so i was poking around on the usual sites this morning and apparently there's some buzz about Icom teasing something new at the Dayton Hamvention this year, nothing confirmed yet but the speculation threads over on another forum are going nuts. personally i think they're overdue for something in the VHF/UHF space, the 9700 is great but its been out long enough that an update wouldnt surprise me.

also for anyone who hasnt been paying attention to the bands lately, 10 meters has been absolutely bonkers the last few weeks. solar cycle 25 is really delivering and i worked a pile of EU stations last tuesday with just 100 watts and a dipole up maybe 25 feet. nothing fancy at all. if you've been sitting on the fence about HF this is honestly a pretty good time to get in.

FT8 is still wall to wall on 20 but if you want to actually have a conversation 17 meters has been surprisingly good for SSB lately, at least from my QTH. anyway just figured id share since not everyone follows the news sites obsessively like i apparently do now

yeah the hamvention rumors always get out of hand lol. every year someone swears Yaesu or Icom is dropping something massive and half the time it's a firmware update or a new mic accessory. that said i do hope they do something interesting with microwave or weak signal stuff, that whole segment feels like it hasnt had much love from the manufacturers in a while.

and 100% agree on 10 meters, i havent seen it this good since i got licensed back when cycle 24 was winding down. worked a VK station last week completely by accident, just tuned around and there he was, good signal and everything. my old teacher always said wait for the solar max and now i finally get what he meant.

wait so is 10 meters open like right now? i just got my tech ticket last month and i can actually operate up there, been mostly doing 2 meter stuff on the local repeater which is fine but id love to try something different. do i need anything special or can i just use whatever HF rig i can borrow