so ive been licensed about three years now and mostly just done local stuff and some casual HF but lately ive gotten the bug bad for DX and im trying to understand how the DXCC program actually works in terms of submitting credits and what counts and what doesnt

like i have probably 60-something confirmed entities on Logbook of the World already but i also have a bunch of paper QSLs from the last couple years that i never did anything with. do those count toward an application or do you basically have to get everything through LoTW now? i read something on the ARRL site but honestly it was a bit confusing and i wasnt sure if paper cards still get you credits for the basic DXCC award or if thats changed

also completely separate question but does WAS and WAZ kind of happen naturally as you chase DXCC or do you need to think about those differently? a guy at my club mentioned he worked all 40 CQ zones before he even noticed he was close, which sounded kind of amazing to me. im on like zone 14 out of 40 or something which i thought was decent but maybe not lol

paper QSLs definitely still count, you just have to submit them physically to an ARRL card checker and pay the fee, its not as convenient as LoTW obviously but the credits go into the same system once processed. a lot of older DXpeditions never made it onto LoTW so for some of the rarer entities youll pretty much need the card anyway

as for WAS and WAZ running alongside DXCC, yeah sort of but not really. WAZ is actually kind of tricky because certain zones are just not active much and you can end up with everything except like zone 2 or something for years. WAS is generally easier especially if youre in the lower 48, the hard ones are usually the territories. i wouldnt stress about chasing all three at once, just log everything and let the awards come to you honestly, the DX chasing is the fun part not the paperwork

im kind of in the same boat as you, been at it about a year and a half on HF and the whole credits system was confusing to me at first too. what helped me was just uploading everything to LoTW and then periodically checking the DXCC account page to see what was confirmed. its actually kind of satisfying watching the number tick up slowly

one thing i didnt realize for a while is that you need 100 confirmed entities just to apply for the basic award, confirmed meaning the other station also uploaded to LoTW or you have the card checked. so working them isnt enough. i worked a ton of stuff early on and then realized almost none of it was confirmed yet because the other guys hadnt uploaded. just something to be aware of