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Yesterday my QMX got its maiden voyage in full kitted-out form.? Went to US-3715 here in GA (Cartersville).? It's been out in the field before, but with other radios till I was confident this one would be a good primary, and I wasn't disappointed this time.? My kit is not a micro, SOTA-up-on-a-peak kit, but still very small and fits in a backpack with plenty of room for other stuff.

Even though I had fine internet, I wanted to use the QMX to spot myself, so I didn't use internet for anything other than verifying.? I have KM6LYW's Digipi set up?on a Pi 0 2w.? Added a GPS dongle to pull time off gps satellites (pi doesn't have an rtc), so once i got a gps fix and the time was locked, and chrony sets the pi's time from it, fired up WSJTX.? With SotaMAT on my phone and the Georgia parks + CW on several bands configured, I found a good clear 20m CW freq.? I set that freq up in SotaMAT, copied the POTA spot string from SotaMAT into the CQ message line in WSJTX, tuned over to 14.074 in digi mode, and let er rip.? Watched on the pota spot page that I was spotted and sure enough, was spotted the first time within seconds.

Switched back over to CW and the freq I spotted myself on, and got to work.? Activated on 20, switched to 30 and got a few there.? Didn't get to work any 40.

I've done both FT8 and JS8Call on the pi02w with the QMX before but didn't here.

QMX CW thumps?? Yes.? Bad enough I can't work?? No.? I have AGC on (I will not turn this off now that it's available, anyone who's used the QMX before AGC knows this well), sidetone relative, I forget what volume, I also forget what freq somewhere between 550 and 600, I like it low.? Volume not up loud, I have earbuds in so hear it very well.

In the kit:
QMX rev 2 (qrp labs assembled, i had to replace the rx mux ic that I blew out by unknowingly using it without the diode fix which i've since done)
Talentcell 6000 mah battery - (can't see it, it's under the tuner) this is way overkill but it's the same size as the tuner so kit-wise it just made sense.? I like that it has both a 12v DC port (for the QMX) and a 5v USB port (to run the pi).
ATU 10-0A - as cheap as they come, but man it just works.? hard to beat for $30
Pi Zero 2W and a case, headers, and all the fun stuff like the screen
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Glonass gps dongle - i dunno, some cheap one, works fine
3d printed paddles - i've made several of these and have used them a long time but don't care for them, got boards for VK3IL's pressure paddles coming which will work much better for the kit
Retractable 3.5mm cable for the paddles
Retractable 3.5mm earbuds
Couple right angle bnc adapters
A few inches of rg174 stub between tuner and QMX
A few inches of DC cable with 2.1mm right angle barrel ends for power
~16' rg174 feed
External speaker I usually don't even use
Right angle 3.5mm adapters
USB necessities to power the pi and data to the qmx
JSVer hard case
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Antenna is a homebrewed 20+30+40 tapped coil (22ga bntechgo)
Coil is sitting on an unbelievably small camera tripod. Of all the things in the kit, that tripod makes me the giddiest.
Whip is the Elecraft kx1 replacement whip which collapses to 6".
I pressed in a 1/4-20 rivnut into the bottom of the coil, but the 1/4-20 camera stub on the tripod wasn't long enough to reach the threads so I had to add an extra coupler and some allthread to finish the mount
2 different radials - 13' 22ga bntechgo silicon for 20m, 33' for 30 and 40m (30 is wound in to 20-25', I haven't found the perfect sweet spot yet).? They each have a fork and get clamped to the pvc tee with a screw+wingnut you can't see
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The antenna fits in the case underneath the QMX in a cardboard case I custom fit
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And after left open only a few minutes, enough pollen to choke a honeybee.? Yep, it's March in Georgia.