I've tried and tried to print eqsls on photo paper for display in the shack, I click the 4 x 6 link below the displayed card, but the date/time information still prints, in fact it uses two sheets, one with just date and time info and then again with a shrunken qsl card with date and time info also

What am I doing wrong?

73,

Joe W7UV

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W7UV Joseph Sands

Joe,
Can't tell you what is going wrong with your printing. Could be the PC, the printer or something else. Can you print ok on regular 8.5 X 11 paper? I have not tried to print on 4X6 paper cause it would cost a lot in ink. Save your money! Go out and get an electronic picture frame, save your eQSLs to a thumb drive or SD card and just display your eQSLs in your frame. This saves paper, ink and a lot of headache.
73
Andy - n1ork

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N1ORK Orest 'Andy' Zajac

Hi Joe,
Your problem stems from the fact that the image is displayed on a generated web page. You can add a couple of steps to achieve your objective.

WARNING: The following instructions are based on using FireFox browser in Windows XP Pro. Make appropriate adjustments for your computing environment.

1. Working from the eQSL archive, click on the display button for the card you want to view/print.
2. RIGHT click somewhere in the card image. A menu will be displayed.
3. Select "save image as" then specify the location and file name. My system defaults to JPG for image type.
4. Open the saved image file with the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, an image editing program, or whatever photo printing application that came with your printer.
5. Print it.

Hope this helps. 73--Doug, W5DET

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What?!? You're still killing trees and wasting time and money sending QSL cards via Snail Mail? Whatever for? Go Unpostal!

Actually Doug, eQSL does reduce the resolution significantly. Yes, the browser will render the graphic differently in a browser but downloading it won't really help improve the resolution enough to produce a good quality image. Until eQSL provides another option (to house the QSL outside their servers) we are stuck with the low resolution QSL. IMHO It is a shame - many of us do like to collect QSL cards that look decent when printed. eQSL is a fantastic portal - the only drawback is QSL image quality. It would appear that they really don't care.

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KE3W Nevins "Frank" Frankel
Temporary QTH: Centralia, Pennsylvania (USA)
http://www.ke3w.com

Actually, Frank, the generated image is 300dpi which is a reasonable maximum for image transmission over the internet. The problem is, photo resolution requires at least 1200dpi which generates an image with 16 times the number of bytes. Also, based on a sample card I just looked at, the generated image is only 1.76x1.12 inches. Blowing that up to 3"x5" size increases the number of bytes by another factor of 8. Thus I started with a 532,224 byte 300dpi image, blew it up to 3x5 and 1200dpi and now it is a 68,724,000 byte image. I'm resampling in Corel PhotoPaint to come up with these number, btw.

It isn't a matter of not caring about the image quality, rather it is a matter of caring about providing a responsive user experience to all users of the system at an affordable cost. If you want 5 minute waits for page loads while others download oversized image files that's your choice. I don't and I find the quality of the QSL images to be acceptable for my purposes.

I have never tried the eQSL printing service so I have no knowledge of the quality of the product. You might try that to see if it scratches your itch.

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What?!? You're still killing trees and wasting time and money sending QSL cards via Snail Mail? Whatever for? Go Unpostal!

Doug,

I fully understand the providing a responsive user experience and If you want 5 minute waits for page loads while others download oversized image files that's your choice and I agree with you.

I was only suggesting that eQSL provide the vehicle for for members to house their QSL Cards (linked) outside eQSL.

Now, based on the issue you raised (download time) - I will modify my proposal to include the option of printing the higher resolution graphics (smile).

On you issue I find the quality of the QSL images to be acceptable for my purposes - that is super for you (and most members - including myself). However, there are many members that prefer a high resolution QSL card - and that option would be nice to have.

Gosh, this is fun.

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KE3W Nevins "Frank" Frankel
Temporary QTH: Centralia, Pennsylvania (USA)
http://www.ke3w.com
Edited by KE3W N A 'Frank' Frankel on Apr 16, 2011 at 08:58 AM

Just a quick check on your numbers.

By default, eQSLs are 96 dpi for web display - that's easy to calculate:

96 dpi x 5.5"= 528 pixels
96 dpi x 3.5"= 336 pixels

528 x 336 is the exact size of an eQSL image.

unfortunately, you need a minimum of about 180 dpi to make a photo quality print of something that is simple, and at least 300 dpi for something complex. 1200 dpi would be awesome, but would definitely lead to truly immense images.

Nevertheless, there's no reason QSL images couldn't be uploaded at 300 dpi (1650 x 1050) - for display, they could be down-converted to 528 x 336. With a "Download Hi-Res" button beside them, people who wish to print the high res copy could do so.

eQSL image size is a left-over from when the service was created over a decade ago, when most people were on slow dial-up.

All that said, eQSLs fit nicely into a small digital picture frame. A number of people on the forum display them that way. No printing involved, and the 96dpi nature is perfect for a video display such as that.

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VE3OIJ P. Darin Cowan
Edited by VE3OIJ P. Darin Cowan on Apr 21, 2011 at 10:55 AM

I've found that while most eQSLs save as a 96dpi .jpg file, some are saved at different resolutions causing them to print in an incorrect size. I did find a solution to my problem. I suggest you look at http://www.eqsl.cc/Forums/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=1136 where my problem is discussed and at http://www.eqsl.cc/Forums/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=1138 where I describe my solution in detail.

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K9MM John E. Becker