Back in the day I'm told as it was before my time, if you wanted a radio you had to build it yourself. There are a bunch of us hams that are happy those days are in the past. Today you can lay your cash down and buy tricked out appliance rigs that do things that were once impossible. That is pretty much what most of the new stuff is today, appliances. They have no soul, they are cold electronic wonders of modern technology. If i were to buy a 7300 and someone a thousand miles away bought one they would essentially be identical. It is awesome that we have the technology to do that. However it isn't everyone's cup of tea. Ashhar came up with? the BITX and all of the different versions from the BITX 40 to the sBITX to encourage others to build them. HF Signals came along mostly to put local people to work. These radios were made to be hacked on modified and made to make it your way. We have this awesome community here to help you do just that. The radios that HF Signals sell are not meant to be a McTransceiver where they are the same as everything else out there. These are all open source where they put everything out there including the coding and let you take it from there. Ask Elecraft for the coding for their latest and greatest. Homebrewing is a dying art. People has gotten to the point where they just want to lay down their cash and expect instant gratification. Everyone has to have the radio that just came out last week and it will be their pride and joy until the next model comes out next week. You learn the menu's get on the air and brag about how great of a radio operator you are because you have the newest disposable radio. The same radio that everyone else can buy. You "personalize" it through the menu settings. Your not going to crack the case open and warm up the soldering iron to truly personalize it. No way would you do that, it would be the ultimate no-no because it would void the warranty. You got to keep the resale value as high as possible cause you know that after the new wears off your gonna sell it because your newest pride and joy is about to hit the shelves. Most hams want that safeness. They don't care how their radio works as long as they can yell "Your 599 599, wait say again your lost in the noise and I can't hear you but you are 599 599!" all weekend long. You have turned into appliance operators. BITX has never been touted to be an appliance. They are made to be just bare bones radios to keep the cost down and more importantly encourage you to heat up the soldering iron and turn it into the rig that you want. You want AGC? Add it yourself. Have broadcast interference? There are schematics to help you with that. What is the advertising slogan for the sBITX? "An SDR you can hack" Just think of the power that gives you. That means you pick your options, not some EE in Japan or China who is telling you want you want. YOU decide what you want. You just have to take the time to learn how to do it and then do it yourself.?
I have been in this group for a few years now. A lot of people can testify that I have had a lot of problems. I'm constantly in the hospital having one surgery or another. In 2022 I set a personal record of 33 surgeries. In 2023 I have surpassed that. I don't have the finances you go out and buy the latest and greatest. I have to support a family of 4, including a son who is autistic and a daughter (she has her license) who is a senior in HS and deserves all of her SR stuff (prom dress, SR ring, pictures etc.) on my disability check once a month. I would give just about anything to be able to go back to work but that isn't an option. I don't have the option of buying the latest and greatest. When the sBITX came out I fell hard for it. It does everything I want in a radio. It has been out for a few years now, I still do not have one. I'm getting closer to it. Since all of my money goes to taking care of my family, I have to be willing to wait longer for my goals. Last month I got some resistors. Next month I plan on buying diodes if I'm lucky.? I have been trying to learn electronics and programming like mad. Many people in this group and other groups can testify to that from the endless questions that I have. If I set my mind to it, I could buy me a nice used radio and be done with it. That isn't what I want. I want the experience and knowledge that you get when you build or modify a radio. The sBITX was never intended to be the next Kilobuck radio. It is much better than that. It is a basic platform for you to build, modify and experiment with so you can make it better than the next appliance radio fad. The schematics and coding is out there free to the world just waiting for you to improve it.?
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'72
Aaron?
Aaron K5ATG