Digital BW, The Print

I need some advise on printing images with dark skies and/or skies that 
have a distinct transition gradient from dark to lighter tones

Unlike most of you, I'm relatively new to digital b&W printing
and, as such, technically challenged when it comes to measuring dmax, 
creating profiles, etc.

I'm using a 3800 with k3 inks with matte papers that include VFA, HPR 
and MPR. For b&w I normally use the the ABW driver but even when using 
the RGB driver/media profiles the results invariably are the same.

I've also made test prints with all of the above papers with similar 
outcomes: solid black skies with no detail.

Without getting too technical,
can anybody shed some light?