so ive been down a rabbit hole the last few days reading through some of the usual spots and there's a lot of chatter about Icom possibly announcing something new at the tokyo hamfair this year. nobody knows for sure obviously but the speculation is pretty wild, some people think its a mid-tier HF rig to slot between the 7300 and the 7610, others think its something totally different. take it all with a grain of salt but its fun to speculate i guess.

also separate from that — 10 meters has been absolutely nuts this week. i worked a bunch of south american stations yesterday afternoon with like 50 watts into a dipole, signal reports were solid both ways. solar flux has been climbing and it shows. if you havent fired up 10m in a while now might be a good time to dust it off and see whats happening up there.

anyone else been following the hamfair rumors or have info i dont? and has anyone else noticed the 10m conditions lately or is it just my area doing well

yeah 10 meters has been really good this week, worked a ZL station Tuesday morning which honestly surprised me, wasnt expecting that kind of path at that hour. running barefoot into a vertical so nothing special on my end either.

as for the Icom thing i saw that thread on reddit too. somebody posted what they claimed was a blurry photo of something on a bench but honestly could be anything. i'd love to see a proper replacement or update to the 7300, its a great radio but its been out for a while now and the competition has caught up in some areas. yaesu's been doing interesting stuff lately too so icom probably feels some pressure. either way these pre-hamfair rumor seasons are half the fun of being in the hobby i think, even when nothing pans out

this is actually really good timing for this post because i literally just got my tech license last month and have been trying to figure out what HF radio to save up for. i cant afford the 7610 but the 7300 seems like the sweet spot everyone recommends. if theres something new coming out though should i wait? or is that one of those things where you wait forever and something is always around the corner lol