so i've been licensed about 8 months now and ive made maybe 300 or so contacts and i keep going back and forth on how to handle confirmations. right now im uploading to LoTW when i remember to which is honestly not that often, and i signed up for eQSL but i barely understand how it works.

the paper QSL thing is where i get really confused. i got a few cards in the mail from people i worked on 40m during a contest and they're actually really cool to have, but i dont know if i need to send cards back to everyone or just people who send to me first, or what the etiquette is. also the bureau system is confusing to me - do i need to join my local club to use it or can i just do it through ARRL directly

basically i guess my question is do most people do all three or just pick one. feels like a lot of overhead just to say yeah we talked

honestly after 30 years doing this i've kind of settled into a rhythm - LoTW for everything because it just matters most for DXCC credit, eQSL i keep active because some folks only use that and it takes about 10 seconds to log in and accept cards, and paper QSL i still send and receive but only when someone specifically requests one or i worked something really rare and want the physical card.

the bureau thing - you dont need to be in a club necessarily, ARRL members can use the outgoing bureau directly through them. incoming is handled through your local club or section bureau so that part does get a little complicated depending on where you live. but honestly if youre just starting out dont stress about the bureau, direct mail is fine for domestic stuff and its not that expensive. a lot of DX stations have QSL managers anyway and their info is usually on QRZ.

as for etiquette, its generally considered polite to reply if someone sends you a card, but nobody's gonna track you down if you dont. most serious DXers expect some kind of confirmation though so if you work a station thats chasing awards they'd appreciate at least the LoTW upload.

im in a pretty similar boat, been licensed about a year and a half and i went through the same confusion. what finally clicked for me was just treating LoTW as the default and doing it right after a session with TQSL - took me a while to get the certificate setup right but once thats done its like two clicks. eQSL i mostly ignore unless someone messages me asking about it tbh.

the paper cards are the fun part though. i got one from a station in Japan that had this incredible woodblock print design and it just sits on my desk now. i do send cards back when i get them but i print mine at home on cardstock which keeps the cost down. some people spend a lot on fancy printed cards and thats cool too but i figured id keep it simple til i figure out what i actually want on mine.