ok so ive been chasing DX for about a year now and i keep hearing people talk about DXCC and WAS and WAZ and honestly i thought i understood it but the more i read the more confused i get. like i have a ton of QSOs in my log from various countries and islands and stuff but nobody ever told me you had to actually submit for the credits. i just thought it kind of... happened automatically through LoTW or something?

so i finally looked into it and realized i need to actually apply and pay fees and all that. my question is can i just use my LoTW confirmations for the DXCC application or do i still need physical QSL cards for some of them. and also does every QSO count or only certain bands and modes. i worked a guy in the maldives last month on 20m SSB and have no idea if that even counts toward anything

sorry if this is a dumb question ive just been so focused on actually making contacts that i never thought about the paperwork side of it

not a dumb question at all, most people figure this out the same way you did - after the fact lol. so yes LoTW confirmations absolutely count for DXCC, you dont need physical cards if you have the LoTW QSL from the other station. the ARRL basically treats a LoTW confirmation the same as a paper card. what you do is go into your LoTW account and apply for the award from there, it tallies up your confirmed entities automatically and you just pay the application fee.

now the thing to know is that DXCC counts entities not countries exactly - so like the Maldives is 8Q and yes that absolutely counts as one entity. each unique DXCC entity you can confirm gets you a credit. you need 100 confirmed to get the basic certificate. bands and modes matter for the endorsements - like if you want DXCC on 40m CW specifically thats a separate thing you can chase, but the basic mixed DXCC just needs 100 entities confirmed on any band or mode. your 20m SSB maldives contact counts just fine for mixed.

WAS and WAZ are different awards also through ARRL - WAS is all 50 states confirmed, WAZ is all 40 CQ zones. same deal with LoTW for those. just dig into the ARRL awards page and it lays it all out, a bit dry to read but its actually not that complicated once you see the structure

yeah what he said, and one thing i'd add is dont sleep on chasing cards the old fashioned way too even if you use LoTW. some of those rarer entities have operators who never upload to LoTW and the only way to get the credit is a physical card. i had a contact from a dxpedition to Heard Island that took like 18 months to confirm and it only came through as a paper card. definitely keep a shoebox or binder for those

also once you get rolling on DXCC you kind of cant stop, just warning you now