The group "kit build" thread a while back spurred me to buy a BitX40 kit.

Ordering it couldn't have been easier and the extra $10 for DHL shipping was worth every penny.

The two kits I ordered (I'll explain later) arrived in 6 days, quicker than

some stateside vendors.

I'll dispense with the unboxing as it's already out there.

Originally I selected an old Realistic TRC-30A CB base station as the chassis donor.

After I gutted it of it's evil CB circuitry, I made sure the power supply worked

and relized I was defeating the BitX's purpose, a small lightweight, portable

transciever.
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I then ordered up a "BUD" box just big enough to fit the BitX into. To my dismay

it hit me, I would need a separate power source and another "box" for it. UGH.
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Searching my vast empire, I uncovered an old antenna phasing box for some unusual

phased array/antenna so I gutted it. I made a new face plate to suit my build

including a bunch of "extra" jacks and buttons for future expansion.
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I mounted the main board on standoffs and used more standoffs on top

for a second level. Here is the mock-up of the battery tray and speaker placement.

The speaker will be mounted to the top cover and has plenty of clearance for the

battery tray underneath.
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It will have the option of using internal or external power via the slide switch

on the back panel. I included an LM7812 regulator on a terminal strip in case

I ever need to use some funky power but it isn't in circuit right now.

I did however use a crude R-C filter to feed the DDS board. This kept the DDS

noise out of the power supply and eliminated the "clicky" sound coming from

the speaker when tuning the frequency.

See second post..

It puts out 7 watts on 13.6VDC and sounds good on my monitor reciever.

There's still a few things to do on it, but it's operational on external power until

I fab the battery tray.

Can't wait to get an antenna built for it and take it into the wild!

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Cat approves!

Nice work.

Good job!

I've thought about geting one for JT65 on 40M.  There's a mod to switch it over to USB.

Nicely done!  I like the internal power option.  Might have to look at that myself.  I've been keeping an eye out for when the new µBITX may come available.  

Here was my build.  I got mine before there was a digital VFO option, so my VFO was a kit from qrp-labs.

Beautiful!  

Thanks guys! I'll update this thread as I install the battery tray and finishing touches.