I was recently asked if I still send paper cards, or if I prefer the logbook of the world. My first thought was, “of course I still send and request paper cards.” However, when I started thinking about it, that seems be less often than in prior years. In fact, I have not sent one card out via the bureau in over a year, and recently even allowed the number of envelopes at the incoming bureau drop to zero. The number of direct cards sent & requested has also dwindled down to only those needed for awards or responding to direct QSL requests.
In comparison, the electronic confirmations have been kept up to date. This includes all the contacts in hand written logs going back to 1976. The contact information has been re-typed using an ASCII editor (Notepad), converted to ADIF 1.0 format (using a simple C++ program), and submitted to both LoTW and eQSL. Recently, these electronic confirmations have been used to update awards.
The eQSL setup was straight forward, and had a simple user interface, making it a great place to start with electronic QSLs. LoTW was harder to setup, get signature certificates, keep certificates current, and even sign & submit logs. For me, once over that initial hump, electronic QSLs have been faster, easier, and less expensive.
That said, I still favor a contact confirmation that I can hold in my hand over one that lives in a cloud. Paper cards from across the globe help others to visualize amateur radio. A hand written logs is more enjoyable to read than a neatly formatted electronic list, and a hand written card is so much more personal than bits accessed with a computer. I plan to continue to send old fashion hand written cards as long as there continues to be room in the closet to put the ones received.
