I’ve been keeping a close eye on current solar activity as it pertains to HF propagation and my quest for DX. This has become a priority as each year I become more aware of the vagaries of mortality. After all, there are only so many eleven year solar cycles a DX chaser can expect to benefit from in one lifetime.

A little strategic planning can go a long way.

Reading between the lines is an inexact science, but there is something to be gleaned from this recent solar report from OK1HH:

“Most forecasts for future solar activity predict a continuing decline, but if we assume higher activity in the currently setting sunspot groups, we can expect an increase after their appearance on the north-eastern limb of the solar disc in July. Overall, calmer conditions can be expected during the coming Summer, although shortwave propagation conditions will continue to be slightly worse than would correspond to the level of solar activity.”

Reading these same kinds of tea leaves in 2022 caused me to focus on the higher bands as a way of padding my DXCC results. To that end I installed an R6000 20-6 meter vertical hoping to leverage its low-angle radiation properties with the then soon to arrive solar maximum. That plan paid dividends as I completed DXCC on 10, 12, 15, and 20 meters using that arrangement. But over these last few months I’ve watched propagation on 10 and 12 meters decline substantially. Opportunities still exist on 15, but even it has been less productive than it was a year ago.

Since I’m space-limited and don’t have a plethora of installed antennas to choose from, I’ve been thinking about new options for 80-30 meters that could fit on my lot. But I decided to hold off on that for one more year and go another direction. Knowing where we are in this current solar cycle, and where we’re headed, and what major DXpeditions lie on the horizon, I’ve decided to install a dipole for 20 meters and play on that single-band for the next twelve months. I will lose some of the advantages of the vertical, but my experience has been that horizontal antennas hear better at this frequency. I also know that 20 meters will continue to deliver global DX even as we approach solar minimum.

To that end, I’ve ordered a Diex Single-Band Full Size Rigid Rotatable Dipole DXFS20 for 20 meters. I plan to install it on a simple mast (40 feet) since it’s lightweight and adds little wind loading. With no baluns, coils, or anything else to typically fail, it should easily handle the full 1500 watts from my KPA1500.

If this works, I will be stranding myself on a single-band for the next year, however, I hope to enjoy continued DX success as Cycle 25 continues to wind down. My primary interest is getting the 2026 Bouvet Island operation in the log. What this won’t do is permit me to log them on several bands, but I figure that would be a long-shot anyway. My money is (now) on 20 meters to deliver the goods and if my DXCC Challenge numbers end up a little short due to the lack of frequency diversity, I can make those up on the downside of the cycle when I move on to the low-bands.

That should be easy pickings, I still need practically everything on 80-30 meters.