The All New zBitx 5 watts QRP All Band, All Mode Radio is Here!

 VU2ESE has announced the launch of zBitx on the BITX group. It is available for purchase at http://www.hfsignals.com/ and delivery will start in February 2025. According to VU2ESE, it is a low cost 5 Watt, 80m to 10m QRP radio with a 480x320 touch screen that allows you to run CW, FT8 and other digital modes without needing even a phone that the original zBitx needed. As previously posted, zBitx is based on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, which gives it the prefix 'z'. The physical size of zBitx is just 6 inches by 3.5 inches, 1.5 inches thick, weighing just 250gm, and includes a battery case that can hold two 18650 lithium polymer batteries. One has to get batteries from elsewhere. External DC supply can also be used with a maximum of 9V. zBitx seems to be quite 'pocket friendly' both in the literal sense and cost wise!


An HDMI monitor, keyboard and mouse can be plugged in, to use like a QRP base station. zBitx runs the same software as sBitx radios. zBitx will ship with 64-bit software upgraded to handle the small screen. VU2ESE has also promised that schematics and software will be released open source, GPL v3 on github in a few weeks. That will be a boon for experimenters to tinker with it, as I can see large number of modifications being done by radio amateurs globally on the previous versions of Bitx. Like the popular uBitx, power output will be lesser on higher bands 15m, 12m and 10m.

FreeDV, QSSTV and Fldigi are preloaded in the zBitx so that it is ready to go for digital modes. On screen keyboard allows you to 'type in' CW and there is a CW decoder as well. Editable CW macros and N1MM style logger for exporting to ADIF format is available in the installed software. My usual disclaimer applies here as well: I have not seen or used zBitx. I am posting this because I am proud to see a new QRP radio being announced by a VU ham. I am in no way connected with HF signals and this is not a paid promotion! I do hear a lot of uBitx users on the air and enjoy reading a lot of discussions on the BITX groups.io.

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