Sometimes when we have a QSO or work a special event, we get a callsign wrong. Sometimes during a special event the event operator is trying to get thru a huge pileup and your QSO may be short and sweet. You hear the callsign quickly and truly think you got it... well, I worked a special event station recently with young kids who were attending the World Little League Championships in Pa. We weren't rushed, the young man I was talking to was taking his time and getting coached by the Elmer in charge. I recorded the QSO and all the particulars. Then I looked up the Callsign on QRZ to get the QSL information. I noticed that the callsign was from Alabama. Not a red flag because the kids were visiting Pa. So off my QSL card innocently went... fast forward to yesterday, a week after I sent that QSL card... I love getting QSL cards! With delight I opened the envelope... to find not a QSL card, but a letter... "Hi Suzanne N1SUZ, I was surprised to get your QSL card in the mail today. I must admit I was doubly surprised because I have not operated in the HF bands since Hurricane Frederick destroyed my antenna system in 1979..."
But a misheard Callsign, and a QSL card sent to the wrong Ham, turned into a friendly Ham related QSO anyway! He told me about how he became Amateur Extra, how he walked away from Ham radio while moving and then raising a family, and how sorry he was he had not saved any of his QSL cards so he could send me one and how he appreciated mine anyway. It was one of the nicest letters I have ever received.
I ended the letter by hoping that someday we actually would have that QSO on the air and wished him 73.
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