; you choose which is right
- Needs a QRZ XML Logbook Data subscription and your QRZ logbook's API key
Logbook of the World
- Your LoTW contacts and confirmations brought in every four hours, starting with your whole history
- Send contacts to LoTW, signed with your Callsign Certificate
- One LoTW sign-in covers every callsign on that account
- Your certificate is stored encrypted and unlocked only by the passphrase you type for each send, as the ARRL requires
- Anything LoTW refuses comes back in ARRL's own wording, just as TQSL would show it
Connect at Account Settings, then Integrations. Step-by-step guides: QRZ Logbook Sync and Logbook of the World.
Confirm Your Contacts & Exchange Digital QSL Cards
The heart of QSL Shack: a real over-the-air contact, confirmed by both logs and commemorated with a digital QSL card, just like the tradition that started a century ago.
You Both Log It
Work another station on any band and any mode. When you have both logged the contact here, QSL Shack pairs the two entries: the same callsigns, band and mode, within 30 minutes. If they log it first, it waits for you under Awaiting You.
It's Confirmed
Both logs are confirmed at once, with nobody asked to approve anything and no time limit. You share a certificate with one number that either of you can show anyone. Worked someone who isn't here yet? Your logbook offers an invite link.
Cards Are Exchanged
Your card goes to their board and theirs comes to yours, automatically. Every card waits for you to accept it, and your board becomes your permanent record on the air.
Courtesy Cards: No Radio Contact Required
Met someone at a hamfest? Connected through a club meeting or a YouTube channel? Send a Courtesy Card from their profile, with a note if you like. It's a fully legitimate ham radio tradition that needs no over-the-air contact, every member has one, licensed or not, and it lands on their board when they accept it. Celebrated equally on QSL Shack alongside QSL Cards.
Find Local HAM Radio Clubs, Nets & Events Near You
QSL Shack is home to amateur radio clubs, on-air nets and special interest groups. Your local club may already have a page here.
Clubs & Groups
Search by name or callsign, or see the nearest first. Join public groups instantly or request to join private clubs.
Nets Board
On-air nets have their own directory, so the net you want is easy to find and join.
Events
Hamfests, contests, exam sessions, special event stations and field days, each shown in your own local time.
Club Feeds
Every claimed club has its own feed, seen only by its members and looked after by its owner and managers.
Finding Your Club
- Go to Community, then Groups & Clubs, in the top navigation
- Search by name or club callsign, or open the Local tab to see the nearest clubs first
- Press Join Group on a public group, or Request to Join on a private club
- Is your club's page unclaimed? Press Claim This Page. The trustee or an authorized representative may claim it, and our administrators review every claim
- Don't see your club? Create it in minutes. Enter the club callsign and the details fill in from the FCC record
Connect, Post & Engage With The HAM Radio Community
QSL Shack is more than a logbook and cards. It's where the ham radio community lives online.
Posts & Feed
Share updates, photos and videos, tag other operators, and share a post with your clubs. Your feed shows your connections and the wider community, so there's something to read from day one.
Direct Messaging
Private conversations with any operator that update live while you watch, with sound notifications, reactions and an emoji picker.
Build Your Reputation
Every member has 10 reputation points a week to award to the operators who helped them. The Elmer Board ranks the top 500 operators by lifetime reputation, the community's most trusted voices.
Never Miss A License Renewal
QSL Shack watches your license expiry and reminds you at 90, 60 and 30 days, in your notifications and by email. It's happened to the best of us. Not anymore.
Leaderboards
See who leads the community in confirmed QSOs, reputation, connections and referrals.
Repeater Search
Members can search for repeaters near any location, with results from RepeaterBook.
Free Callsign Lookup
Look up any US callsign, no account required. See the licensee, license class, status and FCC ULS link in seconds.
Your Profile & Media
Put a face to the callsign with a profile photo and banner, and share your shack, antennas and activations in photo albums.
Ham Radio News
Read Ham Radio News, the QSL Shack blog about amateur radio and the stories shaping the hobby.
Join The HAM Radio Community, Free For Every Operator
Sign up in about a minute with your callsign, and your license details fill in automatically. Licensed or not, everyone is welcome at QSL Shack.
Join QSL Shack FreeAlready a member? Log in