QSL Card
Submitted by Martin, AA1ON  -  Write-up by Bob, W1RH

Unlike most of the other nonfoolish holidays, the history of April Fool's Day, sometimes called All Fool's Day, is not totally clear. There really wasn't a "first April Fool's Day" that can be pinpointed on the calendar. Some believe it sort of evolved simultaneously in several cultures at the same time, from celebrations involving the first day of spring.
The closest point in time that can be identified as the beginning of this tradition was in 1582, in France. Prior to that year, the new year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25. The celebration culminated on April 1. With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX, the Gregorian Calendar was introduced, and New Year's Day was moved to January 1.
However, communications being what they were in the days when news traveled by foot, many people did not receive the news for several years. Others, the more obstinate crowd, refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1. These backward folk were labeled as "fools" by the general populace. They were subject to some ridicule, and were often sent on "fools errands" or were made the butt of other practical jokes.
Happy April Fools Day!

This month's card was submitted by Martin (AA1ON). Martin is the W1 QSL Bureau Primary Sorter. All incoming cards from other countries destined for W1 territory go directly to Martin. Martin then delivers them to sorters who break them up into call letter suffix groups.
Let's take a close look at this card. It seems that F5VEI (from France) sent a QSL to AP1RIL via the bureau. We have several problems here. For one, the prefix "AP" is not a US prefix. The French bureau sorter probably confused the "AP" prefix with US prefixes. The US has been assigned AA-AK. AP, however, is assigned to Pakistan. So, the card should have been sent to the Pakistan bureau if there is one. Take a close look at the call sign "AP1RIL". The call sign has a three letter suffix. According to our DX guru, Martin, three letter suffixes are not assigned in Pakistan. Are you still

with me? Let's look at the date the QSO was made: Day - 01, Month - 04, Year - 1999. Hmmmm.......that would be April first. The call sign again? AP 1 RIL. Now, we DX'ers at this point smell a rat here. It would appear that a pirate, or SLIM as DX'ers refer to them, decided to have a little fun on April Fool's Day. Looks like our poor French amateur got duped by an April Fool's joke.
I took a look at the DX Spotting Network archives for April 1, 1999, and found the following spots: A German ham, DL3PS, spotted AP1RIL on 20 meters and added the comment that the QSL manager is JO1KE. KN5G spotted AP1RIL on 30 meters and added the comment "what a joke".
Back to our poor French ham, F5VEI. I did a little research on the history and traditions of April Fool's Day. Guess where the tradition first appeared? Read on from the Wilstar Greeting's web site:

FraminghamARA-L@fara.org

The FARA email reflector is working well. It provides us with an easy way to reach all our members who have email. You have to sign up so it will reach you, though.
To sign up, contact webmaster@fara.org