ok so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and i keep seeing people mention LoTW and eQSL and also still sending physical cards and im honestly not sure what the point of each one is or if i need to be using all of them. like i get that confirming contacts is a big deal especially for awards but i dont really understand the difference between the two digital systems and why they both exist.

i went ahead and registered for LoTW a few weeks ago but i havent actually uploaded anything yet because the whole TQSL certificate process kind of confused me and i stopped partway through. is eQSL easier to get started with? also i ordered some paper QSL cards from one of those printing places and theyre sitting here on my desk but i have no idea how the whole bureau system works or if i should just be sending them direct.

sorry if this is a dumb question, im sure there are a million posts about this but any plain english explanation would really help

not a dumb question at all, this stuff genuinely confused me for the first year or so. the short version is LoTW is run by the ARRL and it carries the most weight for their awards like DXCC — a lot of DX stations will only bother with LoTW because it's more verified. eQSL is kind of a separate thing that some people use but it's not accepted for DXCC, though some other awards do count it. so if chasing DX or working toward DXCC eventually is something you want to do, LoTW is the one to get sorted first.

the TQSL thing is annoying at first but once you get your certificate loaded and figure out the upload process it becomes pretty routine. if you log with something like Log4OM or WSJT-X there's usually a way to automate the uploads which helps a lot. i'd say sit down for an hour with the ARRL's setup guide and just push through the certificate stuff, it's worth it.

paper cards are kind of their own thing — some people love them and some DX entities basically require a physical card for certain awards or confirmations. the bureau is slow, like months sometimes, but it's basically free. direct mail is faster but you're paying postage both ways if you include a SAE. honestly i still like getting a nice card in the mail even though everything's digital now, there's something satisfying about it

yeah i was in the same boat when i started, ended up just doing eQSL first because it felt simpler and then did LoTW later once i figured out the certificate thing. both are worth having honestly, different stations use different ones. some guys on FT8 will upload to both automatically which is nice.

one thing nobody told me — make sure your callsign and grid info is right before you start uploading a bunch of logs because fixing it later is kind of a pain