so ive been licensed about 3 years now and just kind of ragchewed and did some local stuff but lately ive been really getting into DX and honestly its kind of addictive. i hit 100 confirmed on LoTW last week which i know isnt the official submission yet but it felt like a milestone so i figured id start actually looking into submitting for the actual award.

my question is mostly around the mixed vs phone vs CW credits thing. like i have a bunch of contacts that are on SSB and some on FT8 and a handful on CW. when i submit for DXCC Mixed does all of that just pool together, or do i need to hit 100 on each mode separately to claim them? i read the ARRL rules page but honestly it was a bit confusing the way its worded. also does LoTW credit count the same as a physical QSL card when you submit or do they have different weight somehow.

also while im at it -- anyone working on WAS or WAZ at the same time as DXCC? im kind of wondering if its worth trying to do all three in parallel or just focus on one. zone 1 and zone 2 seem painful to fill on WAZ lol

congrats on the 100 confirmed, thats the fun part right there. so for Mixed DXCC, yeah all your modes pool together, thats the whole point of Mixed -- doesnt matter if its SSB, CW, FT8, whatever, it all counts toward that one endorsement. if you later want the phone endorsement specifically you'd need 100 confirmed on phone only, and same deal for CW. they're separate endorsements but Mixed just grabs everything.

LoTW confirmations are treated exactly the same as paper QSLs for credit purposes, ARRL made that pretty clear years ago. actually most people submit purely via LoTW now, way easier than mailing a stack of cards in. you still pay the fee either way though.

as for doing WAS and WAZ at the same time, honestly i'd say go for it. a lot of the contacts you're already making will cover multiple awards at once, youre gonna work state-side stations anyway so WAS kind of fills in naturally. WAZ is more of a grind, zone 1 (northwest territories/nunavut area) and zone 2 are definitely the rough ones like you said, and zone 40 down in antarctica shows up maybe twice a year if youre lucky.

im sort of in the same boat as you actually, just crossed 87 entities confirmed on LoTW last month and been lurking on the cluster waiting for some of the harder ones to pop up. the mode endorsement thing tripped me up too at first but yeah Mixed is basically easy mode, everything counts.

one thing nobody told me early on -- keep an eye on which entities only have LoTW-active ops occasionally. like some of the pacific islands you basically have to catch a DXpedition and then hope they upload in a reasonable time. i had one sit unconfirmed for like 8 months before it finally showed green on LoTW. kind of nerve wracking when youre close to a milestone.