ok so ive been licensed for about 6 months now and im starting to think about qsl cards. seems like there's lotw, eqsl, and regular paper cards but im not really sure what the differences are or which one i should use. i see some guys talking about uploading logs to multiple systems but that sounds like alot of work. do i need to do all of them or can i just pick one? also saw something about bureau cards being cheaper but takes forever - is that worth it or should i just do direct mail

mainly interested in getting confirmations for awards like WAS eventually but dont want to spend a fortune on postage if i dont have to

Hey welcome to the qsl world! so basically lotw is the arrl's digital system - its free to upload and most serious operators use it. eqsl is another digital one but not as widely accepted for awards. paper cards are the traditional way and some old timers still prefer them

if youre just starting out id say get on lotw first since its free and widely used. you can always add paper cards later. the bureau is cheap like 7 cents per card through your qsl manager but yeah it takes months sometimes. direct mail is faster but costs more with international postage being crazy expensive these days

for was you can do it all through lotw now which is nice. save yourself some money and start there

i went through this same thing last year! ended up doing both lotw and paper cards. lotw is great for the awards but i really like getting the actual cards in the mail - theres something satisfying about holding a physical card from that dx station you worked

one tip - if you do decide on paper cards, get them printed in bulk. way cheaper per card. i got 500 cards printed for like 40 bucks and they look great. just make sure your info is right because youll be stuck with them for a while lol