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Those solar panels may have been a source of interference, but being in the transmission path is of little consequence. The electrical noise, whether it is in the path or not, may sort of drown out the weaker signal of the distant station, but does not absorbe or 'block' the transmission.
Sort of like while peeing in the bathroom, I cant understand what my wife is saying in the next room. But she can hear me just fine.
Did reliable two-way comms ever happen at night between PR and Hagerstown?
PR to Hagerstown on two 20 watt radios and what are basically a manpack dipole antennas is pretty good.
How HF is typically worked is the base station will have larger, higher gain antennas and amplifiers, and the out stations have smaller, lower powered radios and antennas with less gain. The base station antennas are typically very large, this allows them to reliably receive the weak transmissions from the outstaions. The amplifiers allow the base stations to blast out to the smaller antennas used by the out stations. Having the same setup, manpacks and small dipoles (sloping v), is challenging and on the fringes of workable link margins.
Even though the antenna in PR was adjusted in the morning and then comms were established, I suspect the real cause was the sun came up and polarized the ionosphere. IME. that shot is much easier to close the loop on during the day than at night.
Good job. Glad to see units learning and using HF.
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