so i finally managed to work FT5WZ a couple weeks ago after probably 3 days of trying on and off and i still dont really know what i did differently that last time versus all the times it didnt work. i was running about 500w into a 3 element yagi at about 35ft which isnt amazing but its not terrible either and i just could not get a look in for the longest time.

what finally seemed to work was i stopped transmitting exactly on the dx station frequency (obvious i know but i kept drifting back to it when frustrated) and i started really listening to where they were actually pulling calls from in the spread. like actually listening for 5-10 minutes before even trying. and then i picked a spot maybe 3-4 up from where the last station they worked was and just waited. worked on the second call after that.

but im curious what techniques other people use because i feel like i got lucky more than anything. ive heard people talk about timing your call to hit right as the dx station signs their callsign, working the edges of the spread, all sorts of stuff. does any of it actually hold up or is it mostly just luck and propagation

the listening thing you mentioned is genuinely the biggest one and most people skip it completely. ive worked a lot of rare ones over the years and the pattern i see is the dx station usually has a rhythm - they work maybe 2-3 stations then pause to listen wide, then come back and work another cluster. if you can identify that rhythm you can time your call to land right in their listening window instead of on top of 400 other guys who are transmitting continuously the whole time.

the other thing that actually makes a difference in my experience is split discipline. a lot of ops in a pileup are transmitting 1-2 up like everyone else, so i usually go 3-5 up or sometimes even further depending on how wide the dx is listening. if they announce 5-10 up, most guys go 5 or 6. go 9. not always, but when conditions are marginal it can make the difference because youre not buried in as much QRM.

power and antenna matter obviously but after a certain point youre just adding noise to a pile. ive broken pileups with 100w that i couldnt break with a kw because my timing was better that day.

yeah honestly a lot of it is propagation luck no point pretending otherwise. ive had times where i called twice and got right through with 100w and a dipole and other times i sat there with the amp running for hours and got nothing. sometimes the band just opens a little harder in your direction for a few minutes and thats your window.

that said the timing thing is real. i started actually using a metronome app on my phone years ago to get a feel for the dx stations cadence and it sounds ridiculous but it helped. also dont underestimate just having a clean signal - ive heard some absolute garbage transmissions in pileups, guys with rf in the shack keying up splattery signals or mic gain cranked way too hot on ssb. the dx op is more likely to pull a clean readable signal than one that sounds like its coming through a blender even if the other guy has more power.