Since this is a Softrock group, I'm sure you'll get lots of favorably biased answers, including mine. I've been using two RXTX Ensembles (40-20 mtr, 15-10 mtr) for about 10 years as my everyday radio, mostly CW and BPSK31 modes. When the Sun had bad acne, I worked almost half the way around the world on that 1 Watt. Until recently, I used Windows PCs as the host, but I'm now splitting the duty with a Raspberry Pi, just for fun. I've never actually used a uBITX, but I've looked at the design fairly carefully.
The uBITX and Softrock RXTX Ensemble are a bit of an "apples and oranges" comparison, so it depends a bit on what you want to do with the rig. Here is my thought on the differences.
uBITX:
- Stand alone box (no external computing power needed).
- 10 Watts out
- All HF bands covered in one box
- CW and SSB only (no digital modes)
- Fully assembled
Softrock RXTX Ensemble
- Requires external sound card and computing power.
- 1 Watt output
- Build for 2/3 specific bands
- Comes as a bag of parts
- Operates just about any mode your software can think of
To be honest and as a life-long engineer and experimenter, I can't think of any reason not to build all of them if you already have the kits. Doing that, you can become your own best advisor!.
Have fun and 73.
Brent AB1LF
Brent DeWitt