ok so ive been licensed about 8 months now and ive been making contacts and logging everything in WSJT-X and importing to HAMRS and honestly the whole QSL confirmation thing is really confusing to me still. like i set up a LoTW account a few weeks ago and uploaded my ADIF and some confirmations came in which was cool, but i also keep hearing people talk about eQSL and i made an account there too but i dont really understand the difference or if one is better than the other for anything specific.

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

so the short version is LoTW is what you need for DXCC and most of the serious ARRL awards, eQSL is accepted for some things but not DXCC, and paper cards are accepted for DXCC too but you have to physically send them in or have a trustee handle it. for everyday award chasing most people just do LoTW and call it done.

for the Japan card — yeah you can mail direct if you have his address, just put a green stamp or a few USD in the envelope (that's the return postage thing, it's called an IRC traditionally but most DX guys just want a couple bucks these days). or you can use the outgoing bureau through your ARRL section if you're a member, it's slow like months sometimes but it's cheap. incoming bureau is basically dead for a lot of sections right now though so dont count on getting paper cards back that way very fast.

honestly for FT8 and digital modes most people just do LoTW, it's pretty much automatic once you have it set up. paper cards are more of a hobby within the hobby if that makes sense, some guys love them some guys dont bother at all.

i was in the same boat when i started lol. what clicked for me was just thinking of LoTW as the official one for awards and eQSL as kind of like the casual one where you get nice looking digital cards sometimes. i still upload to both just because why not, takes like 2 minutes extra.

the physical card thing is genuinely fun though, i started sending cards out for any DX contact i make and i've gotten some really nice ones back. just get yourself some cards printed, there are a bunch of places that do them, and keep a small stack ready. QRZ lets you put your mailing address so people can direct QSL you too which is how most of it works these days i think