so ive been putting off building one of these for years, always told myself id get around to it. finally pulled the trigger on a bitx40 kit a few months back and just got it on the air last weekend. took me way longer than i expected to get the board assembled, mostly because im slow and kept second-guessing my solder joints, but it works.

first contact was with a guy in ohio, im in western pennsylvania, so not exactly a monster dx contact but honestly i was just happy to make any contact at all running 7 watts. the audio wasnt perfect and i think i have a slight hum issue thats probably a grounding problem but overall i was pretty impressed with what you can do with such a little signal.

anyone else been messing around with QRP kits lately? curious what other people have built. ive been eyeing the ubitx for the multiband capability but not sure if i want to jump into something more complicated before i get more comfortable with the bitx40

congrats on the first contact, that feeling never really goes away honestly. the hum you're describing on the bitx40 is almost always the power supply, try a different one or add some filtering on the input, theres a whole thread on the bitx40 groups.io about it. people have had good luck with a simple ferrite bead on the supply leads.

the ubitx is a solid next step if you're patient with it. mine needed some tweaking out of the box especially on the higher bands but the community support is really good. just go in knowing it'll probably take a weekend to get dialed in rather than a plug and play experience. for portable stuff ive been using mine with a lithium battery pack and a random wire antenna and its genuinely fun operating that way.

ohio to western pa on 7 watts is still something to feel good about, dont sell yourself short. ive made contacts on 5 watts that i couldnt replicate on 100 the next day, propagation is weird like that. keep at it and you'll start getting a feel for when the bands are working for you