Just want to encourage everyone to give the upper bands a try when possible. I’ve noticed that currently, very few Activators bother to try 10m, 12m, or even 15m. Yes, the current solar cycle status makes these bands far less productive these days, but there are contacts to be made for those who are willing to try.
I almost always am able to pull out a few QSO’s on 10 meters. Sometimes they are limited to stations within a hundred-mile radius or so, but other times I’ll get some nice long distance contacts and those are especially satisfying.
For example, this past Saturday Nov 3, while activating in Arizona, I worked stations on 10 meters in Quebec, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Florida. Some of those were with 5 watts from the KX2 internal batteries. 12 meters was hot too, and 15m was wide open with DX.
In the past year I have worked New Zealand (thanks ZL1BYZ!) several times on 10 meters. A few weeks ago he was booming in with a 599 signal on 10. Often times I can see from propagation sites that show digital mode reception reports that 10, 12, and 15 are open, yet when I call CQ there are very few chasers who respond. I suspect that everyone assumes the bands are dead. And looking at the SOTA NEWS, it appears that almost none of the Activators are even trying 10 or 12 meters.
I realize time is limited when we are on the summits, so you may only operate on a few bands. And sometimes the antennas in use are not designed for the upper bands. On the other hand, a 10 meter antenna can be much smaller than a 40 meter antenna!
Anyway, please give it a try! I’d hate to see these bands disappear from our privileges due to lack of use. And you may find, like I do, that the unpredictability of the propagation actually makes it fun 
73 es cu on 10/12/15 (and the rest of the bands),
Keith KR7RK
