ok so ive been licensed about 8 months now and ive been trying to figure out the whole QSL confirmation thing and honestly its more confusing than i expected. like i thought you just sent a card in the mail and that was it but apparently theres like three different systems now and some awards only accept certain ones?

so far i set up an eQSL account because someone in my club mentioned it and it seemed easy enough, uploaded a bunch of my logs and got some confirmations back which was cool. but then someone else told me i really need to be on LoTW if i want to go for DXCC or WAS someday. i went to the ARRL site and the whole certificate process for LoTW looks kind of intimidating honestly, do you have to mail them something physically to get set up?

and then theres still people sending actual paper cards through the bureau or direct mail and i kind of love the idea of getting physical cards but i dont even know how the bureau works or how much it costs. is it worth doing all three or do most people just pick one and stick with it? sorry if this is a dumb question, just trying to figure out what the norm is

not a dumb question at all, this tripped up pretty much everyone when they first started. the short version is yeah you kind of want LoTW if awards are ever on your radar, the ARRL only accepts LoTW confirmations for DXCC now, they stopped taking paper QSLs for that a while back. the setup process looks scary but its really just requesting a certificate through their TQSL software, they mail you a postcard with a code to verify your identity, and then you're good. takes maybe a week or two to get the postcard depending on where you live.

eQSL is fine and a lot of people use it, theres actually an "authenticity guaranteed" tier that some awards accept but its not the same as LoTW for the big ARRL stuff. i use both personally, just upload to each after a contest or a good operating session.

paper cards i still do for special contacts, like if i work somewhere rare or its a memorable qso i'll send a direct card. the bureau is cheap but slow, like months sometimes. totally worth it imo just for the wall decoration factor if nothing else, theres something about holding a card from a station in Japan or wherever that just doesnt get old

yeah i was in the same boat about a year ago. lotw setup was annoying but once its done its done, i just leave tqsl running and upload every few weeks. one thing i'll add — some dx stations only upload to lotw like once a year or even less so dont panic if a confirmation doesnt show up right away, sometimes you're waiting months for the other guy to get around to it

eqsl i use too mostly because its instant and its kind of fun to see the confirmations roll in same day. different people use different things thats really the bottom line