so i've been putting off building the QCX mini for like 8 months, just sitting in a box on my desk staring at me. finally sat down thursday night and knocked it out over two evenings. honestly the build went pretty smooth, took my time with the toroids because those always stress me out, but they came out fine i think.

anyway saturday morning i threw it in my backpack with a random wire antenna and a 3ah lipo and drove out to a state park about 40 minutes away. found a picnic table away from everyone, tossed the wire up into a tree maybe 25 feet or so, fired it up on 40m and just started calling CQ.

i was not expecting much honestly. 5 watts, compromised antenna, no amp, just me and this little thing the size of a deck of cards basically. but within maybe 15 minutes i had my first contact, a guy in indiana, then another in ohio, and then completely out of nowhere a station in ontario came back to me really clean. i was kind of stunned. sat there for about 3 hours total and logged 11 contacts including that canadian station.

i know thats not impressive numbers for a lot of you but for me it was kind of a moment. like it really clicked why people love this mode so much. the efficiency of it, running basically nothing and still making contacts, there's something almost meditative about it. already thinking about what to build next, maybe a 20m version or trying to get into CW a little more seriously because i feel like that would open things up even more.

anyway just wanted to share. if anyones been on the fence about QRP portable stuff, at least in my experience this weekend it really delivered.

man that's exactly the feeling right there. i remember my first real QRP contact like it was yesterday and i've been licensed 22 years. there's just something different about knowing you're running less power than a christmas tree light and someone 500 miles away is hearing you. it never really gets old honestly.

the QCX mini is a great first build too, Hans does solid work on those kits. once you get comfortable with it you should really try a SOTA activation if theres any summits near you, that combination of QRP and portable operating is just... it's the good stuff. and yeah CW will absolutely change your world for QRP, the mode efficiency compared to phone is night and day. even 5 watts on CW feels like cheating sometimes.

11 contacts in 3 hours on 5w and a wire in a tree is honestly not bad at all, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. i had a session last fall where i ran for 2 hours and got like 4 contacts and called it a good day lol. conditions were rough that day though.

what frequency range were you hanging around on 40m? im curious if you were up in the cw end or down in phone. i have the same kit but havent taken mine out yet, been doing portable stuff with a KX2 which is kind of cheating i guess but it works.