so i was going through my usual morning routine of checking the hamradio360 podcast and a couple of the usual forums and it sounds like Icom finally pulled back the curtain on the IC-7760 at Hamvention this year, or at least officially confirmed what everybody kind of already knew was coming from the FCC filing leaks a few months back. the remote head design looks really interesting honestly, separating the main unit from the control head so you can mount stuff cleaner in a vehicle or shack without having the big box taking up desk space. not sure how i feel about the price point yet, nobody seems to have solid numbers but the speculation is pretty wild

also heard 10 meters has been absolutely ripping lately, guys on the DX clusters are working all kinds of stuff into Europe and South America without even trying that hard. solar cycle 25 is really delivering this year compared to what we were told to expect honestly. if you havent fired up 10 or 12 meters in a while its worth checking in, i had a random tuesday afternoon sesh last week and worked 14 countries in like 90 minutes which for me is pretty unusual

anything else coming out of Hamvention that people heard about? i couldnt make it this year and im mostly going off secondhand reports and YouTube videos

yeah the 7760 thing is exciting but im trying not to get too hyped until we see actual pricing and availability. Icom has a way of announcing stuff and then you wait like 18 months before it shows up in the US market at a price that makes your eyes water. the remote head concept isnt totally new for them obviously the 7100 kind of did that but this looks way more refined from what ive seen in the photos

the 10 meter opening thing is real though, ive been monitoring 28.400 and the beacon freqs and its been pretty consistent. worked a ZL last Thursday on 10 with my little dipole in the attic which i did not expect at all. cycle 25 has been surprising a lot of people who were predicting it would be a dud, seems like the solar scientists were being conservative

I'm pretty new to HF, just got my general a few months ago and set up a modest wire antenna situation in the backyard. should I be trying 10 meters right now to take advantage of this? I have an FT-991A and I kind of assumed 10m wasn't really worth it based on what I read before I got licensed but everyone keeps talking about it being open and now I'm second guessing myself. what times of day are best to check