QSL.now

What counts for awards

A QSL card is a thank-you and a keepsake, and for some contacts it is also the proof you need for an award. This page says plainly which kinds of confirmation the ARRL accepts for DXCC (the DX Century Club award for working 100 countries) and WAS (Worked All States), and which do not count, so you know what a card from QSL.now does for you and what it does not.

Two things count

  • A LoTW confirmation. Logbook of The World (LoTW) is the ARRL's confirmation service. When you and the other station both upload the same contact, LoTW matches them and that match is award credit.
  • A physical card. A printed card that arrives in the mail, from the bureau or direct, is the original proof and the ARRL still accepts it. You show the cards at a card checker or send them in with your application.

Three things do not count

  • An emailed QSL.now card. The card we email is a picture of a QSL card. It is a real QSL in the sense that hams have always meant, a confirmation from one station to another, and the other station will be glad to have it. The ARRL does not accept a picture file for DXCC or WAS, so it is not award credit.
  • eQSL. An eQSL confirmation counts for eQSL's own awards and for some club awards, but not for DXCC or WAS. If you keep an eQSL account, we can still add your contacts there for you (see Adding your contacts to eQSL), and it is a confirmation, not ARRL credit.
  • A QRZ Logbook match. When your contact and the other station's contact match in QRZ Logbook, QRZ marks it confirmed. That mark is useful and it is not ARRL award credit.

How to get award credit from QSL.now

You have two ways, and you can use both on the same upload.

  1. Tick the LoTW box. On your upload's LoTW page, choose the .p12 file you saved from TQSL (the ARRL's signing program), type its passphrase, and tick the box that lets us hand the signed file to LoTW for you. We sign your selected contacts with your own callsign certificate and upload them, so you never have to log in at LoTW yourself. Once the other station has uploaded too, LoTW shows the match and you have your credit. The Uploading to LoTW page walks through saving the .p12 file.
  2. Print the card and mail it. Choose one of the print layouts, print the sheet on card stock, cut the cards apart, and post them. A printed QSL.now card is a physical card like any other, and the other station can use it for their own award application. The Printing your cards page covers the layouts and the paper.

If you only email the cards, the other station still receives a card they can keep and show, and nothing is lost. It is simply not award credit, and we would rather say so here than let you find out at a card checker's table.

Telling your logger what happened

After your cards go out, download the confirmation file from your upload's page and import it into your logger. It marks every contact as sent electronically, and it marks the LoTW upload when you asked us to make one, so your logger's "needs confirmation" list stays honest. The From Nexus page shows that round trip step by step.