okay so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and ive been making contacts pretty regularly, mostly HF on 40 and 20 meters, some FT8 and the occasional SSB QSO when im feeling brave enough to actually talk. but the whole QSL confirmation thing is honestly still confusing to me and i want to make sure im not missing something important.

so from what i understand, Logbook of the World (LoTW) is the ARRL thing where you upload your log and if the other station also uploaded theirs the contact gets confirmed digitally, right? and eQSL is like a different system that does something similar but its not as accepted for awards? and then physical QSL cards are the old school paper ones you mail through the bureau or direct?

my question is basically do i need to be doing all three or is LoTW enough for most purposes. a few guys at my local club said i should just do LoTW and not worry about the rest but then someone else said eQSL is fine for just collecting confirmations if you dont care about official awards. i did register for LoTW a few weeks ago and got my certificate sorted out but i havent uploaded anything yet because i wasnt sure if i had to do anything special with my log first.

also does anyone actually still send physical cards? i got one in the mail last week from a station in Japan and it was honestly pretty cool, wasnt expecting it at all

yeah you've basically got it right. LoTW is the gold standard if you're chasing DXCC or any of the ARRL awards, thats what actually counts for those. eQSL is its own thing and some people swear by it but it wont count toward official ARRL awards unless they accept that particular award credit which most of the big ones dont. a lot of folks use eQSL just because they enjoy having the digital cards, theyre kinda fun to collect honestly.

for uploading to LoTW you pretty much just export your log in ADIF format from whatever logging software youre using, run it through TQSL to sign it with your certificate, and upload. if you're using something like Log4OM or WSJT-X with a decent logging setup it can sometimes do it almost automatically. dont stress about doing anything special to the log beforehand, just make sure your callsign and the dates are right.

and yeah physical cards are still very much a thing. some DX stations only confirm via bureau cards, and for certain rare ones the card itself is kind of a trophy. i still send cards for any really memorable QSOs or when someone sends me one first. the bureau is slow but cheap, direct mail costs more but you get the card in a few weeks usually. totally up to you whether you bother but dont feel like you have to do it for every contact

same boat as you was a few years ago tbh. i ended up just doing LoTW because thats what the guys in my club were using and it seemed like the most useful one for award chasing. i did sign up for eQSL too eventually but i barely check it anymore.

the japanese QSL cards are always nice, some of them put a lot of effort into the design. i got one from a JA station that had a really nice photo of Mt. Fuji on it, still have it pinned up in the shack. theres something about a physical card that a digital confirmation just doesnt quite replicate i think, even if logically theyre doing the same thing