[Icom] 756ProII backlight / band conditions

[Bob Nielsen]

On Wed, Jul 24, 2002 at 07:39:06AM -0400, Ray, W2EC wrote:
> I'm traveling on vacation and stopped at HRO in NH Monday to buy a
> 756ProII. I have a 20/17/15/10 meter dipole I brought with me in
> anticipation of using the rig. However on trying it Tuesday and this
> morning I find the bands are dead, as in I barely hear a thing. There
> are one or two stations on 20 I can barely hear, and nothing but noise
> on the other bands. I've gone thru the book to make sure everything is
> set up right,(ant 1 selected and ant connected to Ant 1, rf gain,
> everything else I would expect). I get lot's of noise, but virtually no
> stations, the few I do hear are so weak they are barely copyable.
> 
> I've been off the air for several days so someone PLEASE tell me we have
> had a massive solar condition that has wiped out the bands for several
> days, and it is not my new 756ProII!
> 

I don't think the new radio is the problem.  Conditions in the
Northwest aren't too good either. According to http://dxlc.com/solar/
there were 6 C-class and one X-class flares yesterday.  I listened to
the bands a bit earlier today and found no activity at all on 10 and 12
and very little on 15, 17 and 20 meters.  I did hear some weak
conversations in Spanish on 15 and assume they were from Mexico or
South America.  Hopefully things will improve in time for the IOTA
contest next weekend.

73, Bob N7XY