So ive been licensed about 8 months now and i'm starting to get confused about all the different ways to confirm contacts. I set up LoTW pretty early on because everyone kept saying thats the one that counts for DXCC and stuff, but then people keep mentioning eQSL and i signed up for that too and now i have like three different places i'm supposed to be checking and uploading logs to and honestly its a bit overwhelming.

And then actual physical QSL cards on top of that. I got a few in the mail and they're really cool actually, like getting a little piece of radio history or something. But i dont fully understand the bureau system — do i need to send cards through my local club or can i just mail them directly? And is it worth printing my own cards or is that something most people just do for special occasions.

Basically i'm just wondering what the day to day workflow looks like for people who've been doing this a while. Do you upload to all of them every time or just pick one?

honestly for most people it ends up being LoTW as the main one because of DXCC credit, and eQSL kind of as a secondary thing — some folks won't even bother with eQSL at all but I like it because it's more social, you can see the card designs people make and it feels a bit more like the old paper card experience just digital. The upload workflow doesnt have to be complicated, most logging software like Log4OM or WSJT-X will let you batch upload to both without too much fuss once you get it set up the first time.

For physical cards the bureau is slower but way cheaper if you're doing a lot of DX — you basically send a batch of cards to your national QSL bureau and they sort and forward them, takes months sometimes but you arent paying individual postage. For stateside contacts a lot of people just mail directly. Printing your own is absolutely worth it, you can do a nice run for pretty cheap and having your own card to send out feels good. I'd say dont overthink it, upload to LoTW after every session, toss stuff into eQSL too, and send paper cards when someone specifically asks or when you work something special.

same boat as you were a few months ago lol. what finally clicked for me was just thinking of LoTW as the official record and eQSL as the fun one. I barely do paper cards yet but i got one from a guy in Japan and it's pinned to my wall so yeah i get the appeal. haven't figured out the bureau thing either tbh, my elmer said just mail direct for now since im mostly doing North America contacts anyway.