Don't quite rush at this one! This time last year there was a considerable talk about just how long this solar minimum was going to last. Solar Flux was in the 70's and the spot count was bouncing along for months with a nil. There were some wags who were talking about another Maunder minimum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_Minimum which was accompanied by a prolonged cold spell dubbed the "Little Ice Age" where even the Thames through London froze.
The spot count is now in the 30's and the flux is in the 80's again, 17m is getting interesting and there is life on 15m. News to me, as a few months ago I got my first VK on PSK31 on 15m, and I await getting some decent DX without waiting for the 30 minute window that seems to work from here. For some off reason 1100 to 1200UTC seems to be best slot - 9M6, YB etc all nabbed in the period it seems to work.
I don't think my 6m beam will get much use this year though unless we get some Sporadic-E of course. (Be aware that beams designed by those on the western side of the pond are tuned for a mid of 52MHz and need to be rescaled to be useful at 51.130 of course).
Never mind, there hills to climb, my trusty FT290 (oh yes I've got one of those veteran rigs) and an HB9CV to cart about for the odd Backpacker contest.
