So I've been kind of out of the loop for a few months, work has been insane, but I sat down this weekend and started catching up on everything and wow theres a lot going on. First off has anyone been working 10 meters recently? I jumped on Saturday afternoon kind of just messing around and within like 20 minutes I had worked 14 countries. I know solar cycle 25 has been building for a while but I genuinely forgot what a good 10m opening feels like, been licensed since 2019 so this is kind of my first real taste of it.

Also saw something about Icom teasing a new HF rig, think it was on one of the Facebook groups, but I cant find the original post now. Anyone know what thats actually about? I dont want to get too hyped if its just a firmware update or something repackaged. My IC-7300 is doing fine but I'm always curious what's coming down the pipe.

And one more thing, apparently there's a big contest coming up in a few weeks? Someone mentioned it at our club meeting but I zoned out a little, anyone know which one they were probably talking about?

yeah 10m has been genuinely unreal, I worked a station in South Africa on a dipole in my attic last Tuesday. Like a random Tuesday afternoon. I had to double check the callsign because I couldnt believe it. If you haven't tried FT8 on 10 lately you're missing out, the band is open way more than you'd think even when you don't hear much voice activity.

As for Icom, I think you're thinking of the IC-905 stuff but that's been out for a bit now, mostly microwave/VHF stuff which isn't for everyone. There was also some chatter about a possible successor to the 7300 line but nothing official that I've seen, could easily be rumor mill stuff. Those Facebook groups can be... creative with their sourcing sometimes lol. Your 7300 is honestly still one of the best bang for buck rigs out there, I wouldn't stress too much about upgrading unless something really compelling shows up.

The contest is probably CQ WW, that's the big one in the fall that everyone talks about. Runs the last full weekend of October for phone and then SSB, then CW in November. If you've never operated it even casually just turning the dial around on a Saturday is kind of fun to see how many prefixes you can pick up without really trying.

omg yes 10m I was just telling my husband about this, I called CQ on a whim on like 28.450 and got a pileup?? I'm a tech with HF privileges on 10 only and I was so not prepared for that. ended up in my log like 22 contacts in an hour which is more than I've done in my entire time being licensed honestly. really makes me want to study for general so I can get on the other bands when conditions are like this.