so ive been licensed for about 3 years now and mostly just ragchewed on 40m and did some local stuff but lately ive been getting really into DX and people keep mentioning DXCC and WAS and WAZ and honestly it's a little overwhelming trying to figure out how all of it works

like i understand the basic idea — you work entities or states or zones and log them and eventually submit for the award. but the part i dont get is how the credits actually get confirmed. someone told me LoTW is basically essential for this and i set up an account a while back but never really used it. is that the main way people get their contacts confirmed or do QSL cards still matter? and whats the deal with the different DXCC bands — do you have to submit separately for each band or is it all one big pool

also curious how people actually prioritize which entities to chase. do you just work whatever you hear or is there a smarter way to go about it

LoTW is definitely the way to go if you want credits to count efficiently — most serious DXers upload their logs there regularly and when both sides match up you get a confirmed credit automatically. cards still matter for some things, some awards require a certain number of paper QSLs or the DX station might not even be on LoTW, but for your basic DXCC Mixed you can get a long way on LoTW alone

for DXCC you're working toward 100 confirmed entities out of the 340 or so on the current list. band endorsements are separate — so if you want DXCC on 20m AND 40m you'd need 100 confirmed on each. most people start with Mixed which pulls from all bands combined

as for what to chase, honestly when you're starting out just work everything you hear that sounds new. get your log building. once you're past 100-150 you'll start feeling the gaps and that's when you get more strategic about it. check DX summit or DXwatch to see what's being spotted and just get on. the first hundred comes faster than you think if you put in the time

I was in the same boat not too long ago, kind of paralyzed by all the different awards and not sure where to start. what helped me was just picking one — I went for WAS first actually because working all 50 states felt more achievable than trying to hunt down obscure Pacific islands lol. got that done in about 8 months mostly on 40 and 20, then started going after DXCC with some confidence

one thing nobody told me early on — keep uploading to LoTW consistently, dont wait. and when you do work a rare DX station, send a direct QSL card too if the DX info page shows they respond. some of those cards take months to come back but they're worth it when they do