They are too close to you. Signals are going straight over you. The most difficult states to work are generally the ones next door. You need a different propagation mode to work them. Sporadic E may allow short skip like that but backscatter is a rare occurrence but can have interesting results. I am in Nova Scotia and could never work Prince Edward Island which is only about 100 miles away. One day while working a station in Venezuela with the beam pointed south, away from P.E.I. I heard a station in Charlottetown P.E.I. I turned the beam north and lost her. Back south and picked her up fine. Ended up talking to her with the beam pointed in the "wrong" direction. Signals were going south to Venezuela and a portion of what arrived there was being scattered back towards us. She really was in P.E.I as I got her QSL card later. Propagation is weird and amazing at times.
