ok so ive been licensed about 8 months now and i keep seeing people talk about chasing DXCC and WAS and i sort of understand what they are individually but im confused about how people actually pursue these at the same time. like do you just log everything and sort it out later or is there some strategy to it?

i got my general a few months ago and ive been slowly working DX on 20m mostly and i've confirmed maybe 40 entities so far which i know isnt a lot but its a start. someone at my club told me i should be applying for credits as i go rather than waiting until i have 100 but honestly the LoTW stuff still confuses me a little bit. i uploaded my log but i only have like 12 confirmed there so far.

also the zones thing for WAZ, is that tracked separately or does LoTW handle that too? i feel like every time i read about this i get more confused not less lol

yeah the award system can feel like a maze at first but it really does click eventually. so basically LoTW handles credits for DXCC, WAS, and WAZ all from the same QSO data — you just need to make sure your log uploads are correct and the other station also uploads their side. thats the part people dont realize, both stations have to upload to LoTW for the confirmation to count.

for DXCC youre working toward 100 confirmed entities, WAS is all 50 US states confirmed, and WAZ is all 40 CQ zones. they really do overlap a lot especially on 20m which is probably why someone told you to just keep logging everything. most of your DX contacts will count toward DXCC and WAZ simultaneously if theyre in a different zone. you dont apply until you hit the threshold — 100 entities for basic DXCC, all 50 states for WAS — but the credits accumulate in your LoTW account as confirmations come in.

40 entities in 8 months as a general is honestly pretty solid. keep at it and dont stress too much about the mechanics, it starts to make sense once you have a few hundred QSOs in there.

WAZ took me forever to finish because a few zones are just brutal to get — zone 2 up in the canadian arctic and some of the pacific zones depending on your location. i was chasing DXCC at the same time and had no idea i was also closing in on WAZ until i checked one day and was only missing like 4 zones. so yeah the overlap is real, one contact can count for multiple awards.

also just a heads up on the LoTW confirmation numbers — 12 out of 40 worked isnt bad at all for a newer general, some entities are just slow to upload. keep paper cards as backup too, QSL bureau cards still work for DXCC credit if the station isnt on LoTW.