ok so ive been licensed about 8 months now and i keep hearing people talk about chasing DXCC and WAS and WAZ and honestly i have no idea how any of it fits together. like are these all separate things you work toward at the same time or do people usually focus on one first? i submitted my first LoTW upload last week after finally getting that set up (took me forever honestly) and i can already see i have like 14 states confirmed which was kind of exciting to see.

also what even counts as an entity for DXCC? i looked at the list and some of them seem really weird like certain islands that are technically separate from the mainland country. and does it matter what band you work someone on, like does a contact on 40m count separate from 20m or is it just one credit regardless of band?

sorry if this is a dumb question, there just seems to be a lot of moving parts and every time i google it i end up on some page that assumes i already know everything

not a dumb question at all, this stuff genuinely takes a while to wrap your head around. so basically theyre totally separate awards from different organizations - DXCC is run by the ARRL and its about working different entities (countries basically but not exactly, like you noticed). WAS is also ARRL and that one's just the 50 US states. WAZ is Callbook/CQ magazine and thats working all 40 CQ zones which are these geographic zones they drew up decades ago.

most people end up chasing all three kind of simultaneously just because a lot of contacts count toward multiple awards. like if you work someone in Alaska thats a new state for WAS and also zone 1 for WAZ and also counts as an entity for DXCC if youre not in Alaska yourself.

on your band question - yeah band counts are separate. so working Japan on 20m and then again on 40m is two separate credits if youre going for the band-specific endorsements. but for basic DXCC you just need one confirmed contact per entity regardless of band. once you get past 100 confirmed entities you can apply for the basic award and then keep adding endorsements as you go.

LoTW is definitely the way to go for confirmations, good that you got that sorted early. a lot of people drag their feet on it and then have a pile of unconfirmed contacts they cant do anything with

yeah what he said basically. i'll just add - dont stress too much about the rules details right now, just work everything you can hear and log it all. the awards kind of take care of themselves once you have enough contacts. i didnt even realize i was close to WAS until i uploaded like a years worth of logs and suddenly i was at 47 states confirmed lol. three more and i had it without even trying that hard.

the rare entities for DXCC are the fun part honestly, chasing a DXpedition to some island in the middle of nowhere at 2am is kind of addictive once you get the bug. welcome to the hobby, 8 months in and already on LoTW is ahead of where a lot of people are