ok so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and im starting to actually think about confirming contacts and chasing awards and stuff. but im totally lost on the whole QSL thing. like theres LoTW which i know the ARRL runs, and then theres eQSL which seems like a totally different thing, and then obviously the old school paper cards through the bureau or direct mail.

do i actually need to be on all three of these? some people i talk to on the air are like yeah just use LoTW for everything, and then other people are like no eQSL is better for casual stuff, and then my elmer keeps insisting i should still send paper cards because thats the real tradition. i dont want to insult anyone but also i dont have time to be managing three different systems for every contact i make.

also the LoTW setup with the certificate and TQSL software kind of intimidated me at first but i finally got it working last weekend so at least thats done. just not sure what the actual workflow is supposed to look like going forward.

honestly you dont need all three but a lot of us end up using at least two. LoTW is pretty much the gold standard if you care about DXCC or WAS because the ARRL requires it for those awards. eQSL is way more casual and some people love it, some dont bother — i know a bunch of DX stations that only upload to eQSL and skip LoTW entirely which is frustrating when you need that entity confirmed.

paper cards though, i still send them for anything that feels special. a nice QSO with a rare DX station or a grid square i needed, yeah im printing a card. theres something about getting a physical card in the mail that no digital system replaces. but for everyday contacts on the local repeater or random FT8 stuff, just LoTW is fine. most logging software like WSJT-X or Log4OM can auto-upload to LoTW so after the initial setup you barely think about it.

since you already got TQSL sorted out youre past the hardest part, seriously that certificate process trips up a lot of new hams.

same boat as you were like six months ago lol. what i ended up doing was just setting up LoTW for the awards stuff and then i signed up for eQSL too because its free and a lot of the guys in my county net use it and it kind of became a social thing almost. i dont really do paper cards yet, maybe someday. one thing at a time right