so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and i keep hearing about all these different ways to confirm contacts and im honestly a bit overwhelmed. like i understand the basic idea that you log a contact and then somehow the other person confirms it, but theres LoTW which the ARRL runs and then theres eQSL which seems totally separate, and then obviously physical QSL cards which look really cool but seem expensive and slow.

my main question is do i actually need all three of these or can i just pick one and stick with it? i mostly do HF, some SSB and starting to get into FT8. a few people on air have asked if im on LoTW and i had to kind of fumble through an answer because i technically signed up but never got the certificate thing working properly. the whole tqsl software situation confused me and i gave up after an hour.

also does eQSL count for any awards or is it kind of the second tier option? not trying to be rude to eQSL just genuinely dont know. any help appreciated, this stuff isnt really covered well in the technician study material lol

oh man i remember being exactly where you are, it took me probably two weekends to get LoTW actually working the first time. the certificate request through TQSL is the part that trips everyone up - you basically have to request it, wait for ARRL to mail you a postcard (yes actual physical mail, kind of ironic), and then enter the code from that postcard to activate everything. once its done though it's pretty seamless, especially with FT8 since WSJT-X can upload directly.

to answer your actual question, no you dont need all three but it depends what you want to do. if you ever want to go for DXCC or most of the big ARRL awards, LoTW is basically required because thats what they accept. eQSL is accepted for some awards and some operators really like it, its faster and free, but it has a bit of a different crowd. paper cards are purely optional but honestly some DX stations only confirm via bureau or direct mail so if you work a rare entity sometimes a physical card is the only way to get it confirmed. most active HF guys i know use all three just to cover their bases but you can absolutely start with just LoTW and add the others later.

stick with it, once LoTW clicks it really is worth it

eQSL is legit for a bunch of awards actually, they have their own award system and some third party awards accept it too. i personally like it because you get the card image which is kinda fun, some operators put real effort into designing theirs. that said yeah if DXCC is on your radar you pretty much have to do LoTW at some point, theres no way around it.

one thing nobody mentioned - the QSL bureau through ARRL is how a lot of paper cards still move around internationally without you having to pay individual postage to every country. its slow, like months sometimes, but its cheap. i still get bureau cards from contacts i made two years ago trickling in occasionally which is weirdly satisfying.