so i finally pulled the trigger on one of those QMX kits after reading about it here and other places for like six months. took me two evenings to put together which honestly wasnt as bad as i thought, my soldering is pretty mediocre but i took my time and it fired up first try which felt like some kind of miracle.

been running it at 5 watts into a wire antenna in the backyard and made a few contacts on 40m, nothing crazy but a guy in Ohio heard me which felt amazing considering what im used to running. my question is kind of dumb but is there a point where you start chasing efficiency more seriously with QRP, like do people obsess over antenna feedline losses more when they're only putting out 5w? feels like every db matters way more than when i was running 100w on the old rig. also wondering if anyone runs these portable, like actual parks on the air stuff, and whether the battery situation is annoying or if thats kind of part of the fun

yeah every dB absolutely matters more at QRP, youve basically figured out the core thing that makes the whole pursuit interesting. when youre at 100w you can kind of throw power at problems but at 5w a bad coax connector or a poorly matched antenna will really show up in your log as... silence. most serious QRP ops ive talked to end up spending more time on antenna work than anything else, and a lot of them run end-fed halfwaves or resonant dipoles specifically to avoid losses in tuners and such.

as for portable, yeah thats really where QRP shines in my opinion. ive been doing POTA runs for about two years now and a 3ah lipo will last me most of a morning activation easy at 5w, especially if youre running CW which your radio should be pretty efficient at. the whole thing fits in a small bag and you can hike somewhere nice and just operate which is a completely different vibe than sitting in the shack. dont let anyone tell you its frustrating, it is sometimes, but the contacts you do make feel earned in a way that 100w contacts just dont for me anyway

QMX first try is impressive, i botched a couple joints on mine and had to reflow them before it came up. ohio on 5w to a wire is a solid start honestly. i wouldnt stress too much about squeezing every last bit of efficiency right away, just operate it and youll naturally start noticing what seems to help and what doesnt