ok so ive been licensed about 8 months now and people keep mentioning DXCC and WAS and WAZ in the same breath and honestly i cant figure out if these are all separate things you chase independently or if theres some kind of order you're supposed to do them in. like do most people start with WAS since its all domestic and then work outward or does it matter at all?

i'm running a modest setup, IC-7300 into a G5RV in the backyard, and i've worked maybe 40 states so far just casually. someone at my club meeting last week said i should start logging seriously if i want credits to count but i wasnt sure what that even meant in practice — do i need to apply through LoTW right away or can i go back and get cards for contacts i already made?

sorry if this is a dumb question, just trying to figure out where to put my energy

Not a dumb question at all, this stuff genuinely is confusing when you're starting out. So WAS is Worked All States, that's 50 states confirmed, completely separate from DXCC which is about working 100 or more DXCC entities (countries basically, though not exactly countries — it's complicated). WAZ is Worked All Zones, 40 CQ zones worldwide. They're all independent awards run by different organizations and you can chase them all at once or focus on one, totally up to you.

The logging thing your club friend mentioned is real — you want to get on LoTW as soon as you can because a lot of stations upload there and your confirmations start stacking up automatically. For contacts you already made, if the other station is on LoTW and you upload your log, those will match retroactively. Doesn't matter when you made the contact as long as both sides upload. Start there honestly, get your log into LoTW and you might be surprised how many of your 40 states are already confirmed.

yeah what he said about LoTW is the main thing. i wasted like a year not uploading regularly and then had to go back and chase paper QSLs for a bunch of states that the other ops never bothered putting on LoTW. such a pain. just get in the habit of uploading after every session, takes like 2 minutes in WSJT or whatever logging software you use.

also fwiw i started with WAS because it felt more achievable and gave me a feel for chasing before i got obsessed with DXCC. now im at 187 entities and cannot stop, send help lol