So ive been licensed about three years now and mostly just ragchewed on 40m with the local guys but lately ive been getting more into actually working DX and someone at the club mentioned I should start tracking contacts for DXCC. I guess I never really thought about it seriously before but looking at my log I might actually have a decent start without even trying.

My question is kind of basic but I honestly dont fully understand the difference between what counts for DXCC versus WAS versus WAZ. Like are these totally separate programs with different rules or do some contacts overlap and count toward multiple awards at once. And for DXCC specifically — does it matter what band or mode or is it just any confirmed QSO with an entity. I keep seeing people talk about chasing credits on LoTW and I set up an account but havent really used it much. Is that the main way people confirm these days or do QSL cards still matter.

Sorry if this is a really obvious question, I just want to make sure I understand the system before I start putting real effort into chasing things.

Not a dumb question at all, honestly the whole awards ecosystem is a bit confusing at first. So DXCC, WAS and WAZ are completely separate programs run by different organizations — DXCC and WAS are ARRL programs, WAZ is CQ magazine. But yeah contacts can absolutely count toward multiple things at the same time, same QSO can get you credit on all three if it qualifies for each.

For basic DXCC you need 100 confirmed contacts with 100 different DXCC entities, and at the entry level it doesnt matter what band or mode. Once you have that basic award you can then go after endorsements — like mixed, phone, CW, digital, and then per-band awards which is where it gets really addicting. A contact on 20m CW with say ZL counts separately from the same entity on 40m SSB for band/mode endorsements even though its the same country.

LoTW is absolutely the way to go now. Most serious DXpedition operators upload to LoTW pretty quickly after they get home and it saves you a ton of hassle with paper cards. That said some rare entities only confirm via direct QSL so dont delete your card collection or anything. Get your log uploaded to LoTW and then cross-reference against the DXCC entity list — you might be surprised how many you already have sitting in there.

Yeah what he said, and also just wanted to add — WAS is fun because its 50 states so in some ways easier to wrap your head around when youre starting out. I actually knocked out WAS before I got serious about DXCC just because stateside contacts are easier to confirm when youre still figuring out propagation and all that. WAZ is 40 CQ zones and some of those zones are genuinely hard to find active stations from depending on where you live.

One thing nobody told me when I started chasing DXCC was to be really careful about logging the entity correctly at the time of the QSO. Some places have weird situations where different parts count as different entities and if your logging software doesnt flag it you can miss it. WSJT and a lot of the digital mode stuff handles this pretty well automatically but worth double checking on older contacts you import.