ok so ive been chasing DXCC for about a year now and im sitting at like 87 confirmed on lotw which honestly feels both exciting and frustrating at the same time. my question is about the credits themselves — like if i work a station in some entity and they confirm on lotw but i also have a paper QSL from a different contact with that same entity, does that count as two credits or just one? i know thats probably a dumb question but the arrl website is kind of confusing to read through and i dont want to submit my first application and screw something up.

also while im at it, is WAS worth chasing alongside DXCC or is it kind of a distraction? ive got maybe 35 states confirmed on lotw and some guys at the club say to just focus on one thing at a time but others say working states fills in dead time when theres no good dx around. im on HF with a 100w station and a wire dipole up about 30 feet so nothing fancy, just trying to figure out the best strategy going in.

To answer your first question — no, it's just one credit per entity regardless of how many QSLs you have for it. DXCC is about confirming entities, not contacts, so once you've got that entity confirmed through any method it counts once and that's it. The lotw confirmation and the paper card are both fine but you only need one of them to claim the credit. When you apply you'll basically be presenting your confirmations and the ARRL verifies you've actually worked those entities.

As for WAS alongside DXCC — honestly yeah do both. With a dipole at 30 feet you might find WAS is actually easier to fill in during lower solar flux periods when DX is quieter, especially on 40m. Lots of stateside activity on 40 in the evenings. Dont overthink the strategy thing, just work what you hear and let the awards sort themselves out over time. That's kind of the fun of it.

yeah what he said about the credits, one entity one credit thats it. i went through this same confusion when i started. the arrl documentation reads like legal documents sometimes lol.

one thing i'd add — dont sleep on WAZ while you're at it. chasing all three kind of happens naturally once you get going because a lot of the dx you work for DXCC also fills in zones for WAZ. i noticed i was like halfway to WAZ without even trying just from normal dx chasing. 87 confirmed is actually pretty solid for a wire dipole, some of those harder entities are gonna take a while but youre doing fine