Can I suggest the unit be sent to someone like Jeff Moore or JZ or one of those types to see if the issues can be isolated circuit wise to give some light on the subject?
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Hi Julian
My apologies, I have been very busy the last couple of days; I have your email requesting a refund and I will handle that, no problem.?
It does appear likely from your descriptions that you have a fault around the encoder or controls board. I assure you that the controls and controls board ARE included as part of the test procedure for an assembled radio. Unfortunately it is never possible to guarantee that there's no intermittent connection which eludes testing, nor that there is no knock etc during transit.?
I am at a loss to explain?the other issues that you mentioned, regarding computer control of the radio. The symptoms you described are in some aspects categorically impossible for the firmware to produce. If you have USB access to be able to update firmware, then you also have USB access to Audio and Virtual COM serial; it indicates that there is no possible hardware fault in the QMX. If there was a firmware fault regarding Audio or CAT, then others would already have reported it too (particularly in such a serious issue as no CAT control capability at all).
It is absolutely NOT necessary, when upgrading firmware, to do so one version at a time. There cannot be any difference in doing one version at a time, or in doing a jump from say 009 to 014. It's again categorically impossible for the firmware to produce any such difference. A factory reset *should not* be needed, but as there have been some changes to the use of some memory locations, at this early stage in the product firmware there could be some error in defaulted values so on certain firmware upgrades, a factory reset was prudent. You stated that doing sequential firmware updates resolved some issues (USB CAT control) but again, this just cannot happen; I do not doubt you, when you relate the occurences; I can only say that it must be coincidental, some unrelated PC confusion must have been resolved coincidentally with the firmware updates.?
I can only conclude that you had configuration issues on your PC, though you mentioned you already have a perfectly functioning QDX and you clearly know how to operate it competently, so even this is not a very satisfactory explanation.?
Many mysteries...?
Anyway I'm sorry to hear of all the trouble, which should never occur on an assembled unit.?
73 Hans G0UPL?
?
On Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 9:57?PM N3JF < n3jf@...> wrote: This is another update - a slightly more positive one...
As far as the?software/firmware?side of things is concerned...
The hamlib errors seem to have been an issue with firmware updates. When I updated from 1.00.009 to 1.00.014, I went straight from one to the other. I know of no devices which require firmware updates to be performed in order, so figured this was a safe thing to do.
As a test....
I downgraded the firmware to 1.00.009 (the version installed when it arrived) and when I connected the QMX to my new laptop with its fresh installation of WSJT-X, WSJT-X did not throw any errors. Same with the QDX, using the exact same settings in WSJT-X. This is exactly how it used to be... the two radios were completely interchangeable with no need to change the COM port or Audio settings as Windows saw the QDX and QMX as the same radio.
Next, upgraded the firmware to version 1.00.014 by doing sequential updates - updating from 009, to 010, to 011, to 013, to 014 - with a Factory Reset between each update and after the final update.
When I connected the QMX to my computer (new laptop or old desktop, doesn't matter), it was assigned COM 16.
When I connected the QDX to my computer (new laptop or old desktop, doesn't matter), it was also assigned COM 16. This is what I used to see!
Both the QDX and QMX were assigned the same audio device - "Digital Audio Device (QDX Transceiver)".
With the?QMX?attached to the computer, when I ran WSJT-X and set the radio to "QRPLabs QCX/QDX" and the correct COM port (COM 16)...
WSJT-X did not report any errors and the QMX functions correctly.
When I swapped out the QMX for the QDX, WSJT-X continued to function correctly.
So, as far as the software/firmware side of things is concerned, I think that was fixed by doing sequential updates, or at least it fixed a bad update.
Now, that still leaves the hardware issue, which makes the software side irrelevant:
Neither of the first two units had this issue with the dial not working, but the third unit does. It should never have passed the quality control check.
The left dial simply does not work properly.?
In fact... NEITHER of the two dials work reliably! I don't know why I became so fixated on the left dial - probably because CAT control wasn't working and I was trying to switch bands and modes... but, I totally forgot that my initial complaint to Hans on 10/11/23, the day it arrived, was that the RIGHT dial was not responding! I sent him the following link to a video of me receiving it, unboxing it and testing it:
Now that the software/firmware side is working, I just tested both dials again. The right dial has the same issue... it doesn't respond to clicks.
So while I can now use the computer to change bands (it does?not?change modes from CW to DIGI) and operate, I cannot reliably use either of the dials to change modes, bands, or any other function that requires clicking either of the dials.
My next test is to see how sensitive the QMX is compared to the QDX. I remember that the the FT8 waterfall was full of FT8 signals when using the QDX, and much less so when I switched to the QMX.? In fact, in my initial testing after I received the QMX on 10/11/23, I sent an email to Hans on 10/23/23 saying:
"I used my QDX and the waterfall was full of signals. I disconnected the antenna and switched it over to the QMX, made sure it was tuned to 14.074MHz. Same antenna, coax, power cord, power supply, same computer... All I saw were the strongest signals on the band. I switched everything back to the QDX, and the waterfall was full of signals again. I used the QDX for the remainder of the day."
Maybe firmware version 1.00.014 has fixed my QMX sensitivity issue? Guess I'll find out soon enough!
73
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