But honestly the bigger thing right now is 6 meters. I was just spinning the dial last night not expecting much and suddenly ran into a massive opening into the caribbean and parts of south america. Worked a few stations in Venezuela and one in colombia i think, signals were genuinely S9 on some of them which is wild for this time of year. If youre sitting on a 6m capable rig RIGHT NOW go turn it on. seriously. Been hearing the DX cluster is lit up all morning too.

Also saw somewhere that the ARRL is planning some changes to the field day rules for next year but i cant find the original source again, might have been a rumor. Anyone else hear anything about that?

Anyway thats not the main thing i wanted to mention. Apparently Icom is supposed to be dropping something new in the transceiver space, ive seen some chatter on a couple other forums but nothing super concrete yet. Anyone seen any actual specs or is it still just rumor territory? I remember when the IC-7300 came out and the hype was real but sometimes these things turn out to be a minor refresh and people get all wound up for nothing.

Also — and this is more of a side question — did anyone catch the ARRL announcement about the upcoming HF phone sweepstakes dates? I think i saw something but i was half asleep reading it on my phone so i might have the timing wrong.

anyway thats almost secondary to what ive been experiencing on 10 meters this past week. the band has just been absolutely open in a way i havent seen in maybe a couple years, worked a bunch of south american stations yesterday afternoon with pretty modest power, like 50 watts into a dipole and guys were coming back to me like i was running a kw. solar flux has been climbing and it shows.

anyone else noticing propagation improving across the higher HF bands? feels like we might actually be getting somewhere interesting with this solar cycle. curious what others are hearing out there.

Also saw someone mention the new Icom IC-905 has been showing up at a few dealers finally, anyone actually gotten their hands on one yet? I've been on the fence about it but man the specs look interesting for microwave work. Feels like there's been a lot of new gear dropping lately, between that and the new Yaesu stuff it's a good time to be paying attention I guess.

Anyway just wanted to share, keep your ears on 50MHz folks, the Es season seems to be ramping up early this year at least in my experience.

anyone else been following this? i know the 7300 has been the go-to recommendation for basically everyone for years now and i always figured Icom would eventually fill that gap. curious what the more experienced guys think about whether this would actually be worth it over just grabbing a used 7610 or waiting for prices to drop on whatever this new thing is.

also completely unrelated but 10 meters has been absolutely bonkers lately, worked like 8 countries last weekend just running barefoot on a dipole which i dont think ive ever done before, solar cycle is really delivering right now

Been working some fantastic DX on 15m lately - signals are booming compared to last year. Anyone else noticing how long 10m has been staying open? Yesterday it was still active well past my usual sunset shutdown.

Great time to be a new ham learning HF! Digital modes like FT8 and FT4 are really helping pull out weak signals on the higher bands.

anyway while im at it figured id mention a few things ive seen floating around lately for anyone who hasnt heard — icom apparently confirmed the IC-7760 is actually going to start shipping to dealers sometime this quarter, theres been so much back and forth on that one i honestly stopped believing it but looks like its real this time. also saw that the arrl letter mentioned some changes coming to the vanity callsign fee structure, didnt read the whole thing but worth looking into if thats something you care about.

oh and for anyone into satellites, apparently one of the amateur payloads on a recent launch is working but theres some issues with the downlink, the amsat crowd is working on it. keep an eye on their site if youre into that sort of thing. just thought id throw all this out there since its been a slow week on here

also on a totally different note has anyone been following the chatter about the new Icom IC-7760? ive been reading bits and pieces on various sites and it sounds like they might be going with a remote head design similar to what they did with the 7100 but obviously way more capable. theres a post floating around from some Japanese ham who got a look at it at a regional show and the specs if they're accurate are pretty wild. curious if anyone here has seen more recent info cause i cant find anything confirmed from Icom directly yet.

also for anyone who missed it, 10 meters has been absolutely ridiculous lately. i mean i know the cycle 25 thing has been talked to death but actually sitting down and working it is something else entirely. got a few contacts into europe last tuesday afternoon with like 100 watts and a dipole in the attic, which i genuinely did not expect. my wife thought i was making things up when i told her.

anybody else been following the new Icom releases? heard some rumblings about something in the mobile HF space but nothing concrete yet, probably just wishful thinking on the forums. also the ARRL announced some updates to the digital modes contest rules i think but i havent read through it fully yet. anyone know the details on that?

anyway i know we're climbing toward the solar max and the SFI has been creeping up but i wasnt expecting it to be that dramatic. anyone else notice conditions have been better than usual this past week or is it just me? also saw something about the new Icom IC-905 firmware update dropping but havent had a chance to look into what they actually changed

also kind of unrelated but the 6m opening last tuesday was absolutely wild if you were around for it, i was running barefoot into a cheap yagi i threw up last summer and still worked like 40 states in a few hours. band was just lit up. made me think i should actually pay attention to the propagation alerts more instead of just randomly turning the radio on and hoping something is happening.

anyway if anyone has hands-on time with the 905 or knows more about the shipping situation id love to hear it, the wait has been kind of brutal

anyway while i was messing around on PSKreporter watching the spots come in i saw someone in one of the facebook groups mention that Icom is supposedly announcing something new at a trade show next month. nobody seems to know exactly what it is but theres a lot of speculation its a new HF rig in the IC-7300 price range. i dunno how reliable that info is but figured id mention it here since people always seem to know stuff before it goes official.

anyone else been taking advantage of the 6m openings? curious what youre running for an antenna up there, im just on a 5 element yagi which feels pretty modest compared to some of the setups people talk about.

anyway totally unrelated but has anyone actually gotten hands on time with the new Yaesu FT-710? ive been reading the reviews and they seem decent but reviews always seem decent. my 7300 is fine but theres something about that new receiver architecture yaesu is talking about that has me curious. not in a rush to upgrade just wondering if anyone here has actually used one on the air for a while and has real opinions about it.

