so i was just doing my usual evening listening session yesterday and stumbled onto 28.400 or so and the band was absolutely packed. like i havent heard 10m like this in probably 8 or 9 years, maybe longer. was working stations in south america, europe, even caught a JA briefly before he faded out. running maybe 50 watts into a dipole up about 25 feet and i was getting 59 reports from places i wouldnt normally dream of hitting.

i know solar cycle 25 has been running hotter than predicted but this felt different, like genuinely surprising. also saw some chatter that there might be a new icom release coming sometime this fall, something in the mid-range HF market but i havent seen anything confirmed yet. just rumors at this point i think. anyway anyone been taking advantage of the current conditions? feels like a good time to dust off whatever antenna projects you had sitting on the back burner

yeah 10m has been something else this cycle honestly. i remember when it was basically a dead band for like 5 or 6 years and now its almost hard to find a clear frequency on a good afternoon. i worked 47 countries on 10m last month alone, which is more than i worked in the previous three years combined on that band. the JA path has been opening up real nice in the mornings too if you catch it early enough, usually around 0100-0200 UTC from here in the midwest.

as for the icom thing i saw the same rumor floating around on one of the facebook groups. someone posted what looked like a leaked spec sheet but honestly it could be anything, people fabricate that stuff all the time. i'll believe it when there's an official announcement. the 7300 is still doing everything i need it to do so im not exactly in a rush.

oh wow okay so this is good timing because i just got my general license last month and have literally been sitting here wondering if my setup was broken because i wasnt hearing much for the first few weeks. then last weekend suddenly my whole radio came alive and i had no idea what was happening. so it was the band opening up, thats what that was. i worked my first DX station, a guy in colombia i think, and i was shaking a little honestly. didnt know if i was supposed to give my callsign again or wait or what but he came back to me and it worked out. this hobby is way more exciting than i expected