so ive been running an IC-706MKIIG for probably 12 years now, its been a great rig honestly, no real complaints, but im starting to feel like im missing out on some of the newer stuff. the noise floor on mine feels like its gotten worse or maybe i just notice it more now that ive cleaned up my antenna situation a bit. running a pretty decent dipole at about 40ft and an LDG tuner so its not the antenna side thats bugging me.

been looking at the IC-7300 mostly because everyone seems to love it and the price has come down to where its not insane. also glanced at the TS-890 but thats a whole different budget conversation. my main thing is i do a lot of casual HF work, some digital (mostly FT8 these days, dont judge me), and occasionally i'll try to work some DX when the bands cooperate. not really a contester.

is the jump from a 706 to a 7300 actually as noticeable as people say or is this one of those things where im gonna spend the money and go eh its fine. genuinely curious what people who made a similar jump think.

made basically that exact jump about two years ago, 706mkii to a 7300, and yeah the difference is real. the SDR panadapter alone changed how i operate, i actually find myself hunting around the band way more than i used to just because i can see whats there. the roofing filter situation on the 7300 is way better for crowded band conditions too, like during a contest weekend when everyones piled on you can actually pull signals out that wouldve just been mush before.

the built in waterfall also means i got rid of an external SDR i was running alongside the 706 so thats one less box on the desk which my wife appreciated. digital modes are dead simple with the 7300, USB audio just works, no fussing around with interface boxes unless you want to get fancy.

only thing id say is give yourself a few sessions to get used to the menu system, its not bad but its different, and some things are buried a couple levels deep. overall though yeah i dont regret it at all, felt like a meaningful upgrade not just a lateral move.

the 7300 is probably the right call for what you described but dont sleep on used either. ive seen 7300s go for like 850-900 in decent shape on qrz classifieds lately which makes it an easier decision. one thing i'll throw out there — if you ever think you might get more serious about contesting or weak signal stuff down the road the gap between the 7300 and something like a 7610 is pretty significant on the receive side, but that's also like double the money so maybe not relevant for casual operating.

my shack has a 7300 as the main rig and honestly for FT8 and general HF poking around its hard to beat at the price. just make sure your PC's USB drivers dont do anything weird when you set up wsjt-x, theres a known thing with some windows 11 builds that causes audio droputs, easy fix but annoying if you dont know to look for it.