so ive been licensed about 8 months now and i keep hearing people talk about chasing DXCC and WAS and all these different awards and honestly im not sure where to even start. like i understand the basic idea — you work a certain number of entities or states or zones and you submit proof and you get a certificate. but thats about where my understanding ends.

my setup is pretty modest, running about 100 watts into a dipole up about 30 feet and i live in a suburban area so i have some noise issues but ive been getting decent contacts on 20 and 40 meters. i already have maybe 30-something states in my log since i started, just from casual operating and a couple contests. does that count toward WAS or do i need to do something special to get credit for them.

also with DXCC i see people talking about mixed mode vs phone vs cw and all that — do those count separately? feels like there might be a lot i dont understand about how the credits actually work. any advice on where to start would be great, not trying to go crazy just want to have something to work toward

WAS is actually a great starting point for most people in the US, especially with that kind of setup. 100 watts and a dipole will get you all 50 states if you're patient, just takes time and picking the right band conditions. the contacts you already have in your log should absolutely count as long as you have a QSL card or a LoTW confirmation for each one — thats the key thing. ARRL accepts Logbook of the World confirmations now which makes it way easier than it used to be.

DXCC and WAZ are separate programs yes, and the mode endorsements are separate too so if you work 100 entities on phone that's your phone DXCC, 100 on CW is a separate endorsement etc. you dont need all three awards at once, most people focus on one and kind of passively accumulate credits for the others at the same time. i'd say get yourself set up on LoTW first if you havent already, that way every contact you make going forward is potentially counting toward multiple things at once. the ARRL website has the full rules for each program, a little dry to read but worth going through once

yeah i was in pretty much the same spot about a year ago. honestly just pick one and go with it, i started chasing WAS because it felt more achievable and now im at 47 states confirmed on LoTW which feels really good. the remaining 3 are the usual suspects, alaska and hawaii are actually not that hard if you catch the right time but i keep missing them lol. delaware just never seems to be on when im around.

one thing nobody told me early on — upload your logs to LoTW as you go, dont wait. i had like 6 months of contacts sitting in my logging software before i figured out how to get LoTW set up and some of those stations never confirmed so i lost credits i probably couldve had