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For those waiting in Germany or closeby EU countries for their zBitx, I can confirm, that the final shipping is really fast. I ordered my zBitx on 30-DEC-24 and it got shipped on Tuesday 8-Apr-25 in the evening. I got it delivered on Thursday 10-Apr-25 in the early afternoon, after I had paid the VAT and duty handling fees on 09-Apr-25 in the night with Paypal. Payment has been EUR 41.91 made up of 19% VAT on USD 155 = EUR 27.03 and EUR 14.88 for DHL duty tax processing. My zBitx was very professionally packaged and well protected by a cardbox and foam material. After unpacking it, I connected it to a lab power supply with current limted to 1A, got up to 8V and it worked fine (be patient for the Raspi Zero to boot the OS!). Current consumption in receive is ~0.5A. It came with the latest V1.06 firmware on the Pi Pico and the sBitx V3.051 (!) on the Raspi Zero 2W. After I connected an HDMI monitor and keyboard and mouse, I did a "./update" of the sBitx software and ended up with V3.021, i.e. an OLDER version, than the one OOTB!? Why is there a more recent version coming OOTB with the zBitx than the one on Github (both "./update" and "./update_zbitx" resulted in the same sbitx version 3.021)? After I had connected the Raspi to my WLAN, time had been synchronized and I had set set my timezone, I noticed, that the time displayed on the monitor was many hours off. I remembered, that there had been an issue with a timezone setting in ".profile". To my BIG surprise, this issue, that is known since >1 year, has not been fixed. I still found a line "TZ=America/Phoenix; export TZ" in ".profile". After I had commented this line and rebooted, my correct local time was displayed on the monitor. After that I ran 2 FT8 QSOs on 40m with the zBitx successfully in FT8 mode of sBitx. Afterwards I also ran 2 FT8 QSOs with the WSJT-X V2.5.4 installed on the Raspi Zero 2W, with sbitx set to "DIGI" mode. For WSJT-X I had to reduce the "Pwr" slider in WSJT-X to -29dB, to not overdrive the sbitx SW. The Raspi Zero 2W does not have enough computing power, to decode the received FT8 signal within the 15s timeslot, i.e. decoding runs into the next 15s cycle and you will loose this cycle for your response. I have been really surprised about the VERY high current consumption during transmit,as I had to raise the current limit to 5A. During the FT8 transmissions, the zBitx will run really HOT, so that you cannot touch the bottom aluminum plate any longer. Some additional cooling, as shown in other postings, seems to be highly recommended. Overall I am pretty impressed by this nice little toy and looking forward to small issues in the SW to be fixed (e.g. no CAT control via the "CAT" connector). -- 73, Joerg - DB2OO

I feel like I've fallen off the earth. I was busy playing along with my sbitx DE and suddenly we got the idea to move back to our home state after.. decades. Anyway, all SBITX DE went in a box.. still is. I was having fun with it.. but I fear that It may be lost at its current software. If that's the case .. oh well I had a ton of fun and it's still quite useable. If I can upgrade it, cool.. In the next few months I can see starting to have some time to do these things again. So anyone know the answer? 73 Brad N8YG

Awaiting my new toy, but wondering what, if any, impact the new tariffs announced by the US will have on shipments to the US. AC9KQ

Hi and ‘73. I searched and could not find this question covered so I would like to post it please. I’d like to purchase the kit version of the sBitx. Just the tested board. I have all the other components. However, I cannot use DHL as DHL has exorbitance additional prices and extra charges for Canadians. It’s absolutely ridiculous. It would cost me another $150 to get it into Canada. I would really appreciate if someone could direct me to another purchase solution for the sBitx board kit. Thank you very much. Gabe VE3SLJ.

I have been doing a fair amount of playing with the Zbitx. FT8- Is there a way to clear the screen area where the decodes are displayed? With so many decodes it can be difficult to sort through them. How about a button to turn off/on waterfall? WSJT-X: I have made contacts in FT8 In the settings, cat test did not work, however when actually running the software it controls the zbitx fine. Rig Rx Band control works fine Tx enable works and tune also. Remote mode:, A method to turn off the zbitx screen from the remote.. It might help reduce the the processing load? Screen timeout? I leave my zbitx running for days. Would be great if a timer could be in the settings to blank screen. Maybe just touching the screen would turn it back on. TX: When the radio goes from rx to tx I here noise thru speaker just before tx actually is on Maybe just a split second in timing to silence rx before tx goes on? Just a thought of a few things. I am very pleased so far and know there are plenty of things to add and or polish up, but overall a great first run so far. Thanks ! Joe VE1BWV

The bottom line problem was wsjt-x power slider defaults to maximum. This turned out to be a current draw issue that was causing the zbitx to reboot Thanks to all for your input and help resolving this issue. Thanks Again, Leo, AI5II

Due to unforeseen circumstances I have to cancel an order I made for a ZBitx. I have e-mailed HF Signals asking them to cancel and re-fund the cost. However, 1st email sent 4th April, another asking if they had received the first email on the 8th of April and to the present time no response from HF Signals. If anyone from the company is reading this or if anyone else has had a similar problem can they contact me please. 73 Regards Ian G4GIR

I'm starting to learn the idiosyncrasies of the zBitx. It appears to be running very hot (while not transmitting). The Pi Zero is reporting a core temp of 72 C. That seems too hot, ...and not even while transmitting. (I have a PI5 with a cooler HAT that runs around 50 C) Will external heat sinks on the back cool the Pi Zero sufficiently? Am I cooking it to a slow death? Don in Austin N5CID

I purchased V2 a while ago and never really used it until a few days ago. I just wanted to say that I am impressed and would recommend it highly! In 2 days I was able to make contacts all over the world on 10 watts or less with FT8 and already hit 25 states out of 50 in the USA. So easy to use! Excellent work to all involved! I did have a few software crashes which I haven't looked into yet. (The software just closes). Is there a log or anything that I can look at to find out what may have happened? Something where I can submit a bug over? I would like to add to the software and make it better. I have some ideas that could increase productivity. But maybe it is just something I would like to see. Thanks again for an amazing product! 73 KC2NDA/Aaron

I have fixed the two issues of zbitx on CW. The new update has good keying with Iambic keyer and the cw decode noise is now gone as well. To get this update, you have to: 1. Flash the new firmware (the firmware version is now 1.06). The firmware is available from https://github.com/afarhan/zbitxfrontpanel/raw/refs/heads/main/zbitx_front_panel_sw.ino.uf2 2. Update the new software on the raspberry pi, the latest version with the CW keyng fixed is 3.051 (or later). Here is Jose, VU2JOS sending CW with the new firmware update. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEVyuFrkBd8 With this, I hope we have moved on with CW issues. - f

zBitx group, I ordered my unit on Thursday last week based on what I read on the internet and the videos I watched. However since joining this group I have some concerns. My understanding was this is an "out of the box" ready to go radio. The comments I'm seeing here about setting up WSJT-X and recompiling code has me worried. Bottom line, is this unit a "READY TO ROCK" out of the box unit or not? I dont mind having to config WSJT-X but this groups is making look like you lucky if it even works on the radio you get. -- "POWER, WE DON'T NEED NO STICKIN' POWER" - EVERY KX2 OWNER Always respect the airwaves, 73 de KI7PBR, Gary