like i get the general concept, you confirm the contact happened, both sides agree on the details. but theres like three different systems and i dont know if i need to be on all of them or just pick one. and the LoTW signup process looked pretty intimidating honestly, there was something about certificates and i kind of closed the browser tab.

do people still mail physical cards? ive gotten a couple in the mail already which was actually really cool but i havent sent any back yet which i feel bad about. is there like an unwritten rule that you have to reciprocate? just trying to figure out the whole confirmation culture i guess

from what i can tell there's like three different ways to confirm contacts? there's LoTW which is the ARRL one, eQSL which is a different website, and then actual physical cards you mail to each other or through a bureau. but i dont really understand how they relate to each other or if one is better than the other or if i need all three

i applied for my LoTW certificate thing a few weeks ago and got it set up in WSJT-X which apparently does it automatically for FT8 which is most of what im doing right now. so does that mean im already confirming contacts without doing anything else? and do i need to bother with the other methods too

also what even is the bureau, people keep mentioning it and i have no idea what it means in this context. sorry if these are dumb questions just trying to wrap my head around it all

I understand the basic concept — you're confirming the contact happened with the other station. But like, do people still actually mail physical cards? I thought that was mostly an old thing but then I saw someone at our club meeting get super excited about a card they got in the mail from Japan so maybe not. And then theres LoTW which I set up but I'm not totally sure I did it right because I uploaded my ADIF log and it seemed to work but I havent seen any confirmations come back yet. Is there a delay or something? Or do both stations have to upload for it to count?

Also someone mentioned eQSL being different from LoTW and I honestly dont know what the distinction is. Is one better than the other for awards? I'm kind of interested in going for DXCC eventually so I want to make sure I'm doing this right from the start rather than having to go back and fix everything later.

some guys tell me LoTW is the only one that matters for awards like DXCC and WAS, and that eQSL is kind of a second tier thing that not everyone respects. but then other people say eQSL is totally fine and way more convenient. and THEN theres still people mailing me actual paper cards which i love getting honestly but i dont know if i should be sending them back or if thats even expected anymore.

like do i have to upload to all three of these or can i just pick one and stick with it? and for the paper cards people send me, am i supposed to send one back even if they didnt ask? i feel like im offending someone every time i dont respond to a card but i also dont have a huge budget for postage right now. sorry if this is a dumb question, just trying to figure out the etiquette here

i signed up for LoTW because someone at my club said thats the one you need for DXCC and i uploaded my logs and some stuff matched up which was cool. but then someone else mentioned eQSL and said its totally different and some people only use that one. and then theres still actual physical cards which honestly i kind of love the idea of but it seems like a lot of work to manage.

do most people just do LoTW and call it day, or is there a reason to do all three? also does it cost money to get cards printed and send them internationally because that seems like it could add up fast

right now i have an account on eQSL and ive been logging contacts there but someone at my local club told me that ARRL awards like DXCC only accept LoTW or paper cards sent through the buro. so ive been doing it wrong this whole time? ive got like 200 contacts in eQSL and none in LoTW. also the LoTW setup process looks really intimidating with the certificates and all that. is it actually as complicated as it looks or am i overthinking it

also do people still actually send paper cards through the bureau? i sent a few direct to some DX stations and never heard back so im not sure if thats even worth it anymore

i signed up for LoTW because everyone said thats the one to use, and i get that its run by the ARRL and the confirmations are cryptographically signed or whatever so theyre considered more trustworthy. but then ive also seen people mention eQSL and i made an account there too and now i have confirmations in both places and i dont really know what to do with any of them. does it matter which one i upload to? do i have to upload to both?

also paper cards — i got a few in the mail from people and they look really cool honestly, i can see why people like them. but i havent sent any out yet because i wasnt sure about the process. do you just mail them directly to the other person or does it go through a bureau or something? i looked up bureau and now im even more confused about that whole thing lol. any help appreciated, been sitting on this question for a while

i set up my LoTW account a while back and the whole TQSL thing kind of threw me off, took me a few tries to get my certificate sorted. i have uploaded a couple logs but i dont really know what to do next or if the other station has to upload too before anything shows up as confirmed. also someone mentioned eQSL to me at a club meeting and i dont know if thats even worth messing with or if most serious operators just ignore it

not chasing any awards right now, just curious what the general approach is. do most people just pick one or is there a reason to do all of them

i get that QSL cards are the old school paper confirmation thing and they look cool, i already got a few in the mail and yeah i understand the appeal. but do i actually need to be doing ALL of these? like is there a reason to do LoTW AND eQSL, they seem like they do the same thing? and what about people who only accept paper cards, is that still common?

also my logging software (using Log4OM) supposedly exports to both but i havent actually set it up yet because i wasnt sure if its worth the hassle. anyway sorry if this is a dumb question just trying to figure out what the community actually does vs what youre supposed to do

like do i need to upload to both LoTW AND eQSL every time i make a contact? and what about paper QSL cards, i designed one through one of those printing services and have a small stack sitting here but i dont really know the etiquette around when to send them vs when to just do it digitally. someone in a pileup actually sent me their card info over the air and i didnt know what to do with it in the moment.

