so i've been putting this off for literally two years but last month i finally sat down and built a Rockmite 40 from the kit i had sitting in a drawer. took me a few evenings spread across a couple weekends, nothing fancy, just my old Weller iron and a magnifying glass because these eyes aint what they used to be.

honestly i was expecting more trouble but it fired right up first try which almost never happens with me. got about 500mW out which i know is not a lot but i took it to the state park last saturday with a wire strung up in a tree and worked a guy in Tennessee from here in Wisconsin. like 700 miles on half a watt. i know thats not crazy rare but it still kinda blew my mind after years of running 100W on HF.

anyway im sort of hooked now. thinking about building a larger DC40 or maybe one of the QCX kits from QRP Labs. anyone here running the QCX mini for portable ops? curious how the filtering compares to the rockmiite, the rockmite is pretty bare bones in that department from what i can tell. also does anyone bother with a battery pack specifically optimized for QRP or just use whatever lithium pack you have around

oh man the QCX mini is a completely different animal compared to the Rockmite, not knocking the Rockmite at all it's a classic but the QCX has a proper DSP-style audio filter and the selectivity is honestly impressive for what you pay. I run mine on a 3S lipo that i pulled out of an old RC car and get several hours of operating easy since the receiver draws almost nothing when youre just listening.

the 700 mile QSO on 500mW — yeah it gets you doesnt it. thats the whole thing with QRP, every contact feels like you actually earned it. I've been doing SOTA activations with a QCX and an end fed for about two years now and i almost never bother bringing my bigger rig anymore. just not as fun somehow.

one thing i'd say on the battery question — worth getting a small USB power meter inline so you know exactly what current draw youre pulling. some of those cheap lithium packs sag more than you'd expect under load and knowing your actual mAh consumption helps you plan activations a lot better. nothing worse than running out of juice on a summit.

i just started looking into QRP stuff after seeing a post somewhere about POTA and wow there is so much to learn. didnt realize you could build your own radio like that, i thought that was just something people did in like the 1950s lol. the Rockmite sounds cool but i read its only one frequency? is that a problem for actualy making contacts or do enough people know to listen there