There are things that are certain: death, taxes, and QRZ.com going down at some point. But what happens when one of the most important websites in amateur radio simply vanishes — without a message, without an explanation, without even a “We’ll be right back”? Your Hansl had a look. And what he found is simultaneously tragic, funny, and somehow very predictable.
The Patient: QRZ.com — Condition: Unknown
For several days, QRZ.com has been either unreachable, agonisingly slow, or both at the same time. Callsign lookups? Timeout. The homepage? Loads in 36 seconds — if you’re lucky. HTTPS? The TLS handshake hangs into the void like a CQ call on 28 MHz during solar minimum. Ping? 100% packet loss. QRZ.com isn’t just down — QRZ.com has vanished.
This doesn’t just affect casual operators who want to quickly look up a callsign. This affects paying customers. People who have an XML subscription. People who keep their logbook there. People who transfer money so they can use the service. And what do these people get? Nothing. No email. No status update. No banner. Not even a friendly “We’re working on it”. Just — silence. As silent as a repeater without battery backup.
What Works: The Forensics of a Partial Outage
But wait. Not EVERYTHING is dead. The forums still work. So you can discuss the outage. That’s nice. Like a hospital where the cafeteria is open but the A&E is closed. “Coffee, please. And has anyone seen the doctor?”
The support at ssl.qrz.com also still works. So you can submit a ticket. To whom, is unclear. But you can.
And then — of course, naturally, how could it be otherwise — the Shop still works. shop.qrz.com delivers HTTP 200, faster than you can say “renew subscription”. So you can renew your XML subscription. You can buy your premium membership. You can spend money. You just can’t use what you’re paying for. But paying — that works. Always. 24/7. Even during the outage. Especially during the outage.
Maybe they need three more subscriptions to afford the AWS resources. Hi.
The Community Responds — QRZ.com Doesn’t
On the QRZ forum, VA6SZ opened a thread in the early morning of 7 April 2026: “QRZ is very slow today”. Within hours, hams from Canada, the USA, Germany, and the UK chimed in — all with the same problem. Load times exceeding 30 seconds. Complete timeouts. For several days, not just today.
And the official response from QRZ.com? From AA7BQ, the founder? From “QRZ Staff”?
Silence.
No post. No statement. No “We’re aware of it”. No “Working on it”. Nothing. The forums fill up with reports from frustrated users, and from the official side comes — exactly as much as from QRZ.com on port 443. Namely: a timeout.
What QRZ.com Actually Is (For Those Who’ve Forgotten)
Perhaps a reminder is in order, because QRZ.com itself appears to have forgotten: QRZ.com is not just any website. QRZ.com is THE callsign database. Worldwide. For over 30 years. Thousands of logging programs access the QRZ XML API. Contest loggers, cloud logbooks, apps — they all want to talk to QRZ.com. And when QRZ.com doesn’t answer, thousands of hams are left standing like a novice in front of a beam: overwhelmed and without a backup.
This isn’t “a website is slow”. This is infrastructure. This is like the directory enquiries simply refusing to pick up the phone. And instead putting up a sign: “Phone books available at the checkout.”
The Elephant in the Server Room
Now we must ask the question that everyone is thinking but nobody says aloud: Why is there no status page? In 2026. When every kebab app has a status page. When every SaaS service for €9.99/month runs a status page with green and red traffic lights. QRZ.com — a service that people pay for — has: nothing. No status.qrz.com. No @qrz_status on X. No banner on the homepage. If the homepage would load.
Instead, you learn about the outage by — surprise — being affected by it yourself. And then you go to the forum and read that you’re not alone. Community spirit through shared suffering. Ham spirit 2.0, so to speak.
The Priorities: An Analysis
Let’s summarise what works at QRZ.com and what doesn’t:
| Service | Status |
|---|---|
| Callsign lookup | ❌ Down |
| Logbook | ❌ Down |
| XML API | ❌ Down |
| Homepage | ❌ Down / 36s load time |
| HTTPS | ❌ TLS handshake hangs |
| Ping | ❌ 100% packet loss |
| Forum | ✅ Works (so you can complain) |
| Support ticket system | ✅ Works (response: pending for days) |
| Shop | ✅ Works perfectly, lightning fast |
The priorities are clear. The shop must run. Everything else is optional. Hi.
What We Can Learn From This
First: Backup strategies matter. If your log lives exclusively at QRZ.com, you have a problem now. If your callsign research relies solely on QRZ, you have a problem. If you don’t have a local log export — exactly, problem.
Second: Alternatives exist. HamQTH.com is free and working. HamCall.net is there. National databases (like the telecommunications authority databases) are there. And if you have a proper logging program — be it Wavelog, CQRLOG, or Log4OM — you can work offline too.
Third: Communication is not optional. When thousands of paying customers can’t use your service, the minimum — the absolute minimum — is a short message. “We have a problem. We’re working on it. Estimated recovery: unknown.” Ten seconds to write. But apparently too much to ask.
The Moral
QRZ.com is down. For days. Without a message. Without an explanation. Without an ETA. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the state of affairs. A service that for many hams is as natural as the microphone on the transceiver is simply — gone. But the shop still works. In case you want to quickly buy a subscription while waiting. So they can perhaps afford the next server bill.
73 de Hansl Hohlleiter
The only satire editor whose website is currently more reachable than QRZ.com. That says more about QRZ.com than about me. Hi.
Transparency Notice
This article was researched and written with the support of AI (Claude, Anthropic) and reviewed by the editorial team. The described situation (QRZ.com outage on 7 April 2026) is real and based on user reports from the QRZ forum as well as independent technical checks. The satirical treatment serves entertainment purposes — however, the criticism of lacking communication is meant seriously.
