Yesterday, I listened to FT8 and heard contacts with Bulgarian and Portuguese stations. Then I checked Qrz and found that both sides allow sending paper QSL cards to the Bureau. In fact, the Portuguese station even requires that paper QSL cards must be sent and does not accept EQSL. This made me think about sending QSL cards myself, and I have the following questions:
1. Can I directly send the QSL card to the bureau, and how do radio stations obtain their own QSL cards and return them?
2. Is SASE absolutely necessary? Would SAE (i.e., not using a postage stamp on the envelope) be acceptable? (Neither party explicitly requested it.)
3. If SASE is used, but there are no IRCs (International Reply Coupons) or small denomination green rectangular "stamps," can we use our country's equivalent blue "stamps"?
4. Is it absolutely necessary to contact via email in advance? (Only those with a callsign can access the email)
It is possible that further questions may arise, and I would like to thank everyone for their helpful responses. 73!