Venutian QSL Update

There are new developments on the previously reported "Venus QSL" received by German hams who accomplished the first amateur Earth-Venus-Earth (EVE) transmissions.

Since discovering the cryptic holographic runes emitted by the mystery plate, several groups of hams and amateur cryptographers around the world have been working to decipher their meaning. The significance of decoding the Venutian writing has staggering implications for humanitiy's future interactions with alien lifeforms.

Thanks in large part of the folks over at Alien Downlink, a partial translation has been been completed. Although the accuracy of the translation is still debatable, it appears that the message was not an SWL or QSL report at all. Instead, it appears to be the interplanetary equivalent of an FCC 'pink slip'. The message warns of intentional interference and appears to accuse the German hams of being out of band. The Germans have defended themselves saying that there was no intentional interference, as they could hear no other signals from Venus and any perceived out-of-band reception must have been due to Doppler shift. While such accusations are potentially serious, the far more serious part of the message appears to be a threat that repeated violations may be subject to "pftkesq". The translation of "pftkesq" is unclear and opinions of its meaning range from some sort of monetary fine to planetary annihilation.