ok so ive been licensed about 8 months now and ive been making contacts pretty regularly, mostly on 40m and some 2m stuff locally. my elmer keeps telling me i should get set up on LoTW but then someone at the club meeting last week mentioned eQSL and now im seeing people talk about paper QSL cards too and im just... confused about what i actually need to be doing here.

like is LoTW the main one everyone uses? do awards require one over the other? i downloaded the tqsl software and honestly got a little lost with the certificate request thing. and then eQSL seems way simpler to sign up for but i dont know if its as widely accepted. and paper cards look really cool but i have no idea how that whole bureau system works or if i need a buro address or whatever.

im not chasing any specific awards right now just want to make sure im confirming contacts the right way and not missing out. any help appreciated, sorry if this is a dumb question

not a dumb question at all, this stuff genuinely confusing when you first start out. short answer is you dont really NEED all three but a lot of people use at least two of them.

LoTW is run by the ARRL and its the gold standard for most major awards like DXCC and WAS. its a bit of a pain to get set up because of the certificate process but once its going its pretty much automatic if youre logging with something like WSJT-X or Log4OM. worth the headache upfront. eQSL is easier and more casual, a lot of operators use it especially for digital modes, but its not accepted for DXCC so keep that in mind. some awards do accept it though.

paper cards are honestly kind of a tradition thing at this point for most people. i still send and receive them and i love getting them in the mail, theres something nice about a physical card. if you work a lot of DX you might want to look into the outgoing bureau through ARRL eventually but dont worry about that yet. for now id say just get LoTW going and maybe sign up for eQSL too since its free and painless, you can always add paper cards later when you figure out what you enjoy about the hobby.

yeah the tqsl certificate thing tripped me up too when i first did it, i think i had to redo it twice because i sent the wrong file or something. just make sure when you request the certificate you actually wait for the email from ARRL and then load it back into tqsl, i missed that step the first time lol

eQSL i use mostly for the digital stuff, like when im doing FT8 a lot of people are on there. its just nice to have the card image show up. some of the guys i know dont bother with paper at all anymore but i still send them out for any DX contact i make, feels like the right thing to do