Hi Kevin!
Pretty easy like I said I was discouraged for a long time but now I am glad I tried it.
Ever since ARRL added support for the VUCC awards in LOTW, I have put all my satellite QSOs into that system. It didn't take much to convert my spreadsheet log into the ADIF format used in LOTW, but it did take some work to break out the different locations I've operated from. Now that I've done the hard work in setting that up, it is easy to upload new activity. Glad to see you've taken the plunge and tried LOTW.
Now can I search for stuff others have uploaded that I may not have logged and match theirs???
No. You only see your QSOs and the matches ("QSLs") with other stations who have uploaded their logs. You can't search through the logs of other stations finding QSOs that don't match up with your log.
If you haven't already done so, upload your complete satellite log. There will probably be others who have uploaded their QSOs with you, which you should see as QSLs. I have a couple dozen QSOs with you in LOTW waiting to become QSLs. You should already have QSL cards from me for most of those, which will be the dates/times for the QSOs waiting to be confirmed in LOTW. Then you can define awards accounts for VUCC and even WAS, to see how many grids and states you have confirmed through LOTW.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/