Solar Cycle 24 Prediction
Its a glass half-empty vs. glass half-full thing.
According to NASA, we are close to the peak of Solar Cycle 24; they are predicting summer of 2013. However the smoothed numbers have actually been running below the mean prediction level for the past year, making some believe that the decline has already happened. Sill I would think we have at least 3-4 more years of decent activity, above or at levels similar to when I restarted the hobby in Feb of 2011.
Most of my higher band DXCC work is close to complete, leaving me 80 meter DXCC to finish (I need 38 more countries there). As the solar activity declines, the 160 & 80 meter bands will improve for DXers. So there is hope for 5BDXCC.
And life since Feb of 2011 has been pretty outstanding. I have 168 confirmed countries out of 206 worked, with DXCC on Mixed, CW, Phone, 20m, and 15. I am missing 1 for my DXCC Digital, 38 on 80m, 4 on 40m, and 10 on 10m. With the exception of the 80 meter band, all the other DXCC achievements seem possible this year.
