No, I still feel its a good suggestion: if you start your activation by checking a selection of beacons and cannot hear any of them, then don’t bother calling CQ, just QSY to a lower band at once.
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First, a minor point: I’ve read 1000’s of posts on this reflector and elsewhere (e.g. YouTube “best antenna”) where folk say 'best this’ or ‘best that’ and in most cases it’s just ‘very good’ or best for them. ‘Best’ is very special and not to be overused. And even then ‘best’ is context dependent. It would be helpful if bloggers stated their circumstances, e.g. “As an activator I find this is best”, “As a chaser …”, “As a SSB operator …” coz when I read such claims, I often think, that’s not true for my situation.
Brian, as a regular activator, I disagree. I don’t know what you think the correlation is between hearing a particular 10m beacon and there being a non-zero number of 10m chasers in the beacon area monitoring my frequency (esp. this time of year). And conversely, there may well be chasers at other (non-beacon) locations who can hear me. If I’ve gone to the trouble of setting the rig and antenna for 10m and self-spotted, I’ll find out quickly if any 10m chasers can hear me by calling CQ, some of whom turn out to be in unlikely places like here in the UK.
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Not until you’ve made at least one 10m QSO for the Challenge multiplier!
Also kind of assumes that a multiband HF antenna has been deployed. I’m still, in the majority of cases, going up hills with ONE HF antenna that covers ONE HF band. I think this used to be the norm, but it could be that multiband HF activating has grown somewhat. Time for a survery?
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I recently made an EFHW 40m antenna for a failed HEMA expedition to the inner Hebrides (failed due to ferry break down and extremely poor propagation). The 40m EFHW also seems to work OK on 20m and 15m.
I thought that the 40m EFHW might work on 10m too but last time out, my RockMite wasn’t happy at all, the receiver was motorboating. I’d not tried the 40m EFHW on 10m before. I wasn’t sure if the motorboating was due to the antenna, so to prove the point, I took down the EFHW and put up my 10/12/15/17m dipole instead. The RockMite 10m was much happier which the dipole and I managed 2 QSOs from Birks Fell, including an S2S with G4OBK on G/TW-005.
I think it would be quite risky putting all of your CW eggs in the 10m basket with a single band 10m antenna. Of course if you’re not fussed about activator points, then taking the risk might add to the fun.
I definitely can’t rely on 10m to quailfy a hill at the moment with my RockMite. I do really need to up my transceiver game. I’ve heard that the QMX can be quite deaf on the higher bands, I found the same with my QCX. Maybe I need to try to home brew something.
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It has for me - multiband antenna for 10m every time in recent weeks when activating. I’m using an OCFD made for 40m - 10m on 28 MHz fed with RG-174. The OCFD was quite successful in DL/LX earlier this month usng CW/SSB rather than the (easier to make QSOs mode) FT8. I qualified for the 10m Challenge points on 20 out of 28 summits. In some cases with just the one QSO. Contacts were found to be more likely sky wave rather than ground wave. ZS6FY on SSB appearing in my log 6 times. We limited operating time on each summit to less than 40 minutes before movng on to the next. With the OCFD I had 40m and 20m as my backup bands when 10m propagation failed me.
As a chaser from North Yorkshire yesterday in flat condx (No other 10m QSOs made yesterday - most spots checked for reception as they appeared), I worked Rick M5RJC/P on High Vinnalls G/WB-012 who was an reasonable FT8 signal for the distance of 272 KM (-18 sent, -06 received). I imagine Rick was running higher power. He was on Worcestershire Beacon G/WB-009 last Wednesday when we had an FT8 S2S with me on G/TW-005, when he was running higher power than the more usual 5-10 watt SOTA stations.
Checking the 10m band regularly today the only QSO has been with Cesar EA4IS on SSB on EA1/SG-012. 54 signal received. Propagation EA/CT is generally of late more likely than DL/OK/S5 etc, although I have chased OK2PDT/P on 10m CW several times this last week.
73 Phil G4OBK
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It’s easy to see why 10m is so difficult at the moment.
courtesy prop.kc2g.com 1446utc today
I didn’t check a few hours ago but I wonder if MUFs got above 28MHz at all in Europe today (except in southern Spain). MUFs were regularly above 28MHz by 1200utc back in January-March. Some of you may recall the 10m WSPR tests I did then showing a strong correlation between 10m WSPR contacts and MUFs.
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I have a W3EDP antenna with a homebrew tuner that covers 80m-20m and a copy or rather modification of Andy’s (MM0FMF) 4 band vertical that in my version covers 20m - 10m, I’m a bit old now for serious activating but they have both been used on the hill and now are great for camping and caravan holidays.
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No tuner required on 10m with the OCFD antenna, under 1.5:1 direct match through the CW and SSB parts of the band. Quite efficient methinks…
73 Phil G4OBK
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I quite agree, Phil, I only lean towards the vertical because I don’t have to think about where the lobes and nulls are pointing
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Hi Tom, I think you’re saying that you’re mostly taking a monoband antenna rather than the majority of activators do that.
For the latter case, I get the impression most [like me] seem to taking one multi-band HF antenna. In my case, that’s normally a 40/30/20 or 40/20/10 EFHW or a 40-10m vertical and occasionally a 60/40/30/20 or 80/60 linked dipole.
Unless one is taking a monoband HF rig [as I did /P back in the 90s] it seems prudent to have a multi-band antenna in case your intended band is not playing ball. It’s seem brave (some might say rash) to take only a 10m antenna especially with these summer doldrums notwithstanding your great success with 10m FT8 or even persuading repeater ragchewers to QSY to 10m. I know I spend less time on summit than you do but as a CW-only op I would have many failed activations since April had I done only 10m.
