so i've been wanting to do this for probably two years now and i finally just pulled the trigger on a QCX mini kit back in the spring, took me a few evenings to build it because i kept second-guessing my soldering on the tiny SMD bits, but got it done and it actually worked first time which honestly shocked me a little

took it out to a park saturday with a simple end fed wire i threw up in a tree maybe 25 feet or so, running off a little 3ah lipo pack, and made four contacts on 40m in about an hour and a half. nothing crazy, two were in state, one was Ohio and one surprised me — a guy in Virginia which felt pretty good for 5 watts. everybody said my signal sounded clean which i was relieved about because i was a little worried about the audio from my paddle (its a cheap thing i got off amazon, not ideal)

anyway just wanted to share because i feel like this whole QRP portable thing kind of clicked for me this weekend in a way it hadnt when i was just reading about it. the efficiency angle is what gets me — like theres something satisfying about making a contact knowing youre running less power than a nightlight basically. anyone else remember their first real QRP outing? curious what kit or rig you started with

That Virginia contact on 40m with 5w and a wire in a tree is nothing to sneeze at, conditions have been pretty decent lately but still that's a solid first outing. I remember my first QRP contact clear as anything — i was using an old Oak Hills OHR 100A that a friend basically gave me, ugly little thing but it worked, and i called CQ for about 45 minutes before someone finally came back to me and i think i scared my wife by yelling in the shack

The QCX mini is a great kit to start with. Hans does good work and the receiver on those is surprisingly decent for what it costs. Only thing i'd say is once you get comfortable with it start thinking about your antenna situation a little more — that end fed is fine but if you can get a 9:1 unun on there and maybe a bit more wire length you'll notice a difference. Also dont underestimate a good paddle, it makes a huge difference when you're out portable and tired and trying to copy in the field. Doesnt have to be expensive, there are some decent cheap ones from various places if you look around

dude this is exactly the kind of post i needed to see right now because im literally in the middle of building a Penntek TR-45L kit and im getting nervous about whether it'll actually work when im done. your post gives me hope lol. how long did the QCX mini take you start to finish roughly?