so ive been seeing some chatter on a couple other boards about Icom possibly announcing a new HF rig at Hamvention this year. nobody seems to know exactly what it is but some people are saying its a replacement for the 7300 line which honestly would be huge if true. the 7300 has been the go-to starter HF radio for like what, seven or eight years now so any replacement would have to be pretty compelling to get people to switch over.

also heard 10 meters has been absolutely on fire lately, some guys in my club were working Europe on just 100 watts with modest antennas last weekend and said it was one of the best openings they'd seen in years. solar cycle 25 is really delivering. if you havent gotten on 10 recently and you have HF privledges its worth a tune around even if you dont normally hang out up there.

anybody else heard anything about the Dayton announcements? or have any other news thats gotten you excited lately, band conditions wise or new gear or whatever. feel like its been a pretty good stretch for the hobby lately and curious what other people are tracking.

yeah the 10 meter opening last Saturday was something else, I worked 14 countries in about two hours from my backyard vertical which never happens. heard a pile of Spanish stations just absolutely booming in and even got a couple JA contacts which I wasnt expecting at all. the solar flux index has been sitting up in the 200s on and off which is wild compared to a few years ago when we were scraping for contacts.

on the Icom thing I wouldnt read too much into the rumors until we actually see something official, remember last year people were convinced Yaesu was dropping a brand new flagship transceiver and it turned out to just be a firmware update announcement. that said I do think the 7300 is due for a refresh eventually, the SDR architecture is still solid but the front end could use some work if you ask me. guess we'll see in May.

oh man I didnt even know Hamvention was coming up that soon, this will actually be my first year going. just got my general ticket in February so im still pretty new to all this. is it worth going even if your not super into contesting or DX, like is there enough there for someone who just wants to learn more general stuff and maybe find some deals on used gear?