Brady
The uBITx is never going to be a serious CW contest rig, but I imagine you are not expecting that.
I only operate CW, never more than 20W. Having installed the KD8KEC v1.061 firmware to deal with keying issues, and when combined with a good audio filter, I am very happy operating CW with the uBITx. I am straight key only so it would be good to hear from some paddle-key operators. I use a W3NQN passive LC audio CW filter built from a kit many years ago and sadly not available at present, but there are now many analogue and digital filter options out there to try. I am about to try the SOTAbeams Laserbeam digital audio filter, which comes with great reviews.
When I first assembled my uBITx I reported to my local club that it wasn't a viable CW rig. However, I now enjoy CW operating with my upgraded uBITx, especially as I've been able to customise the software. Last weekend I spent some time working CW in the YU and MM DX contests on the 40m and 20m bands (with my NorCal Doublet antenna). Whilst 47 contacts from on-off operating over the 2 days doesn't break any records, I had an enjoyable time hunting them down when I did go on the air. Significantly, I don't think I'd have done any better with my TenTec 579 (a nice very analog CW rig) running QRP and I much prefer operating the uBITx rather than my YouKits EK-1B or IC-703 QRP rigs because of the customisation I've been able to achieve.
The great strength of the uBITx is that provides a really good basis for experimentation and development, as well as operation, at a bargain price and I'm finding it is a real education when allied to all the support you can get from this Group. It is a true ham's rig and is fine for CW, with an audio filter, once the stock firmware has been upgraded. I am also very happy that I've had an introduction to programming the Arduino, something I'd been thinking about for years but had never taken the step.
Hope this helps.
73 Chris
G3SQU
