While the main unit seems nicely built, overall I am not impressed so far. The unit is definitely not ready for primetime for the normal ham that may not be a LINUX user. Below is what I have experienced so far in the two days that I've been playing with the radio that Santa brought. I would not recommend this radio for a ham that is looking to get on the air right out of the box. For a radio at about the same price point when on sale, the Xiegu X6100 might be a better choice for these hams, although it does not have the output power that the sBitx has. 1. Upon initial power up and launching sBitx, the unit would not receive on SSB. Absolutely, nothing, not even noise. In the FT8 mode it worked fine. This lead me astray, not realizing that the unit was keyed up when in the SSB mode since it worked fine in the FT8 mode. So, while trying to trouble shoot in the SSB mode the unit got very hot since it was keyed up for awhile and I didn't know that. All seems well though so far with the finals. 2. The problem above was traced to an intermittent short in the mic connector. The soldering was very poor and there was a point of solder on the tip (red wire) terminal that had poked over into the PTT (black wire) conductor insulation creating a short that keyed the radio whenever the mic cable was wiggled. I contacted HF Signals and asked for a new mic. They responded and said they have not had many mic problems and asked me to take the connector apart and look for shorts. In other words, fix it yourself. 3. The clock in the LXPanel toolbar, the one with the Raspberry Pi logo on the left side is off by one hour for my time zone. HF Signals sent me some LINUX commands to try and fix that. It didn't work and nothing else that I have tried works either. I am currently awaiting for a second response from HF Signals. I do have to give them credit as they responded quickly to my first email. 4. When running apps like WSJT-X and FLDigi, the entire app screen is not displayed and thus far I have not been able to move the screen to see the portions that are not displayed. Therefore, I cannot change some of the setting in these apps that I would like to change. By the way, I have one of HF Signals uBitx radios and it is great. In fact, my satisfaction with the uBitx is what convinced me to buy the sBitx. Not sure what happened with the sBitx. As log as HF Signals is willing to work with me, I'll give it a go and update this post as time goes on and problems get resloved. There you have my initial thoughts on the sBitx V3. If you like to tinker with radios, this one might be for you. If you're looking for a radio that works out of the box, then look eleswhere. -- Dave

HFSignals and guarantee, at the very beginning i built 2 ubitx v1, one v3, one mchf, 2 trsdr and many other kits. since i don't have so much time for work anymore, i decided to buy the sbitx v3 as a finished device, after 5 days the problems started, because farhan is also on groups.io, I first looked for help there (topic blown finals...) well in the meantime I have written 15 emails with the support, exchanged the mosfets etc. and the problem is still not solved. It is of course not a warranty case because I was 2 days! over the warranty when I contacted them, I had mistakenly tried to solve the problem myself first, is the first device in more than 20 years of amateur radio where the mosfets have broken, I have a complete measuring park and all kinds of tools I need to repair it. the only thing i don't have is the time, i'm waiting to see if i can send it to hfsignals for repair, if not it will be thrown away and it will be the last transceiver from hfsignals for me. sorry for the long post but i am totally annoyed that i am now throwing almost 500eur in the garbage because of 2 days warranty and the error occurred after 5 days on the device and it was apparently not due to the mosfets. 73 Andy

When shall we have a zBitx.net? 73 - Merry Christmas to all - Pierre - FK8IH

Hello, Last year I bought a V2 used, immaculate condition. SN 0215. I have done the software updates. I use on receive and low power FT8. Really enjoy it. I watched Gord Gibby's TECHCON 2024 presentation and followed several topics on V2 & V3. I want to confirm the changes I plan to do are OK. 1. polish heat sink 2. use aluminum nitric oxide insulators 3. use heat sink paste 4. install transient protection diodes - CDSOD323-T08C 6. Add protection resistors to the drain of Q101 (suggest 150 to 200 ohms) & to the two diode’s going to the TR circuit from +12. (suggest 470 ohms) 7. install 2 x 3.5mm toroid on power cable 8. Add Etsy - Power protector and sBitx QRO external amplifier keyer - Anything else? Thank you - George VY1GP

Hi Friends I see most of current members are building the sbitx, a small contribution in understanding with sbitx schematic with a podcast generated bi ai . https://amateurradiokits.in/understanding-sbitx-hat-with-podcast/ best regards Sunil VU3SUA

Hi Friends. Lately I have developed some interest in AI to improve and get help from AI for my work in getting manuals and other stuff for my kitting of Ham radio kits for my customers. I found a way to present manuals by podcasting, where there is an interactive way of discussing how to build a projects . We will try to update all our manuals with podcast, pictures and also a download link for the actual written manual. So now you can just relax, while going of to sleep also you can listen to various projects being discussed in a podcast. Hi Hi Kindly let me know what you think of my latest manual of Easy Bitx Dual Band TCVR Kit for 20 meters And 40 meters. https://amateurradiokits.in/podcast-understanding-easy-bitx-dual-band-transciever/ Thanks and best regards Sunil Lakhani VU3SUA

I just received my v3 last night and have been having a lot of fun with it so far. I have run into one issue and I'm not sure if I'm missing something here. When I attempt to a station calling CQ POTA {CALLSIGN}, the program replies to POTA as if it is the other operators callsign. Is there a way to correct this? I also am wondering if there is an option (I looked and did several google searches) to have the software prompt me to log the QSO? Thanks in advance Spencer VA3SPN

I have a very underutilized sBitx available at no cost to a deserving club. I'll cover freight. So, if you have an interest, let me know. Thanks, Tim WB7UVH

Hello everyone I just bought a Sbitx V2 from an OM. There is no sd card. I programmed a new card with V3.2. In transmission, on CW and 2-tone modes, I note: 30w on 80m, 20w on 40m, 6w on 30m, and from 3w to 0.5 w on the other bands. On V4.12 and V4.2, 64 bits it is the same. Modifying the "hw_settings.ini" files has no effect whatever the version. The previous owner replaced the two Mosfet twice. Could this be the cause of this tx fault? All opinions are welcome. Sorry for my English.

Hi everyone, I have been working pretty heavy on my sBitx DE now running the latest 64 bit OS. The radio now works great..... except the audio sound like a speaker inside a big empty box, gee I wonder why. There is plenty of audio it just sounds real hollow and kind boomy. Has anyone found a way to to improve on this. When I was kit I used to build speaker boxes in wood shop only to find they sounded terrible when finished because of no insulation or baffling inside, I think this is the same situation although I can't think of a way to improve it. Anyone else find a way fix this? Joel N6ALT