so ive been licensed about eight months now and this whole QSL confirmation thing is starting to feel like a part time job. like i log a contact, then i have to figure out if i want to send a physical card, upload to LoTW, submit to eQSL, or some combination of all three. my elmer keeps telling me just to use LoTW for everything but half the DX stations i work dont seem to confirm there, at least not quickly, and then i hear some awards require physical cards anyway?

i guess my question is does anyone actually maintain all three or do you just pick one and accept that youll miss out on some confirmations. also whats the deal with the LoTW certificate setup — i did it when i first got licensed and it was kind of a pain, now i cant remember if i need to do anything to renew it or if it just keeps working. been uploading my adif logs every few weeks and the confirmations do trickle in so i think its working fine but not 100% sure.

also do people still actually mail physical cards? feels old fashioned but i kind of love the idea of having a wall of cards someday

yeah you basically hit on the eternal debate there. honestly after 20+ years at this i still do all three and i wont pretend thats not a bit much. but here's the thing — they serve different purposes depending on what you want. LoTW is the gold standard for ARRL awards like DXCC, nothing beats it for that, and once you get the hang of the TQSL software the uploads are pretty painless. eQSL is more of a mixed bag, some ops swear by it, others ignore it completely, and the award recognition for it is more limited, but the confirmations come fast and its free so why not.

physical cards though — dont give up on those. some older DX operators and especially rare entities basically only confirm by card, and there is genuinely something nice about getting an envelope from like a VP9 or ZL station. i still send cards through the bureau for most contacts and direct for anything really special. the outgoing bureau through your section is cheap and easy once you set it up. your LoTW cert doesnt expire as long as you renew it before it does — i think the default is a few years, you can check in TQSL under your callsign certificate and it'll show the expiration date.

i only do LoTW and eQSL, gave up on paper cards a while back mostly because i moved a couple times and lost track of a big stack of incoming ones which was kind of heartbreaking honestly. but for chasing DXCC credit LoTW is really the only one that matters for the ARRL mixed mode totals so thats where i focus. some of the bigger DXpeditions are really good about uploading to LoTW within a few weeks of getting home, others take like a year or more which is frustrating when youre sitting there waiting for that one confirmation to push you to the next level. eQSL fills the gap sometimes since they upload there faster for whatever reason.

the physical card thing is totally valid if thats your thing though, i dont want to talk you out of it. a friend of mine has literally hundreds on his shack wall and it does look pretty cool