so ive been licensed about 8 months now and i keep seeing people talk about QSL cards and LoTW and eQSL and honestly im a little confused about what the differences actually matter for in practice. like i understand the basic idea - you confirm a contact happened - but do i need all three? is one better than the others?

right now i just log everything in WSJT-X and it syncs to LoTW automatically which is cool but i've had a few people send me physical cards through the bureau and i honestly didnt even know what to do with them or if i was supposed to send something back. one guy sent a really nice one from Japan with the mountain and cherry blossoms and everything, felt bad just putting it in a drawer

i guess my main question is what do most people bother with these days and is there any reason to still do paper cards if youre not chasing specific awards or whatever

honestly all three serve a little different purpose and a lot of people use more than one. LoTW is the gold standard for ARRL awards like DXCC - the ARRL runs it and most serious DXers upload there. eQSL is more casual and some awards accept it but not all. paper cards are kind of their own thing, some people love them as a collector item or memento and some folks including a lot of DX stations will only confirm via paper through the bureau or direct.

for that JA card you got - yeah you should probably send one back if you can. most people either have their own cards printed or use a service like Zazzle or a local print shop. doesnt have to be fancy. if you dont have cards yet a quick email or eQSL reply is totally fine in the meantime, most people understand newcomers are still figuring the hobby out

i wouldnt stress too much about it at 8 months in. get yourself sorted on LoTW first since thats where award credit lives, then maybe order a small run of cards if you want to participate in the paper side of things. its actually kinda fun getting mail from random corners of the world

same boat as you six months ago lol. what i ended up doing was getting 100 cards printed from a place online, was like 20 bucks, and i just send them when someone sends me one first. keeps it simple. LoTW i upload to maybe once a week when i remember. eQSL i set up an account but tbh i forget to check it half the time

the bureau thing threw me off too at first - theres an incoming and outgoing bureau through your local club usually and thats how the cheap international card exchange works, otherwise youd be paying a couple bucks postage per card to Japan or wherever which adds up fast