On Tue, Apr 8, 2025 at 02:34 PM, Bill Jobes wrote:
It's a shame there is not (yet) a resource here for we non-EE PhD's to access for guidance on how exactly to check and resolve at least the common problems that these otherwise fine radios manifest.
Ludwig and others have already documented troubleshooting approaches for the most common problems in this forum's wiki.? The fluctuating power/bias current is not a common problem with a known solution that can be easily documented.
Also, keep in mind that everyone on this list is a volunteer.? I haven't added to the wiki, because I just haven't taken the extra time to do so - it does take time and effort to make a good wiki posting.? You are welcome to help by consolidating responses (like the one I just provided to Andy, and other responses to posts about the same problem) and add them to a new wiki entry for fluctuating bias current.
And there are a LOT of them.? Both kit and factory built rigs, based on postings here, are a crapshoot when power is first applied.
That is very much an exaggeration, Bill.? Keep in mind that Hans has sold many thousands of QMX/QMX+ radios.? And only a small percentage of people assembling them have reported issues - yes, when reading this list it seems like everyone has issues, but only those who do are posting them here - without counting, I venture to say far less than 10% (a generously high estimate) of all QMX/QMX+ kit builders report problems.? And some of the most common of those problems were avoided with recent versions of the hardware - so the numbers of problems have significantly decreased.
A new WIKI where the forum experts could contribute precise tips and tricks to diagnose and fix problems would sure be appreciated.?
I agree with Ludwig.? The WIKI is already here, and already has ideas for many of the most-common problems.
What I think we need is more help in making more good entries to that wiki, derived from successes recorded in the many forum posts, and perhaps a better overall roadmap pointing to the appropriate entries for different categories of problems.
?
One reason QMX/QMX+ are as inexpensive as they are, is because they are user-supported.? If Hans had to take the time to write a good troubleshooting guide for all of the problems we find solutions for, he would have to charge twice as much for the radios.?? His current documentation and assembly guides are excellent, far above what some other vendors provide for much more expensive radio kits.
Stan KC7XE
