I had a nice QSO from WV, to Palmdale, CA, on 18.150USB aound 20:00UTC. And that was just with the radio barefoot at 75W on the Windom. Albeit, I had to change from the Heil HMM mic to the D-104-M6B to get his attention. Most of the time, signal stayed around S1, but peaks from him went up to S7. So, there might be some hope for these upper HF bands yet.