I made dozens of FT8 & FT4 contacts right after finishing my QMX+ built with no issues at all. Then I tried calling to a group of friends ranging from San Diego to Oregon who were chatting on 40 meters. It took a few calls but they finally heard me and wondered what was wrong with my rig! (I'm usually running about 900 watts to this crowd, not the 3-4 my QMX+ was putting out.) They said my signal was not always copyable due to QSB but when they heard me, the audio was very clear. Band conditions were terrible at the time so I'm calling that a win!
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This was with a Heil portable headset for Icom rigs with my little adapter box that diverts the mic signal from tip to ring and provides a PTT button. I've tried the rig with a few mics, including a tiny lavalier that I believe is intended for car Bluetooth installations. Every mic worked just fine although I've got a few of the recommended elements on the way from DigiKey.
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Lawrence KC6WOG