also the LoTW setup with the certificate stuff seemed really complicated and i kept getting errors so i sort of gave up on it for a while. is it worth pushing through that or is eQSL basically the same thing for most purposes

the reason i ask is i made contact with a station in Japan last week on 20m which was super exciting for me, first ever DX contact, and afterward i wasnt sure what to do. i uploaded my log to LoTW because someone told me thats what you need for DXCC credit but then i also heard eQSL is popular in Europe and some guys wont do anything except paper cards. the Japanese station hasnt confirmed yet on anything so maybe he hasnt uploaded either, i dont know how long to wait

also the whole LoTW setup with the certificate thing was kind of a pain honestly, took me like an hour to figure out but i got it working. anyway just looking for some perspective from people who actually chase DX or do awards, what do you guys actually rely on

right now i just log everything in WSJT-X and import to HAMRS but i havent uploaded anything anywhere. is that bad? am i losing confirmations i could have had? someone at the club mentioned something about a LoTW certificate which sounds complicated. do i need to do all three or can i just pick one and be done with it

i signed up for eQSL a while back and i think i have some confirmations in there but i havent really looked at it in months. never set up LoTW because the whole TQSL certificate thing looked really confusing when i tried to read about it. is LoTW actually worth the hassle? and do people still bother mailing physical cards or is that kind of a dying thing now?

also do any of the major awards like DXCC actually accept eQSL or is it just LoTW? i want to eventually go for some awards but i dont want to put in all this effort logging stuff and then find out my confirmations dont count for anything

and then there are actual physical QSL cards which i think are really cool honestly, i got one in the mail last week from a guy in Japan and it was really nice printed card, but i have no idea how to send one back to him. do i just mail it directly to his address? is there a bureau system i should be using? i tried googling it but there are like 5 different answers and im not sure what the current situation is with ARRL bureau after everything changed.

basically just wondering what most people actually bother with day to day. do you do all three or just pick one? and does it matter for any awards which one you use

but then theres LoTW which is the ARRL thing and eQSL which is a totally different thing and from what i can tell some awards count one but not the other? and i heard some DX stations only upload to LoTW and dont bother with paper cards anymore. and then some people say eQSL doesnt really count for anything serious which seems harsh but i dont know.

i went ahead and signed up for both LoTW and eQSL accounts but i havent really done anything with them. do i need to get a certificate or something for LoTW? i remember reading something about that but i lost the page. and is there a way to log everything in one place or do you have to manually upload to each service separately. using WSJT-X and JTDX mostly if that matters, mostly FT8.

from what i can tell LoTW is run by the ARRL and its the one you need for DXCC credit? and eQSL is a separate thing that more people use casually? but then some guys at my club still send physical QSL cards through the bureau and i got one in the mail last week from a station in Germany which was honestly really cool, like a real piece of paper with his callsign and everything

so my actual question is — do i need to be uploading to both LoTW AND eQSL, or is one of them enough for most purposes. and if i want to actually send paper cards how does the bureau system even work, do i go through my ARRL membership or is that a separate thing. sorry for the wall of text, just trying to figure out the whole confirmation ecosystem i guess

i signed up for LoTW because someone at my club said thats the one you need for DXCC and i uploaded my log but barely anything is showing as confirmed. and then i keep hearing people mention eQSL and i made an account there too but it seems like a totally different thing? and some people still send physical cards through the bureau and i got a few in the mail which was actually really cool but im not sure if i need to send any back or how that even works.

so i guess my actual question is like, do i need all three? and is there a way to make this less complicated because right now it feels like a second hobby just managing confirmations

also a few people have sent me actual paper QSL cards through the bureau and i have no idea how to respond to those or even how the bureau system works. do i need to sign up somewhere for that? i joined ARRL when i got my license but i dont think i did anything with QSL stuff specifically.

i guess my main question is — for awards like DXCC or WAS, does it matter which confirmation method you use? or do you need LoTW specifically for those? sorry if this is a really basic question, ive been trying to search around but i get different answers everywhere

right now i send paper cards through the bureau for anyone who seems interested and ive uploaded a few logs to LoTW but i havent done anything with eQSL yet. is eQSL even worth bothering with? i see some people have the authenticated member thing and some dont and im not sure what that means for the confirmations counting toward awards or whatever

also kind of a separate thing — when i get a paper card in the mail i genuinely get excited in a way that a digital confirmation just doesnt give me. is that weird or does everyone feel that way haha

from what i understand LoTW is run by the ARRL and its the one that counts for DXCC but you have to get a certificate mailed to you first before you can even upload anything which seems like a lot of hoops. eQSL seems easier to sign up for but i read somewhere that it doesnt count for DXCC? and then theres still people mailing actual paper cards through the bureau which just seems really slow. like does anyone still do all three or do most people just pick one and stick with it.

also when someone on FT8 says QSL in the log does that mean theyre going to actually confirm it somewhere or is it just like an automatic thing with WSJT-X. sorry if these are dumb questions im just trying to figure out the whole ecosystem here before i spend time on something that wont count toward anything.

i guess my main question is what do most people actually bother with day to day. do you do all three or just pick one. and is LoTW the gold standard or is that just what older hams say. not trying to be rude just genuinely curious how this all works in practice

a guy at my club meeting mentioned eQSL and said its easier but then someone else said it doesnt count for as many awards so now im even more confused. and then theres just mailing physical cards which seems like a lot of work but also kind of cool? i got one card in the mail last week from a station in germany and it was genuinely exciting to hold it, not gonna lie.

anyway what do most people actually use day to day, do i need to sign up for all three or is there like a sensible approach here. using WSJT-X mostly if that matters, not sure if that changes anything