so i've been meaning to post about this for a while but kept forgetting. did anyone else see the announcement from Icom about the IC-905 getting some firmware updates that actually address the ALC issue a bunch of us were complaining about? i haven't had a chance to install it yet but a few guys at the club meeting last thursday were saying it made a noticeable difference on 2.4 GHz. would be curious if anyone here has tested it.

also completely separate topic but 10 meters has been open almost every afternoon this week, like genuinely wide open, i worked a handful of South American stations yesterday just running 100 watts into my wire antenna and the signals were 59 plus. solar flux has been sitting pretty high and i know we're still riding the tail end of cycle 25 being active so maybe that's why but it feels different than last year. if you havent been on 28 MHz lately seriously just tune around for a bit, even with modest antennas its worth it.

anyway just thought id share, anything else going on that people have heard about? feels like theres been a lot of activity in the hobby lately between new gear and the bands being cooperative for once.

yeah the 10m opening has been real, i caught it tuesday afternoon and worked into Europe with my little vertical on the roof, which honestly almost never happens from my location. noise floor was down and everything just sounded clean. my neighbor who just got his ticket last spring was over and i let him make a few contacts and he was completely hooked after that, i think that one session did more for his enthusiasm than any elmering i could have done.

on the Icom firmware thing i did actually install it a couple weeks ago when it dropped. the ALC behavior does seem more stable to me on the microwave bands but im not doing A/B comparisons or anything scientific so take that for what its worth. the menu navigation still drives me a little crazy on that radio but the RF side of things is hard to argue with once you get it dialed in.

wait 10m is open?? i just got my general like two months ago and haven't really tried HF much beyond some 40m stuff at night. is it like you just tune to 28.400 or wherever and call CQ or do i need to find a specific frequency people are gathering on? i have an FT-891 and a random wire so hopefully that works, i tuned through there once and it sounded dead but maybe i hit it at the wrong time