Someone asked me what to do with an IRC

An IRC is an International Reply Coupon. It is valid in many places to use to purchase a stamp with.

The USPS does not sell these but they are supposed to honor them. You can take one to the post office and trade it in for one overseas stamp.

Finding a PO clerk in a sub-station that knows about this is probably kind of difficult, though. You'd likely have to go to a main PO.

Hams in general and DXers in specific sometimes use these when they want a QSL card from overseas. You send your card, an SAE, and an IRC so the person can send you back his card.

Most hams generally send a  US dollar or two, though.

Still, they are good to have because some places prohibit their citizenry from possessing foreign currency or stamps.

I'm aware of that from Hurricane Sandy. 

A Cuban ham got torn up pretty badly and the ham community put together a small relief effort. It was actually based in Spain.

I couldn't send the Cuban any money because of the blockade but I did, however send his Spanish QSL manager a few bucks to buy a drink with. What he did with it was his business.

I believe he bought Euros with it and sent it to Cuba.

In return I asked him to have the ham send me a QSL card directly from Cuba so I could have the stamped envelope and add it to my collection.

A few weeks later I received a QSL card directly from Cuba so I imagine the Spanish manager forwarded the donation, having converted it into Euros, to the ham in Cuba.

I'll digress here a minute. 

If governments want to treat other governments other like dogs that's fine by me. Don't ask me to treat non governmental humans like that. I won't.

Don't get me wrong. I can perform the duties of a soldier and chew up enemy combatants in wholesale numbers. However, don't ask me to mistreat any non combatants that are a part of a reasonably well behaved part of the countryside I happen to be in. I simply won't do it.







To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY