Re: QDX reviewed in ARRL's March QST edition
The September 2022 issue of CQ magazine in their Kit Building column, "QDX: A Pocket Full of FUN" written by Joe Eisenberg K0NEB introduced me to the QDX.
Andy W3SW
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Hi Ron,
?????????? Thank you for your help.? Have replaced Q6 and now it does transmit at just under 1 watt, which I consider a victory.?? I think the next thing for me to do is realign the set and see what difference that makes.? I have watched
Hans Video on alignment and it seems quite straight forward.
????????????? Thank you again,
????????????????????????????????????????? Best wishes,
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Mike ??
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Sent from for Windows
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From: Ronald Taylor
Sent: 07 February 2023 17:42
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [QRPLabs] QCX Mini On Screen Measurement Not Changing #bpf #troubleshooting
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Hi Mike. Since your Q6 emitter has 12 volts on receive and 12 volts on transmit, but the collector has zero volts on transmit, I suspect Q6 is bad (open). You can remove it and test to be sure. Good luck.. 73 ... Ron
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Ron,
? I read your E-mail of 06/ 02/23 which is in reply to Mr Donnelly.? You inspired me to have another try at resurrecting my Classic QCX 30.?? Please may I pick your brains?? The
QCX was plugged in to a bad antenna, after which it did not transmit, though the side tone still worked.? I removed the BS 170 transistors Q1, Q2 and Q3 ad found I was getting 2.54v on the gates when keyed.? I also checked continuity from C29 to the BNC connector
which looked ok.? Only one BS170 transistor survived removal and that checked out as OK.? I have replaced Q1,Q2 and Q3 an it still does not transmit.? Q6 shows Emitter 12.76V,? 12.63 when keyed.? Collector shows 6.55V and 0.05V when keyed.?? Please can you
tell me is the next logical thing to replace Q6?? I apologise for contacting you like this, but it seemed like a to good an opportunity to miss.
???????? Mike?? G0KCH
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for Windows
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From:
Ronald Taylor
Sent: 06 February 2023 13:49
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [QRPLabs] QCX Mini On Screen Measurement Not Changing #bpf #troubleshooting
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If it was transmitting for any length of time with no antenna or dummy load attached, then the three output BS-170 MOSFETs are most likely blown. It is also possible that Q6 and
IC3 are bad as well. Start by carefully removing one of the BS-170s and testing it. Be careful to not damage the board while doing this. If you don't have some kind of solder removal tool, try solder wick and liquid flux for this operation. If one BS-170 is
bad, then all three are likely bad. While you have all three out of the circuit, look for the drive signal at the gates of the MOSFETs. It comes from IC3 and should measure about 2.5 volts DC on your DVM. If that isn't there, then IC3 is bad. If it is there
then look for 12 volts on the collector of Q6 while transmitting. If that isn't there or is there whether keying or not, then Q6 needs to be replaced. Note that the 12 volts should come up rapidly when keyed and diminish slowly when unkeyed, in the absence
of a load. If all that is now well, install new MOSFETs and test the transmitter into the dummy load.?
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Yesterday I managed to find that I had a short that caused it to always be trying to transmit. I have fixed that and I have successfully completed the alignment procedure.
As far as I can tell the radio is now fully functional with the exception that measuring the output using a QRPLabs dummy load, the output voltage is 3mV during receive and drops to 1mV when transmitting. I assume I have blown something in my PA due to continuously
being transmitting (although throughout my testing thus far, I have been measuring the current draw and it hasn't gone above 200mA).
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Re: QCX-mini Adjustment and Alignment Issues: Excessively Sensitive Gain and Inability to Adjust IQ, Low and High -THANK YOU ALL!
Tim, welcome to the club. ?Our building experiences are golden but they are like a new car¡.. once made it is like the new scratch on the car or the first dent. After that we actually feel better and move on. ?Even photos of a rig can be misleading until you see a lot of them and schematics and written instructions are made to mislead until we get better at reading them. ?Never forget¡. This is a hobby. Mistakes and errors are part of the fun of a hobby. ?If one (not you) has to have everything right or correct from the get go maybe another hobby would be appropriate. ?Again, a hobby should be a place or activity that relieves stress (sometimes teaches us about stress so we can deal with it) and gives us that feeling of accomplishment each time we do or play with it. ?After a while mistakes and errors become commonplace and we learn how to avoid them¡. Especially with these fine groups.io Elmers.
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On Feb 9, 2023, at 12:34 PM, Tim Delaney <tim.beagle@...> wrote:
? Hi everyone,
Thank you to all who responded to my call for help! It's greatly appreciated!!! I took a good hard look at everyone's advice and checked over everything. I double-checked and touched up solder joints and checked continuity on that T1... lo and behold, there was some flakiness on continuity between points 7 and 8, so I fixed that. When we went to test it, I had another booboo that I didn't know if it was a big deal at the time. When I installed the selector unit, I accidentally screwed it down on the wrong side of the board. Worse yet, there was a burr on the nut and it cut through the coating on the PCB. I installed it correctly, but the damage was done and the selector was grounding/shorting. I desoldered it and applied nail polish to insulate the trace from the selector. I'll test to see if this has eliminated the problem, but at least I've got everything else dialled in. Also, the excessive volume at the beginning of adjustment and alignment is no big deal as it sorts itself out as you adjust the trimmers.
As a newbie to kit building, I have learned an awful lot and I'm thankful this group is so receptive and helpful!
73 and I'll give a final update when I can.
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Tim
VE1XR
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Thanks and 73,
Tim
VE1XR
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QCX WARC Party - February 2023
Reminder,
next monday, Feb 13th, is the monthly QCX WARC Party.
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See? ?for all information.
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Join the discord page in the #qrp-operation channel to post your QRG or exchange other info, or just have a chat if conditions are really bad
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Report your results as a reply to this message (please don't start a new topic, then it's all in one place).?
No scores, no prizes ... just plain CW fun.
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I will be QRV on 17m, 30m and 60m, in the 1300Z and 1900Z sessions.
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The next QCX Challenge on the regular bands will be on Feb 27th.
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73 es GL,
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Luc ON7DQ
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Re: QDX v2 Q7 as a fuse...
#qdx
Hi Lou/Jim, apologies for the late reply, rather busy with work instead of our great hobby hi. Thanks for the kind offer; I've now been able to rule out the 3407 as being the cause of my QDX issues... Looking for other options (reorder/rebuild) now... Thanks again es best 73 de Paul PA2PWM
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Re: #QDX Hamlib Error
#qdx
On 10/02/2023 02:53, Greg - Gmail wrote: clarify your comment:
"You do know that with Windows the QDX does not work like a normal USB device? It requires a power cycle each time you plug it in."
Do you mean you need to shut down the QDX and then power it up again? Greg, Yes, Normally a USB device is seen whenever it is plugged in or immediately after a reboot of the PC. But a QDX only tells the Windows PC once, then it needs to be shut down and re-powered. 1.? I uninstalled some NetGuard software that monitors the UPS that is feeding power to the HUB which then feeds the PC.? I had problems with this software on the Desktop PC which were removed when I uninstalled the software.? The problem here was that the transmitters that I had controlled from the PC would randomly go into transmit.? With no audio there was no actual emissions but it was very annoying This looks like the problem. It must have been sending signals to cause the transmit. They would have been on COM ports so for some reason NetGuard was taking over the COM ports. 3. I downloaded the CP210x Universal Windows Driver A pity you are not sure about this. Terry has pushed this before as a COM port cure. I very much doubt it actually works on anything other than SiLabs chips but as he says it does no harm, might even save you a job one day if you ever use an adaptor with a CP210x chip. Anyhow, glad you got it working! 73 Alan
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Anyone else experience this:
MY Example:? I am in a remote are of Michigan, and put out a WSPR beacon at 01:52 UTC (and many other after that) on 15m (not a good time of day for it).
? ? I am limited to 15m due to my in hotel room antenna (not resonant on 10m).
? ? KK6PR reported hearing my beacon (2862 km away), but no one else did.? This was the very first TX I made.
? ? Yesterday, the EXACT same station heard me "ONCE" and it was my very first TX of the evening.
So, why the exact same station, and only hears the very first TX.
? ?There seems to be a couple of stations that "always" hear a new signal.??
? ?As soon as you send a WSPR beacon, one of a very few signals will always report hearing you.
? ?I am beginning to believe that they "really did not be hear my station" (as someone else would have reported it).
Any one have ideas on how they are getting information when no other station is hearing "me", and they ALWAYS only hear the very first transmission.
Also of interest, the reported frequency is not the TX frequency, so it may actually be heard.
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Rob KB8RCO
P.S. I know there are probably better places to post this, but not places I am active.
? ? ? I was a actually using HobbyPCB RS-HFIQ radio rather than my U3S on this trip.
? ? ? Same thing happened in the past with my U3S
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Re: #QDX Hamlib Error
#qdx
Hi Terry and Alan
Thanks for your replies.
Alan, can you please clarify your comment:
"You do know that with Windows the QDX does not work like a normal USB device? It requires a power cycle each time you plug it in."
