so i've been watching the Icom IC-7760 situation for a while now and it looks like some of the US dealers are actually starting to get stock in. been seeing a few posts on other forums from guys who've already got theirs on the bench. the remote head thing is pretty interesting — not totally new as a concept obviously but the way they've done the separation with that cable run is supposed to be pretty clean.

also heard there was a decent 10 meter opening last week, like a real one not just a blip, guys were working into europe from the east coast in the afternoon which honestly i havent seen that kind of consistent propagation on 10 in a while. made me wish i had the new rig already lol. anyway if anyone's got hands on time with the 7760 or heard anything about pricing settling down id love to hear it. dealers i called are all over the place with ETAs still.

yeah the 7760 is interesting but im honestly still burned from waiting on backorder stuff after covid so im in wait and see mode for now. the remote head design is cool in theory but id want to see how it holds up after a year or two of people actually using it before i drop that kind of money. my 7300 still does everything i need it to do, probably forever at this rate haha.

that 10m opening was real though — i worked a handful of italian stations on a Saturday afternoon with maybe 50 watts and a dipole that i really should have replaced two seasons ago. band was just alive. solar flux has been creeping up and i think we're gonna see more of that through the rest of the cycle if it keeps going. good time to have something cut for 10 if you dont already.

I just got my general last month so I'm still figuring out what I can even do on HF but I saw someone at my club mention the 7760 and now I'm kind of falling down that rabbit hole even though I definitely can't afford it right now. my first HF rig is gonna be something way more used and beat up I'm sure. but it's cool to follow the new stuff anyway. the 10 meter thing is exciting to me because my Tech license lets me do some stuff up there and I've just been hearing noise mostly so maybe I should try again soon.