On Surviving a Solar Minimum Winter

VE3 winters are long and cold. This far north that is often true of the HF bands as well. Although my geographical latitude is not all that high at 45°, the auroral zone is nearby and is frequently responsible for partial radio blackouts on the most productive DX paths. It can be frustrating to hear stations only a few hundred kilometers south working Europeans and Asians I can barely copy, if at all.

Lack of sunspots makes it worse. The openings on 20 meters are short, limited to the brief hours of daylight. It gets even worse on 17 meters, and 15 meters doesn't open at all much of the time. On 10 meters there is feeble sporadic E and the occasional South American.

Going lower helps. However 30 and 40 meters close early as the MUF drops like a rock after sunset. As partial compensation the polar path, when the auroral absorption permits, does bring in workable stations over the pole from Asia and Europe for several hours every morning. But if you only have a simple antenna these weak ones are difficult to work. My high yagi helps, and high power would produce more reliable results.

The lowest bands are often good, which many hams embrace with enthusiasm. Although I enjoy DXing on 80 and 160 meters all that QRN gets to me. During the NAQP SSB contest this past weekend one ham remarked how nice it was to put a voice to my call since I am mostly on CW. I am avoiding most phone contests because my brain gets rattled by the noise and difficult copy due to the wide bandwidth needed for SSB.

Many days I avoid the bands entirely to recuperate from the strain of operating the low bands. Although this ought to increase time spent in the shop working on antenna projects I find that my enthusiasm is muted. Progress is being made but not at a pace that the available hours would allow.

The important thing is not to fret too much about it. Some downtime during the year can contribute to sustained interest over the long term. Soon the days will grow long and the weather will warm up. On a slightly longer trajectory the sunspots will return. Not much will change in 2019, so we must look ahead to 2020 when solar cycle 25 will flex its muscles. Before long the high bands will be hopping.

In the meantime I am learning to love 160 meter DXing. There is DX to be found every night, and less frequently there can be enhanced conditions. Several days ago I switched on the rig near midnight just before heading to bed and I heard a few strong Europeans. So I called CQ. To my delight the DX rolled in, to the tune of 22 Europeans logged over 40 minutes. The only problem being that I was so sleepy my CW fist was poor.

To mix things up I like to add challenges to my operating. One example, in tune with the low sunspots, I operated QRP for the Stew Perry TBDC contest a few weeks ago. During my brief operation I was able to put 12 Europeans in the log, including a best distance of over 8000 km. Not bad for 5 watts on top band! Achieving the highest point QSO in the contest by working 3V8SF (who operated low power) was icing on the cake.

It is little things like this that get me through a solar minimum winter. Other hams choose different tactics. VHF/UHF enthusiasts are so isolated from the solar cycle they don't see what all the fuss is about. For them every day is a challenge.

There is really no point to this article other than to emphasize that an ebb and flow of energy and enthusiasm for the hobby is normal and not a cause for concern. Shutting the shack down for awhile is okay. Socializing with your fellow hams is also anodyne, during which you can commiserate on the poor conditions and encourage each other on your respective projects.

The physical strain of digging out of the recent fierce snowstorm is also refreshing in its way, despite the frigid weather. It's -25° C midday as I write these words and the wind is howling at 40 kph. Brrr! I'm glad my rotators are greased for these conditions. Soon enough the sun will return. As evidence of this 20 meters is once again opening to Japan and UA0 late in the afternoon rather than going dead the moment the sun dips below the horizon.

With the CQ 160 contest coming up this weekend I am fighting the doldrums with a quick and easy project that will pay dividends: another Beverage antenna. Stomping through the frozen thorn bushes and snowdrifts stringing wire and coax with half numb hands in order to battle the elements and poor conditions, when followed by a hot mug of fresh-ground coffee is highly recommended for lifting one's spirits.