so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and ive been making contacts pretty regularly, mostly on 40m and some 2m local stuff. someone at my club mentioned i should be uploading to LoTW and i set that up a few weeks ago but now another guy is telling me eQSL is totally different and i should be doing that too and also sending physical cards through the bureau?

like im genuinely confused about why there are so many systems. is LoTW not enough? i thought it was run by the ARRL so i assumed that was the main one everyone uses. and do i need to buy QSL cards printed up if im just doing it for fun and not chasing any awards? i dont really care about awards right now i just think its a cool part of the hobby but i dont wanna spend money on cards if nobody actually sends them back anymore

any help appreciated, this part of the hobby is weirdly complicated for something that seems like it should be simple

totally get the confusion, it threw me off too when i first started. basically the short version is LoTW is the one that counts for ARRL awards like DXCC and WAS, so if you ever want to chase those it matters. eQSL is separate, some people use it some dont, and it has its own award system that not everyone takes seriously but some do. neither one replaces the other they just kind of coexist.

physical cards are honestly still a big deal for a lot of operators, especially DX stations. some rare entities wont confirm via LoTW at all and a paper card is the only way to get the confirmation. the bureau is slow like sometimes years slow but its cheap. if you dont care about awards right now i wouldnt stress about cards but id at least keep uploading to LoTW just so the confirmations are there if you change your mind later. ADIF logs are pretty easy to upload and once you get the workflow down it takes like two minutes after a session

yeah what he said. i'll add that i actually really enjoy getting physical cards in the mail, theres something about it that feels more real than a database entry. i got a handwritten card from a station in Japan a few months back and it's pinned up on my shack wall. LoTW confirmation is sitting in a database somewhere and i never look at it lol

so i guess it depends on what you want out of it. if its the comunity and the tradition side then cards are worth it even just to send them out. you dont have to spend a ton, vistaprint or a bunch of the ham card printers have decent options that arent too expensive