Ive been watching the solar flux numbers creep up over the last couple weeks and was wondering if anyone else has been taking advantage of this. My setup is nothing fancy, just a dipole at about 25 feet, and i was still pulling in stuff from pretty far out. Makes me wish i had a beam up already.

Also saw some chatter about the new Icom IC-905 finally shipping to more dealers — anyone actually gotten their hands on one yet? Been curious whether its worth the price tag for the microwave bands or if its still kinda niche. Anyway mainly just wanted to say get on 10m if you havent lately, conditions have been surprisingly decent.

also noticed the solar flux index has been climbing pretty steadily the last couple weeks which i guess explains it. been a while since ive had a run like that on 10, maybe since the last solar cycle peak? hard to remember. anyway if you havent checked 10m lately might be worth tuning around, conditions seem to be trending in a good direction heading into the fall

also slightly off topic but did anyone see the announcement about the new Icom IC-905 being more widely available now? been curious if anyone has actual hands on time with it, the microwave band stuff looks interesting but im not sure i understand the use case well enough yet to justify anything like that price tag

anyway that got me excited enough to start poking around online and i saw Icom apparently teased some kind of new handheld or maybe a mobile rig, the post i saw was a little vague but it looked like it might be a dual band with some updated DSP features. anybody else see that or have more details? the rumors have been floating around for a few months now and im curious if this is actually real or just the usual forum speculation stuff. feels like its been a while since they released anything that wasnt just a firmware tweak on an existing radio.

also completely unrelated but the ARRL phone sweepstakes is coming up and i cant decide if i want to seriously try to compete or just hand out some points. last year i did like 4 hours and burned out pretty quick, might just be more relaxed about it this year.

I know solar cycle 25 has been ramping up and apparently we're heading toward or near solar max but I didn't really expect it to get this nuts this fast. If you've been ignoring 10m because it was dead for years this is seriously the time to dust off whatever you've got up there and give it a shot. Even the technician guys can get in on this since they have privileges on that band.

Also saw something about a new Icom release coming? Someone on another forum mentioned it but I cant find any details. Anyone heard anything about that?

the other thing thats actually confirmed is 10 meters has been absolutely wild lately. we're deep enough into the solar cycle now that propagation has been genuinely surprising people. i worked a station in Japan last tuesday afternoon on 10m running like 50 watts and a wire dipole — honestly wasnt even trying, just tuned around and there he was booming in. if you havent been on 10 in a while its worth checking in, especially late morning and early afternoon depending on your location.

also for anyone in the midwest there's a hamfest coming up in the Dayton area next spring obviously but also a few regional ones this fall that might be worth the drive if you're looking to poke around for used gear. i picked up a barely used LDG tuner at one last year for like half what they go for new so its always worth showing up.

anyway just thought id share since its been a while since theres been much to talk about on the news front. what are you guys hearing?

also side note — 10 meters has been absolutely bonkers this week, worked 14 countries yesterday afternoon just running 100 watts into a wire dipole. the cycle 25 peak might actually be living up to the hype for once. if youre not getting on 10 and 12 right now you are really missing out, at least here in the midwest the band opens almost every day around 1400 local.

anyway back to the 7760 — the separate receiver/controller design is what really got me interested, i like the idea of keeping the RF away from the desk. has anyone actually gotten their hands on one yet or am i going to be the guinea pig here

also heard there was some decent sporadic-e happening over the weekend too but i missed most of that. anyway if you havent been checking 50.313 lately you might want to keep an eye on it, pskreporter was lit up like crazy. anyone know if the solar flux has been contributing to this or is it just that time of year for Es season to start picking up?

Also totally separate thing — 10 meters has been absolutely wild lately if you havent been on. Worked into South America three days running from my little backyard vertical, which almost never happens from my QTH. Solar flux has been sitting up pretty high and the SFI was like 190something yesterday. If you havent dusted off whatever you have for 10m its worth firing it up just to see whats there.

Oh and for anyone into portable ops, the POTA activations in my region have been picking up a lot this fall. Seems like more people doing it which is cool. Anyway just wanted to share since not everyone follows all the same sites i do.

For those of us who travel for work or POTA activations, this is exactly what we needed. Anyone else notice how much the digital repeater landscape has expanded this year?

anyway thats not even why i posted. i saw over on the Icom USA page that they teased something new coming — looks like it might be related to the IC-7300 line but nobody really knows yet. theres a bunch of speculation on the usual forums but nothing confirmed. anybody heard anything more concrete about what theyre actually announcing? the hamvention announcement window is coming up so maybe thats where theyll drop it. just curious if anyone has more info than i do because i feel like im always the last to know about this stuff.

anyone else catch this? im up in the northeast so im curious if it was a more regional thing or if guys further west were seeing it too. solar flux has been creeping up lately and i saw somewhere that we might be getting close to cycle 25 peak sooner than originally predicted but i dont really follow the propagation stuff that closely. anyway just wanted to share because it made my whole morning honestly