so ive been chasing DX seriously for about two years now and i just confirmed my 100th entity on LoTW last week which feels pretty surreal honestly. been working towards this since i got my general and upgraded to extra last spring.

anyway im at the point where i want to actually apply for the DXCC award and im a little confused about the process. i know you submit through the ARRL and it costs something like 12 bucks for members but im not totally sure what counts as a valid confirmation these days. like i have a mix of LoTW confirmations and actual paper QSLs from the bureau and a handful i paid direct QSL for. do they all count the same way or does LoTW carry more weight somehow?

also while im at it — should i be working on WAS and WAZ at the same time? ive got probably 35 or 40 states confirmed already just from normal operating so WAS might not be that far off. WAZ zones confuse me a little though, some zones seem almost impossible to work from my location in the midwest. zone 2 especially i never hear anything from up there.

congrats on hitting 100, thats a real milestone and two years is pretty solid going honestly. to answer your question — LoTW and paper QSLs are treated equally for DXCC credit, one isnt worth more than the other. what matters is that the QSO data matches up. the nice thing about LoTW is you dont have to mail anything in, you just apply online and the system already has your confirmations. for paper cards you can either mail them to Newington or bring them to an ARRL-approved card checker at a hamfest which is way easier if theres one near you.

for WAS yeah absolutely work on it at the same time, theres a lot of overlap in your regular operating anyway. WAZ is a different beast, zone 2 is northern canada and the arctic and yeah it can be quiet but its not impossible, just takes patience and being around during the right conditions. honestly the awards kind of feed each other once you get into the rhythm of it, logging carefully and uploading to LoTW regularly makes everything easier down the road.

oh man zone 2 — i spent like three months waiting to catch a VE8 or something from up there. finally got it during a decent opening on 17 meters just kind of by accident while i was messing around one afternoon. those weird mid-band openings sometimes pull in stuff you wouldnt expect.

one thing i'd say is dont stress too much about chasing every zone or state in a hurry. i got burned out doing that and took a break for almost a year. the awards are fun but the actual operating is the point right. also check if your club does card checking, saved me a trip to the post office more than once.