so Icom dropped some info about the IC-7760 at Hamvention this year and i dont know whether to be excited or just sad about my wallet lol. the remote head design looks really clever for mobile or shack setups where you dont have a ton of desk space, and the specs they're showing look impressive but honestly we've seen that before and then the actual radio shows up and it's like... fine, not groundbreaking.

anyone else following this? i keep going back and forth between saving up for it or just grabbing a used IC-7300 for like $700 and calling it a day. been running a Yaesu FT-991A for the past couple years and it's been solid but i want to get into more serious HF operating and the 991A always felt a little cramped with the menus. curious what the more experienced folks here think about timing on new releases — is it usually worth waiting for the first production run or should you let other people find the bugs first

yeah i was at Hamvention and saw the booth, the demo unit looked really nice in person. the head separation thing is genuinely useful if you operate from a vehicle or have your rig in a weird spot in the shack. that said i always wait at least 6 months after a new Icom release before buying, not because the quality is bad but just because firmware on first-run units is always a work in progress. remember how the 7300 launched with some odd audio quirks that got sorted out pretty quick? same deal probably applies here.

if youre happy on HF and not in a huge rush the 7300 used is still one of the best value radios out there, hard to argue against it honestly

im in the same boat, i keep watching the videos people are posting from the event and it looks cool but like... does it do anything my current setup doesnt already do. maybe im just not the target market. also didnt 20m open up really nicely last weekend? was working some EU stations saturday morning with barely any effort which was a nice surprise, we're definitely getting somewhere near the solar cycle peak i think