Issue No. 41 - 1st August 2010

With the latest batch of QSL card receipts raising a couple of questions I feel that maybe the time is ripe to give a background report on the running of the RSARS QSL Bureau.

The RSARS QSL Bureau Handbook is sent by our Membership Secretary to all new members with their welcome pack. For those of us who cannot remember when we joined or lay our hands on the handbook never mind where it is, for it can be read online at:- http://www.rsars.org.uk/QSLBURO.HTM
or (with other QSL Bureau information) downloaded and printed from:
http://www.rsars.org.uk/ELIBRARY/docsqslrs.htm

Normally I wait until I hear new members, or rare members, exchanging details with other RSARS members before making contact with them if they are not already shown on the Bureau Users list. When heard I make contact by email, welcoming them to the Society, just reminding them of what the Bureau is all about and basically how it works. At the same time I do emphasise that members are under no obligation to join the Bureau, but if they are exchanging details with members and have no intention of doing so this point should be explained at the time the exchange takes place. If this is not done a QSL card will arrive for them only to be returned to sender at that member's expense! There is nothing worse, in my view, than returning cards to sender and I do attempt to contact the non-user again to advise that cards are awaiting despatch to them.

The frequently asked questions, from more than one member, have included "How does it work?" "Where do you get the stats from?" so here goes.

On receipt of the first batch of cards and 5 x 2nd Class stamps from a joining member the Bureau account is opened on my iMac computer. The Bureau QSL Card and Stamps account is run within a Microsoft Access database.
All members are listed by member number (hence my request that cards be sent to me in member number order - a couple of members do this - thanks chaps). Two of the many options available to me are:
(a) Cards & Stamps Received and
(b) Cards & Stamps Sent.
On selecting the 'Cards & Stamps Received' button I have on screen a small page which is waiting for:
(a) A member number,
(b) The Date,
(c) Number of cards received,
(d) Number of stamps received,
(e) Total stamps held. (Stamps held currently, if already a Bureau member, are shown as a quantity as soon as the member number is selected and will be updated automatically as new stamps are added).
As soon as this information is typed into the relevant box the account is updated showing the data just input but importantly, automatically adding the member to the Bureau Users list if just joined. This list in call sign / member number order and separately but in member number / call sign order is published on the first day of every month on the RSARS website at: http://www.rsars.org.uk/ELIBRARY/docsqslrs.htm

Also from MS Access I have available in hard copy the Bureau Management Sheet

which I will cover in a moment. I have also various search facilities available including a report of the total number of stamps held in the Bureau belonging to members, and individual reports going back to March 2005 and so on.

When all envelopes received that day have been opened and card and stamp numbers (if applicable) entered into the Bureau database, stamps are put into the cash box (oldest stamps on the top newest on the bottom (sorry just out of penny red's and twopenny blue's) and cards into drawer No. 1 of the Bureau tower which is 4 drawers high. To save time in filing, all cards just received are sorted into member number order (I may have mentioned that before?) and actioned as follows:

1. Cards for each member are totalled and added to the Bureau Management Sheet against the member's call sign/number in one of five empty boxes, well empty as at 1st July 2010 after a 100% Bureau clear-out. At the beginning of each month cards numbers on the previous month's Management Sheet (6 pages) are totalled (against individual members only) and transferred to empty box No.1 of the new month's sheet. These are of course added to as time progresses. This allows me to answer questions often received during nets or by telephone such as "How many cards do I have in't Bureau?". This I am able to do more or less immediately for the Management Sheet is always beside me when partaking in a net or running a net.
2. As soon as cards are recorded on the Management Sheet (quantity only) they are placed into the relevant member slot in the Bureau which comprises: standard index card adorned with member number, lined index cards which show call sign, member number then below: Date, Cards, Stamps in three columns x 2. If stamps have been received these are recorded and balance adjusted. This is a duplicate of what is recorded in the computer account. Cards received are not recorded as these are shown on the Management Sheet. However cards are recorded on the index card when being despatched whilst at the same time the stamp total is reduced by one. This will be covered fully in next month's QSL Manager's Newsletter.
3. Two other actions carried out when opening envelopes from members are (a) tearing off the franked stamp, then (b) tearing open the envelope fully. Reasons for these are quite simple for the franked stamps get saved in drawer No.2 (with other Bureau bits) ready for sending off in due course to Alan G4BXQ with these stamps being given to the MS Society. Tearing open the envelope allows any stamps hidden in the envelope corner to drop out before it goes into my waste basket prior to shredding.

Not a question, more so an observation from members, which will be covered in part two next month, is the Bureau Covering Letter

and Card Returned Form

Next month I will cover the despatch of cards to members and the fact that I still do have a manual account if needed.

Acknowledgement is made and thanks recorded: Chris G2ABR and XYL Lin who set up the Bureau database to run in Microsoft Access in March 2005. This was handed over en bloc to Peter G3YOB (SK), also a MS Access user, when Chris left the Society. On the sudden death of Peter the Bureau was moved from Reading and set up here in Chilwell by both Chris and Lin in April 2007. I have made but one modification by getting rid of the In and Out books that were also used to record cards and stamps movement as they create a duplication of effort in this computerised age. Luckily I was already a registered owner of Microsoft Office Pro 2003 so data was easily transferred.

It is thanks to the Bureau being run in MS Access that I am able to present these monthly statistics quickly (love them or hate them?) and Bureau User lists for members. If we were still using books and quill pens such information would not be readily available. The situation as at 1st August 2010 is as follows:

Any questions please ask.

 

73, Bryan MØOIC
RSARS 3867
QSL Bureau Manager