so ive been trying to work some of the pacific stations that have been coming through lately but man these pileups are just crazy. im running 100w to a dipole and i can hear the dx fine but they never seem to hear me back. tried calling on their frequency and also split but no luck. any tricks you guys use? maybe im just not being patient enough but after 45 minutes of calling the same station i start to wonder if im doing something wrong

Yeah those pacific runs can be brutal, especially with propagation the way its been. One thing that helped me was really listening to the pattern of who theyre working. Some dx ops have a preference for certain areas or they work in geographical order. Also try calling less - i know it sounds backwards but sometimes when you call every 3-4 cycles instead of every single one you actually stand out more. And make sure your audio is clean, lot of stations running way too much processing and the dx just cant copy them through the qrm

100w and a dipole is definitely workable for dx but you gotta pick your spots. The big gun stations with towers and kw are gonna have the advantage in a big pileup but try working the station when theyre just starting up or near the end of their operation when the crowds thin out. also some dx stations work by call areas so if you hear them say "west coast only" or whatever dont waste your time. timing is everything really