so i've been wanting to do this for probably two years now and last weekend i finally just did it. built a little Pixie kit i got off ebay for like $8, yeah i know i know, but i wanted to start somewhere. it took me maybe three hours including all the times i had to resolder joints that looked bad under the loupe. first time i've done kit building since i was a teenager messing with heathkits with my dad.

anyway i took it out to the park sunday morning with a 9v battery and a wire antenna i just strung up between two trees, maybe 30 feet long, fed it against a ground radial i laid on the grass. running about 500mw which honestly felt like nothing, i kept second guessing myself like there's no way anyone's gonna hear this. but i sat there calling CQ on 40m for a while and eventually got a response from a guy about 200 miles away in ohio. i'm in western PA. he gave me a 559 which i was not expecting at all.

not sure i have a question exactly, just wanted to share because it felt like a genuinely cool moment. does anyone have recommendations for what to build next? i kind of want something with a little more power, maybe 5 watts, and something i can actually tune to different frequencies instead of being crystal locked. budget is pretty tight, maybe $50-80 for parts.

that ohio contact on 500mw is actually pretty solid, QRP can really surprise you especially on 40m when conditions are decent. the Pixie is a great little thing to learn on even if its not the most practical rig for actual operating.

for your next build i'd seriously look at the uBITX or if that's a bit much to take on, maybe look at the 4state QRP group kits, they're reasonably priced and the documentation is genuinely good. the SW-40+ used to be a classic recommendation but i think they stopped making those. another option is just hunting around for a used Elecraft KX1 or K1, sometimes they come up for $150-200 which is over your budget but they're worth saving for if you get the QRP bug bad enough. and trust me, you will.

also 559 at 200 miles on a pixie and a wire in a park is honestly a memory you'll tell people about for years. welcome to the dark side of this hobby

im literally in the same boat right now, just finished a pixie last month and been trying to get my first contact. havent had luck yet but reading this is making me want to go back out and try again. what time of day were you operating? i keep trying in the afternoon and maybe thats my problem