So ive been lurking on a few different sites this past week and theres been a lot of chatter about the new Icom stuff they previewed at the Tokyo Hamfair. Cant find great English coverage but from what i can piece together it looks like they might be doing something in the handheld D-STAR space again, maybe a successor to the ID-52 lineup? Not confirmed obviously but the photos floating around looked pretty interesting.

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.

yeah 10 meters has been nuts, i worked a ZL station last Tuesday with like 25 watts and a dipole in my attic. my attic dipole. i literally laughed out loud sitting there. havent seen conditions like this since i got licensed back when the last cycle was peaking and even then i dont think i was paying enough attention to appreciate it. if youre a newer ham and you have anything that covers 28mhz just get on there and call CQ or spin the dial, you will not be disappointed right now.

on the Icom thing im cautiously interested. the ID-52 is already a really solid radio and i use mine constantly for local D-STAR linking stuff so if they improve on it ill probably eventually cave and upgrade. depends on price obviously, last thing i need is another expensive radio sitting on my desk justifying itself to my wife lol

This might be a dumb question but when you say 10 meters is open does that mean like anyone can use it or do you need a certain license class? im still on my Technician and trying to figure out what i actually have access to. i know i have some HF privelages on 10m but i cant remember exactly what the limits are for Tech. been meaning to look it up properly.