ok so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and ive been making contacts pretty regularly, mostly on 40m and some 20m when the band cooperates. everyone keeps talking about QSL cards and LoTW and eQSL and honestly i dont fully understand the difference or which one i actually need to bother with.

from what i can tell LoTW is run by the ARRL and its what you need for DXCC credit? and eQSL is a separate thing thats kind of like an online card exchange? and then physical QSL cards are the old school paper ones you mail or send through a bureau. is that right or am i totally off base here.

my main goal right now is just to start working toward DXCC eventually, nothing super serious, but i want to make sure im logging things in a way that actually counts. do i need all three or can i get away with just LoTW for now? and how do you even get set up on LoTW, the website looks like it was built in 2003 and i cant figure out where to start

you've got the basics pretty much right. LoTW is definitely what you want for DXCC - the ARRL only accepts LoTW confirmations and paper cards for that award, not eQSL. the setup process is a little painful the first time, you have to request a certificate and there's some back and forth with the ARRL to verify your license, but once its done it's pretty straightforward. TQSL is the software you use to sign and upload your logs.

eQSL is kind of a separate universe, some people love it, some ignore it. it has its own awards and some dx stations prefer it. i'd say get LoTW sorted first since that's what matters for DXCC, then decide if you want to bother with eQSL later. physical cards are totally optional but honestly there's something nice about getting a card in the mail from a rare entity, i still keep a shoebox full of them.

for the bureau - your national society (ARRL if you're in the US) runs an incoming and outgoing bureau where cards get sorted and forwarded for cheap, way better than paying international postage on every card. worth looking into once you start accumulating contacts.

same boat as you like 6 months ago lol. the LoTW setup took me probably two weeks of back and forth emails with the ARRL to get the certificate thing sorted but once i got it running i just upload my ADIF log from WSJT-X every week or two and it handles itself. most of the FT8 guys are already on LoTW so matches come in pretty fast.

i havent really messed with eQSL much, a few people have sent me cards there and i confirmed back but i dont actively use it. physical cards i only send when someone specifically requests one via QRZ, i got a small batch printed at one of the online places and they look pretty decent for not a lot of money