ok so i've had my general ticket for about two years now and i've been pretty casual about logging contacts, mostly just ragchewing on 40m with the local crowd. but lately ive been getting into DX and i logged my 40th entity last week and now im kind of hooked on this whole DXCC thing.

my question is about how the credits actually work. i understand you need 100 confirmed entities for the basic award, but im confused about the Logbook of the World side of things. do all stations i work have to be on LoTW or can i still mail in paper QSLs for some of them? i have a few paper cards from operators who arent on LoTW and i dont want to just throw those away.

also is WAS worth chasing at the same time or is that kind of a different world entirely? i heard some guys say WAS is actually harder than basic DXCC depending on how you look at it, especially for certain bands. anyway just trying to figure out where to focus my energy before i go too deep down this rabbit hole

paper QSLs are absolutely still valid for DXCC credit, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. you submit them through an ARRL card checker at a hamfest or you can send them in directly, there's a process on the ARRL site that explains it. LoTW just makes it way faster and cheaper because you dont have to physically mail anything. but yeah keep those paper cards, some rare entities are only confirmable that way because the operator never bothered with LoTW.

as for WAS and DXCC at the same time — honestly most serious DX chasers end up doing both kind of automatically. if youre working dx you're probably hitting states along the way too. WAZ is the one that sneaks up on you, chasing all 40 zones gets surprisingly tricky for a few of them. zone 2 was the one that sat missing in my log forever. anyway welcome to the rabbit hole, fair warning it does not get cheaper from here

same boat as you about a year ago, now im at 134 entities confirmed on LoTW and still going. the paper QSL thing works fine just takes longer and costs a bit when you submit. one thing i wish someone told me earlier — start uploading to LoTW right now if you haven't already, even your old logs. some of those stations you worked casually might already be on there and you'd get matches you didn't expect. i found like 8 confirmations just from ragchew contacts i never thought would count for anything