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I can’t possibly imagine taking a multi band rig up a hill with only a single band antenna. But… I tend to do activations that have more walking/travelling in them than Tom. Maybe if you are just popping up Shining Tor/ The Cloud which are short drives/walks, failing to get get 4+ QSOs is less of an issue.
In 817 days (no ATU/AATU) my workhorse antennas were a 60/40/30m dipole and a Buddistick clone (20/17/15m) as solar conditions improved. I finished with 60/40/30 and 30/20/17 dipoles, the Buddistick clone, a 10/12 1/4wave GP and a 10m Delta Loop. I had a 40/30/20 trapped EFHW but was never impressed with it.
With a KX2 and AATU then I can play with all kinds of stuff. The 40/30/20 trapped endfed got an AA5TU style matchbox and a link so it will work on 40/30/20/17(link open)/15/12/10. I also have a fixed 64:1 and 49:1 match unit that needs a help from the AATU. Just recently I’ve been playing with a 41ft “random” and its 9:1 match unit and the AATU. Hey that auto tuner cost me money so I am determined to get use out of it!
The concept of going out with a single band antenna scares me… I expend sweat and may not qualify the hill or even get a single QSO! Even when I take the super tiny kit with me I have a 20m QCX and a 30/40m QCX and antenna that covers all bands.
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The thing is though - the 10m Challenge is happening. So 10m contacts MUST occur - and ESPECIALLY when travelling further afield, meaning there’s a Challenge multiplier to collect!
That said, the two back-ups of FT8, and local groundwave QSOs, have not let me down yet. BTW, in the case of the latter, the QSYs take place from 2m simplex typically, as repeater activity is a shadow of what it once was. QSY from a repeater is another worthwhile tactic, but not one I’ve used for years!
As for you typically travelling further distances to activate Andy @MM0FMF , I’m not sure that bears scrutiny - depending on how you look at it. For a sensible comparison, in context, you should probably disregard all my zero points-scoring activations. Mileage per Challenge multiplier would be an interesting comparison.
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It seems another world back in February when I routinely got all those N.American 10m contacts (see post 8 above). My rucksack’s all packed and I’m ready to leave in 30 minutes to re-activate Holme Fell G/LD-051 [which I did in January but was too cold to do HF so had a quick 2m FM activation]. But I’m watching the live MUF map for Europe and suspect it will be like yesterday where the MUFs don’t get up to 28MHz.
courtesy prop.kc2g.com today 0900utc
Maybe I’ll be lucky and get a few groundwave contacts. In any case, it’s a lovely day here so at least the dogs and I will enjoy the walk.
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Most activations I get my mob of JA friends giving me a 10m QSO if its a morning activation, 10m not so easy in the afternoon. Also had a few U.S ops too but not as many, made a special endfed vertical for 10m but mostly just use my normal 40m efhw, too lazy and time poor on summits to be messing with several antennas.
Good fun. Can we have a 15m challenge next year my antenna works well on 15m add bit of incentive to use it more.
Regards
Ian vk5cz …
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The challenge for next year is 6m. At this time I think a 15m challenge would be like shooting frogs in a puddle - well perhaps not in midsummer! 
Mentioning midsummer reminds me that come the autumn 10m should become a DX band again. As the summer Es should be tailing off now we will probably have a quiet period before 10m changes gear again.
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I think that is a crucial point. I would not have considered it viable to do what I did on Sunday, 215mile drive, 17.5km cycle, 9km walk if I wasn’t almost guaranteed the points. So I had 2 antennas for 40/30/20/17/15/12/10, 2 match units and a 2m FM handy. I don’t think 2m and the rubber duck would have been viable as I didn’t make a fuss I’d be on 2m FM. I can understand that if you have done a local summit say 25 times in a year, you don’t miss any points (S2S and challenges excepted) if you don’t work any one.
My own repeat activations of Scald Law involve about 1hr30 total driving (because traffic around Edinburgh can be pants) and 45mins of ascent time and 30-35mins descent. I don’t do it for the points but S2S and challenge QSOs are welcome. I do for the exercise and also now use it as “real-world testing”. i.e. does an antenna work? Can I rig it on the pole quickly and in glasses? Do I want to chase a specific station for a complete? So often there will be assorted antennas with me for various tests.
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Hah! Let’s hope it’s better condx then than this year. I bought a very nice (roll-up) 6m flowerpot in 2022 which worked well from top of Red Screes G/LD-017 that year. But it’s been mainly gathering dust since. 6m condx have to last long enough for me to drive, walk and set-up before they go flat again.
I’m looking forward to it. I got just one 10m contact this afternoon and that was on groundwave [43km away]. I’m grateful for it, and yes (for those who care about such things) it got me a summit multiplier. But 10m should be about getting those exotic callsigns.
In my case, Q: Can our new rescue dog (ex-breeder’s 4yo male golden retriever) be trusted on another SOTA walk? A: Not entirely, he ran up to two groups of tourists having family picnics with food in hand and laid out on the ground [it’s that time of year].
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Call him and reward if he will come back quickly and efficiently, also reward from time to time for staying close to you - just show him that you are “better” than their sausages
73, Jarek
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WoW I am excited 6m challenge. Recon I might have 1 chaser to work on 6m. OK for you folks in EU with a larger population of potential chasers in your foot print. 6m in our winter would not be very useful either, as you probably know but don’t care we don’t do SOTA during the summer in 40c WX and fire bans on access to the lands. But I will abide and continue on with SOTA anyhow, not many points left to gain Old Goat x2 which is my main incentive to keep going.
Regards
CZ …
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You may change your tune if this sunspot maximum produces some of the legendary worldwide F2 openings! Personally, I reckon that a G to VK contact on 6m would be a memory to keep me warm through the next minimum! 
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