Switching from tray to drum developing

I've recently purchased a Unicolor drum and motor base and have done some 4x5 and 8x10 film in it. I had been using Ilfosol-S and doing one agitation every 30 seconds in a tray. The first films that come out of the drum were overdeveloped. I took that to be a factor of the drums constant agitation. So I knocked off about 20% of the time. This seems to be doing the trick.. but the contrast is very high. If I take more time off the developing, I lose some to the shadow detail.

so... Is there a something else I should be doing? I'm thinking my next move is dilute the developer more. Whats the deal with the time then? Am I into a bunch of experiments? What are the storys of people who have gone down this same path.

Thanks for your help,

chuck k

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