so ive been licensed about 3 years now and just kind of did casual operating, worked a bunch of countries here and there without really thinking about it. then last month i sat down and actually loaded everything into LOTW and holy cow i already have like 87 confirmed entities. so now im actually motivated to go chase this thing properly.

my question is about how the credits actually work because im a little confused. like i have some QSLs via bureau that i never submitted anywhere — do those count toward DXCC or do they have to be in LOTW? and whats the deal with WAZ, is that completely separate from ARRL or does it tie in somehow. also WAS seems way simpler but i heard some states are harder than others which makes sense i guess.

basically im just trying to figure out where to focus first. i have a modest station, trap vertical in the backyard, 100w, nothing fancy. some of the rarer entities are probably out of reach for me for a while but 100 basic DXCC feels doable.

congrats on already being that close without even trying, thats actually a solid start. so for DXCC the paper QSLs absolutely count, you just have to get them verified at an ARRL card checking session — your local club probably does them or you can send them in directly. LOTW is easier for sure but dont throw away your bureau cards, they still have value for this.

WAZ is a CQ Magazine award, totally separate from ARRL. you need to work all 40 zones and yes some of them are genuinely painful to get, zone 26 being the classic one everyone complains about. but a lot of the zones stack up pretty fast if youve been working DX at all.

honestly with 87 confirmed my advice is just get on during good DX openings and work everything you havent worked before, dont overthink it yet. the last 10-15 toward 100 will slow down a bit but its very doable on a vertical and 100w if your location isnt terrible. WAS you can knock out mostly on 40m if you have patience.

im kind of in the same boat as you actually, started taking DXCC seriously maybe 6 months ago. one thing i didnt realize at first is that LoTW confirmations from years back still count, like if the other station uploaded their log you might already have more confirmed than you think even from early QSOs you forgot about. worth checking if you havent already dug through all of it.

the bureau QSL thing tripped me up too. took me a while to find a card checker locally but once i did it was pretty straightforward. just make sure your cards are legible and have all the right info on them or they can get rejected which is annoying.