Colorful QSL cards from the Rio Olympics

The 2016 Summer Olympics are in full swing, and at least one Brazilian ham radio station is commemorating the event with collectible QSL cards for stations he talks to. Unless you've been visiting relatives off planet, you know the 2016 summer games are taking place in Rio de Janeiro until August 21, marking the first time the Olympics have come to South America.

Official Rio Olympics promo photo.

Although there seems to be no "official" special event ham station for Rio, a ham operator from Sao Paulo, Mario Libardi, is serving as an ambassador of the games by operating with the call sign PY22DV.  He told me by e-mail he will be on the air from Rio on weekends all day and on weekday evenings starting at 2300 UTC, which is 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Rio Olympics ham radio QSL card.

PY22DV will be using SSB (voice), CW (Morse code) and possibly JT65 digital on the 20 and 40 meter bands, which represent the best chance for long distance contacts during this period of poor propagation and low sunspot numbers.

Mario's station started showing up Sunday afternoon on the dx spotting site dxwatch.com, which lists him talking to stations in Europe, Russia and the United States. PY22DV will confirm contacts with his colorful card by direct mail (he asks for two U.S. dollars for postage) ARRL's Logbook of the World (LoTW), or via the international QSL bureau system, which is far slower than the other options.

In addition, shortwave broadcaster Radio Free Asia has been using an Olympic designed QSL card since May. RFA, based in the United States, beams news and information in various Asian dialects including Burmese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Korean and Tibetan. The QSL card is a modified version of the one used during the Beijing games in 2008.

Check the Radio Free Asia website for time, frequency and language information.