So I've been going down a bit of a rabbit hole this week between catching up on some DX news and stumbling across some chatter about what Icom might be putting out later this year. Someone on one of the Facebook groups was posting specs that looked pretty interesting — supposedly an updated mid-range HF transceiver but I haven't seen anything confirmed on the Icom site yet so take that with a grain of salt. Anyone else heard anything concrete or is this still just rumor mill stuff?

Also completely separate but 10 meters has been absolutely going off the last few days. I haven't heard it this open in a couple years honestly. Was working some South American stations yesterday afternoon without even trying, just casually tuning around and suddenly the band was packed. If you havent been on recently and you have any kind of HF setup at all its worth checking out, even a modest antenna is pulling in stuff right now.

There's also apparently a state QSO party coming up this weekend — I think it's Virginia but I'd double-check the ARRL calendar. Figured someone here might want to get on and work some multipliers if they're chasing that kind of thing.

yeah the 10m opening has been real, I noticed it Tuesday and worked a few stations down in Brazil with my little vertical and about 50 watts. nothing fancy at all. solar flux has been climbing which probably has a lot to do with it, we're getting closer to the cycle peak so hopefully this keeps up through the fall and winter.

on the Icom thing I saw the same post I think, someone was saying it might be aimed at the same market as the 7300 but with some updated DSP stuff. honestly the 7300 is still such a solid radio that I'm not sure what they'd change to make people want to upgrade but I guess we'll see. I'd be curious what the price point ends up being if it's real.

oh man I had no idea 10m was open like that, I'm pretty new to HF — got my general a few months ago and have mostly just been sitting on 40m because thats where all the activity seemed to be when I was first getting started. gonna have to actually try 10 this weekend. do I need to do anything different antenna wise or will my dipole cut for 40 at least pick up something on 10? I know it wont be resonant but just curious if its worth even trying before I mess with anything.