so ive been licensed about 8 months now and ive been making contacts pretty regularly, mostly on 40m and some 2m stuff locally. someone at my club mentioned i should be uploading to LoTW and also using eQSL and also sending physical cards and honestly it sounds like a lot of overhead just to confirm a contact happened. like dont the other person and i both know we talked?

i guess im trying to figure out what the actual point of each one is and whether i really need to do all three or if picking one is fine. ive heard some awards require specific ones, like DXCC only accepts LoTW or physical cards i think? but i dont really know if im ever going to chase awards so maybe it doesnt matter. just curious what you guys actually do in practice because the club guys made it sound very complicated

haha yeah when i first got into this it seemed overwhelming too. honestly the short answer is you dont have to do all three, but each one serves a little different purpose so its worth understanding them.

LoTW is run by the ARRL and its basically the gold standard for award credit - if you ever want DXCC or WAS through the ARRL you'll need it. it takes a little setup because you have to get a certificate and go through their process but once its running you just upload your ADIF log and it matches automatically with other LoTW users. pretty painless once its configured.

eQSL is more casual, lots of people use it especially for casual digital confirmations, and the interface is pretty easy. some awards accept it, some dont. its fine but its not LoTW.

physical cards are kind of a tradition thing - some people love getting them and sending them, some people find it a hassle. if you work a lot of DX you'll probably get cards mailed to you whether you like it or not lol. i'd say at minimum get LoTW set up even if you dont care about awards right now, future you might care and you cant go back and confirm contacts you already made if the other person isnt around anymore

the physical card thing is honestly just fun imo, i keep a binder of the ones i've gotten from rare dx stations and it's kind of cool to flip through. practically speaking though most serious award chasers just do LoTW and forget the rest unless someone specifically requests a bureau card or something. i wouldnt stress too much about eQSL unless you start getting into specific contests or awards that require it, most of the ones i care about dont bother with it