so ive been licensed for about 3 years now and mostly just done casual operating, ragchews, some local nets, that kind of thing. but lately ive been getting really into DX and i started logging everything carefully with the intent of actually going for DXCC at some point.

i hit 100 confirmed on LoTW last week which i guess technically means i can apply, but im confused about a few things. first — do the contacts have to all be on the same band or mode or is it just any 100 entities confirmed? ive got mine spread across 40m, 20m, 17m, and a handful on 10m from when the band was open last fall.

also whats the deal with deleted entities? i see some old timers talking about contacts with places that arent on the current list anymore and whether those count. not that i have any of those, just curious how that works.

and WAS — is that totally separate from DXCC? i have maybe 35 states confirmed and wasnt sure if i should be focusing on one or the other or just work everything and sort it out later. feels like i should have a strategy but honestly i might just be overthinking it.

congrats on the 100 confirmed, thats a real milestone even if it sneaks up on you. to answer your first question — basic DXCC is just any 100 current entities, mixed bands and modes all count together. you dont need 100 on a single band for the basic award. the band and mode endorsements are separate things you can go for later once you have the main certificate, and yeah those do require 100 confirmed on that specific band or mode.

deleted entities is kind of a whole rabbit hole. short version is they dont count toward your current entity total for the basic award but ARRL does keep track of them and there are some old timers with deleted entities on their account going back decades. not something you need to worry about starting out.

WAS is completely separate, administered differently, and is 50 US states confirmed. totally worth chasing alongside DXCC since a lot of your domestic contacts will count toward it. honestly your instinct to just work everything and sort it out later is probably the right one — LoTW does most of the heavy lifting once you get people confirming.

WAZ is another one worth looking at too if you havent already — 40 CQ zones confirmed. i actually found WAZ harder than WAS in some ways because a few of the zones are just really underrepresented on the bands, like zone 2 up in northern Canada gets active sometimes but you gotta catch it. anyway yeah dont stress too much about strategy early on, just work DX whenever you can and the awards kind of fill in naturally over time. the chasing is half the fun honestly.