Category Archives: cartoon QSLs

Delaware Blue Hen On the Air

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My latest QSL commission puts one of our 13 original colonies — and its feathered mascot — in the spotlight.

Mark, N3HND, has been a ham most of his life, the last 36 years of it in Delaware. He had several ideas for a cartoon QSL. My favorite, of course, was the one that gave me an excuse to draw a cute funny animal: in this case, the Delaware Blue Hen.

The blue hen isn’t exactly a recognized breed, but it is connected inextricably with Delaware’s history. According to legend, a company of Revolutionary War soldiers from Delaware carried the hens with them because they were said to be fierce fighters. The University of Delaware already uses the blue hen as its mascot. Why not put it on a QSL as well?

Because Mark favors digital modes these days, I drew the hen, complete with a tricorn hat, “pecking” away at a keyboard in front of a monitor filled with waterfalls. Then I added three chicks with headphones: one with a code key, one with a microphone and one with a handi-talkie.

I like this QSL because it’s fun, simple and specific to N3HND’s QTH. I hope the hams who find this card in their mailboxes will like it too.

Zamboni mobile, featuring Beavers with Baofengs

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KL5BJ ham radio cartoonHere’s the perfect QSL to work on during the Winter Olympics: a ham on a Zamboni machine.

Dave, KL5BJ, is a relatively new licensee, and he wanted to QSL in style. He used to operate a Zamboni, so drawing one for his QSL was the obvious choice.

But how should I fill out the rest of the illustration?

Maybe it was from watching the Olympics, but somehow dancing beavers with handi-talkies seemed like the perfect space filler. And who’s to say they’re not using Baofengs?

I’m not sure how else to explain this one, except to say … well, I had fun drawing it. I hope the hams who’ll receive Dave’s QSLs in the mail will enjoy it as well.

Aviator amateur

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Felipe, KO4TWS, runs a Miami-based flight school and has been passionate about flying ever since he was young. A more recent passion is amateur radio. Felipe asked me if I could combine the two in a QSL, and this is the result.

For those of you interested in learning how to fly yourself, visit his Aviator Zone website for more information. Felipe also maintains his own Aviator Zone YouTube channel with some fascinating videos. Check them out!

Passion for POTA

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Several of my cartoon QSL commissions have involved mobile or portable operations, even backpacking and hiking — but this is the first one designed especially for Parks on the Air (POTA) contacts.

Don, WA4FL, is a retiree who spends part of his time in Florida (hence, the cool call sign). He enjoys combining QSOs with camping, so he wanted a card that showed him doing just that, with POTA acknowledged and a park animal “causing mischief.” Done and done. Besides, what would a Hamtoons QSL be without a cute animal wearing headphones? That’s why I went all-out and gave him four squirrels, two with headsets, one playing with his pipe, and one at the wheel of his Ram van (probably looking for a headset of his own). What can I say? Drawing cute animals wearing headphones makes me happy.

I also suggested modifying one of my standard report forms for POTA information, and this is what we came up with. Don liked it. I hope his fellow hams who receive one of these QSLs like it too.

Amateur in the Outback

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My latest cartoon QSL commission is very Australian — and an homage to an Aussie cartoonist I’d never heard of before.

Bob, VK2ADF, recently retired as a military police officer wanted an “outback” theme “like the Ettamogah Pub.” Sounds fun, right? But being an American, I had absolutely no idea what the Ettamogah Pub was, so I had to look it up. That led me to Google, Wikipedia and ultimately to the work of the late Australian cartoonist Ken Maynard.

Maynard, I learned, was also an ex-cop — just like VK2ADF — who made his reputation drawing for The Australasian Post. Maynard’s style could best be described as a cross between Don Martin and Jack Davis; think Mad Magazine with an Aussie bent, and you’ll have the general idea.

Ettamogah Pub

The original Ettamogah Pub near Albury, New South Wales. Used under Wikipedia Creative Commons.

The nexus of Maynard’s cartoon universe was the Ettamogah Pub, apparently the place to be if you lived in the outback. Several real Ettamogah Pubs exist today in Australia, Maynard’s work was so popular.

The Maynard connection led to the QSL design: VK2ADF in a military-police car, accompanied by a dog (Maynard loved to draw dogs) with the pub on a hill in the background, repurposed as a shack. Aping Maynard’s style was a challenge but well worth the effort.

73 from El Chivo!

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KN4FIS ham radio cartoon QSL by N2ESTJim, KN4FIS, sports a mountain-man beard and goes by the nickname El Chivo, or “the goat.” He also works digital modes. Can I put that all together in a single QSL card? Of course.

To represent digital modes, at first I considered overlaying a screen shot of actual software. Problem was, it looked out of place next to the cartoony style of the rest of the card. That’s why I decided to go loose and cartoony on the monitor as well. It doesn’t have all the details, but it looks unmistakably like ham digital software if you’re in the know.

Final touch: a Special Forces badge on Jim’s baseball cap. Jim is vice president of the P7X Amateur Radio Society at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. For your service — and the service of all hams associated with our military — we salute you.

License to Ham

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K6SPY ham radio cartoon QSL by N2ESTYes, his name really is Bond. James Bond.

Some QSLs just design themselves, and this was one of them. When James, K6SPY (yes, that really is his call sign, too) commissioned me to create a cartoon QSL for him, I knew exactly what I needed to do: Go full-on James Bond, shaken and stirred.

I started with the call sign, eventually finding a font I could modify to mimic the 007 logo. The name and QTH are set in a font called 007 GoldenEye. And the background is a stock image of the iconic “gun barrel sequence” at the beginning of every Bond movie.

Drawing James himself was easy: I simply copied the classic Sean Connery pose, arms folded, gun over the shoulder — except this gun is a soldering gun.

Did I mention that designing this was a lot of fun?

 

Muscle car QSL

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K4BFH ham radio cartoon QSL by N2ESTRyan, K4BFH, loves his Ford Mustang. His XYL loves training horses. Could I combine the two on a QSL?

I enjoy drawing cars, so I got to work creating a simplified version of his Mustang. This particular car, though, presented a special challenge: How do you illustrate a black car using black outlines? My solution was to lighten up the black slightly and then define the edges of the car with shine and shadow. It works well enough, in a cartoon sort of way. That’s Ryan at the wheel.

Ryan’s wife appears in the background. If the horse’s pose looks familiar, there’s a reason — it’s the same pose used by Ford for its classic Mustang badge. The font used for Ryan’s callsign also comes from that logo and badge. This QSL is all Mustang, all the way.

Buckeye in a balloon

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K8QR ham radio cartoon QSL by N2ESTYi Zhang, K8QR, wanted to combine his love of ham radio with his interest in hot-air balloons. What better way to connect them than the world’s longest wire antenna? As an added touch, to acknowledge his Columbus QTH, I added a banner for THE Ohio Station University. He does much of his operating from the school’s club station, W8LT.

In addition to being a good ham, K8QR has the patience of a saint; we’d been talking about this commission since last spring. I hope the finished QSL was worth the wait.

Iron man

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This QSL was a challenge. Jason, KB8SDF, is a professional machinist; his shack is in a much larger shop that would be the envy of an hobbyist. The challenge was making all of those tools fit together on a small postcard (along with a picture of Jason himself).

I finally was able to tie it together with a font that itself looked as if it had been built in Jason’s shop. The font, Iron Man of War, looks familiar for a reason — it’s similar to a font used for the classic logo of Iron Man. Jason fell in love with the font when he saw it, I added a few details from his shack and a caricature of Jason … and there you have it.