so i've been chasing this one entity for probably eight months, K1Z was active for a few weeks last year and i couldnt get through no matter what i tried. just brute forcing it with 100w into a dipole wasnt cutting it obviously. finally got through last month on a different expedition and wanted to share what actually made a difference for me because most of the advice i found online was either too vague or just said 'get a better antenna' which ok thanks

first thing that helped was actually listening way longer before transmitting. like embarrassingly long. i spent probably 20 minutes just figuring out where exactly the DX station was listening, not just 'up 5' but where in that spread they were actually coming back. you can tell after a while if they're moving systematically through the pile or just cherry picking signals. once i had that figured out i'd place my call just slightly above or below where everyone else was clustered. not by much, maybe 200-300hz, just enough to be a distinct signal.

second thing, and this sounds dumb but i was sending my full callsign every time for months. switched to just the last two letters when the DX was clearly getting partials and that helped a lot. timing is huge too — coming in right as the pile starts to die down after a QSO, not right when everyone piles back on after a callsign is sent.

anyway curious what techniques other people use, especially for working split on phone vs cw because i feel like im still leaving stuff on the table with SSB pileups

yeah the listening thing is so underrated. i've watched guys on the SDR waterfall just hammering away transmitting constantly and they're all on top of each other. the DX cant pull anything out of that wall of noise. patience is genuinely the skill in pileups and most people including me for a long time just dont have it

for SSB specifically one thing that helped me was dropping power slightly and cleaning up my audio. counterintuitive but a punchy well-processed signal actually cuts better than running the amp wide open and having everything splatter. my IC-7300 has that built in processing and once i got it dialed right my pileup rate improved noticeably. also on SSB i try to transmit a bit shorter than everyone else — half second ID, pause, listen. most people send their call like three times and by the time they're done the DX has already moved on

the partial callsign thing works but you gotta be careful with it because if theres another station with similar suffix you can cause a real mess. had a situation on 17m a couple years back where me and some other guy both ended up responding to the same partial and the DX got confused and just went QRT for a few minutes. not ideal

what expedition were you working if you dont mind me asking? im trying to figure out my own list of what to chase this cycle since propagation on the higher bands has been way better lately. 10m especially has been crazy good for DX, had stuff coming in from the pacific last week i havent heard in years