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RSGB Tonight@8 - Bitx to SBitx: the journey of this range of transceivers, by Ashhar Farhan, VU2ESE



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The BITX is a simple to build, yet challenging all-band transceiver kit.

Many people, even if they don’t own one, will have heard or read of the impact it has for a radio amateur to be able to build a rig at a low cost, with repeatable results, to get on the air.

Ashhar advanced the BITX with the introduction of the uBITX, which is a HF (3-30MHz) all-band SSB and CW transceiver kit. His latest design, the sBITX is a hackable HF SDR transceiver designed around the Raspberry Pi.

In his talk, Ashhar traces the history of BITX, with a bit of anecdotal banter and some tech pointers.

Ashhar was first licensed in 1982, at the age of 16, as VU2FAX—this was the beginners’ licence of India. He was greatly inspired by the RSGB books found in the city’s British Council Library. Of particular impact was Amateur Radio Techniques by Pat Hawker.

After his marriage, the hobby unfortunately took a backseat, and he lost his licence, but he regained it in 2003 and was spurred on by EMRFD written by Wes Hayward, W7ZOI and others. He joined the mailing list and started to build the basic understanding of the blocks.

Ashhar is a member of LARC (Lamakaan Amateur Radio Club, Hyderabad), GQRP.

Find out more:
Read the QRP Scrapbook - https://www.rsgbshop.org/acatalog/QRP-Scrapbook-1893.html#SID=31

Read QRP Basics by Rev. George Dobbs, G3RJV (edited by Professor Roger Green, M0RJG) - https://www.rsgbshop.org/acatalog/QRP_Basics_3rd_Ed-2047.html#SID=26

Take a look at Ashhar’s website - https://www.vu2ese.com/
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