Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described that provide for the management of different operation modes in wireless systems. For example, wireless device(s) may operate in a high pathloss operation mode or a normal pathloss operation mode based on the pathloss experienced between the transmitting and receiving devices. In some cases, a first wireless device may transmit a message to a second wireless device to configure a bandwidth part (BWP) for high pathloss mode communications. The message may be transmitted via control signaling and after receipt of the message, the second wireless device may enter a high pathloss mode for communications with the first wireless device (e.g., after a given time duration). Some parameters may be configurable (e.g., transmission duration, coding scheme) between high pathloss mode and normal pathloss mode, while other parameters may remain the same (e.g., processing time, switching time).