Gordon
My characterization of the uBitx as "garbage" is a term of art, not science. However, when a commercial radio is advertised as "Build the ?BITX transceiver in an evening. A general coverage, 10 watts HF SSB/CW transceiver kit? with features you NEED for operating ease, convenience and versatility. It works from 3 MHz to 30 MHz, with up to 10 watts on SSB and CW, with a very sensitive receiver." it would be reasonable for operators like Joe to assume they would have a compliant radio on the air after an evening's work. This is simply untrue.
"The front-end diode mixer followed by a Hayward/Kopski TIA makes this a crisp receiver that doesn¡¯t overload easily." Simply untrue. Using this receiver 3 miles away from a 1450 KHz AM broadcast transmitter is impossible through 20 meters due to overload. No other radio I own, including homebrew SDRs has this issue.
"10 watts of low distortion SSB provides you with enough juice to have thousands of contacts on all HF bands." Again, simply untrue. Unacceptable levels of SSB distortion begin at less than 2 watts and result in adjacent channel splatter at any level above that.
I am not bashing. As a basis for experimentation and improvement the uBitx is a treasure. As the basis for a rig to be connected up in one evening and put on the air, it is indeed "garbage".
WA8TOD
