so ive been licensed about two years now and mostly just been ragchewing and doing some local nets but lately i got kind of bitten by the DX bug pretty bad. started logging contacts more carefully and realized i might actually have enough entities to apply for basic DXCC if i can get the cards confirmed.

my question is about the confirmation side of things — i have maybe 35 entities confirmed on lotw already and a bunch more in my log that i havent gotten any confirmation on. do i have to wait until i have all 100 confirmed before i apply or can i apply with like 80 and add more later? i read something about endorsements but im not totally clear on how that works.

also is WAS worth chasing at the same time or does that kind of distract from DXCC? feels like they use different bands and modes in different ways. i did work all 50 states already i think but again confirmation is the issue. just trying to figure out where to put my energy honestly.

yeah you can absolutely apply once you hit 100 confirmed, you dont need to wait for more than that to submit. then every time you want to add more entities you just submit an endorsement application — so like when you get to 150 confirmed you apply for the 150 sticker, then 200 and so on. the ARRL makes it pretty straightforward through their awards portal if most of your confirmations are on LoTW, you basically just request the credit online and they tally it up.

on the WAS question i'd say go for both honestly, they dont really interfere with each other that much. WAS is mostly about patience with a few tricky states like ND and some of the less populated ones. i worked on both simultaneously for a while and it was fine. the one thing id say is dont burn yourself out trying to chase everything at once — pick a goal for the month and focus there. DXCC first makes sense since it sounds like you're already fired up about it.

im in almost the exact same boat lol, been chasing DXCC since last spring and its kinda addictive. one thing i didnt realize at first is that LoTW credits only count if BOTH sides upload — so you might have worked someone but if they never upload their log you wont get the credit even if you did. QSL cards direct or through the bureau are the backup for that. took me a while to figure out the bureau system but its cheap and eventually stuff comes through.

WAZ is another one worth looking at down the road, working all 40 CQ zones. some zones are way harder to find activity in than others but its a cool way to think about the world differently on the bands.