Do you mean you need to shut down the QDX and then power it up again?? I usually have power off on the QDX before plugging it in.
I have got it working and this is what happened.
1.? I uninstalled some NetGuard software that monitors the UPS that is feeding power to the HUB which then feeds the PC.? I had problems with this software on the Desktop PC which were removed when I uninstalled the software.? The problem here was that the transmitters that I had controlled from the PC would randomly go into transmit.? With no audio there was no actual emissions but it was very annoying as it would stay in transmit for a minute or so blocking reception on FT8.? this occurred over time on a FTDX101D and also a Genesis G59.? Two completely different technologies but bot using a COM port to connect to the PC.
2. I disconnected the HUB and connected the QDX to the Laptops only USB-A? port.? No power applied yet.
3. I downloaded the?? and installed it.
4. I powered up the QDX and used Device manager to identify the COM Port number as COM6.? The original one from the HUB was COM5
5. I changed the driver for COM6 to I assume the?? ?There were two options, One already selected and another but both were labelled the same so a bit hard to tell the difference.
6. I powered up WSJT-X and changed the COM Port to COM6 and also reset the Audio inputs and outputs.??
7. The QDX now worked and i had full control to transmit into a dummy load.
8. I then shut down completely and reconnected the HUB
9. The QDX was now connected to the HUB (same USB port as used previously) and powered up.
10. Used Device Manager to see that COM5 was now the active COM port
11. Updated the drivers in COM5 as per previously for COM6.
12. Changed the COM ports in WSJT-X and also the Audio inputs
13. QDX now works on this HUB.
So not 100% sure what the fix was but I am a bit suspicious about the NetGuard software that was uninstalled given the problems I had with it previously.? I have a feeling that it polls all of the open COM ports with messages and may leave them blocked or something.
Alternatively, I suspect that the??has helped as well.?? ?
Thank you all for your help.? It is most appreciated.? I have some more experimenting as I have another HUB I need to test this fix on as it will be the one used in the field but from a different manufacturer.
Kind Regards
Greg VK4GRM
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Re: U4B Impressive WSPR Propagation and TELE question
#u4b
Steve what channel did you select on the setup .... I am having trouble getting anything with 1x7xxx
Dave
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Re: U4B Impressive WSPR Propagation and TELE question
#u4b
@VE3KCL
Dave:
I have no way to PM you The U4B is getting spots received on wsprnet now, starting minute 06, three blocks total. The second block has the callsign 017YPA (first block is NU7B). The third block transmits but I cannot decode it - don't know what it's sending.
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I used TELE 554321 123456.? (654321 is out of range for the first argument - it would have sent that modulo 632736).
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Be advised, I do have an active balloon, NU7B-21 on it's tenth world lap - it transmits minute 02 and 04 (a Zachtek).
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Thanks, 73,
Steve
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Re: GPS utility running (also) as a service for QLG-2
Nick, sorry for the delay. I have NTP currently installed on my laptop now, it *works* but I don't know why: 1) QLG-2 is working (A 3D f13 t18 s33), still after some time it gets a 'x' tally code and got persistently discarded...not expecting this. 2) No way to understand if PPS could work with Windows 10 and QLG-2. Not sure if it is because of a missing driver, a configuration problem or what. According to RealTerm there is no other activity on the pins, beside RXD, so no PPS signal is coming from the QLG-2 on USB. 3) If I disconnect the QLG-2 it correctly "fall back" to others in the NTP pool (well, it mostly gets excluded anyway), but if I reconnect it I need to restart the NTP service to detect it again. I would rather prefer it to use it automagically. Maybe I need a little utility to restart the service. 4) if I disconnect the wifi, NTP gets pissed off big time. If I connect to a wifi without internet, it falls back to GPS Not exactly a success so far. This is an extract of ntp.conf: server 0.it.pool.ntp.org iburst minpoll 6 maxpoll 7 server 1.it.pool.ntp.org iburst minpoll 6 maxpoll 7 server 2.it.pool.ntp.org iburst minpoll 6 maxpoll 7 server 0.ch.pool.ntp.org iburst minpoll 6 maxpoll 7 server 1.ch.pool.ntp.org iburst minpoll 6 maxpoll 7 server 127.127.20.16 mode 1 minpoll 0 maxpoll 0 prefer fudge? 127.127.20.16 stratum 0 flag1 0 refid GPSb server 127.127.22.16 minpoll 4 maxpoll 4 fudge? 127.127.22.16 flag1 1 flag2 0 flag3 1 refid PPSb This is an output of ntpq after QLG-2 is running for at least 10 minutes: ???? remote?????????? refid????? st t when poll reach?? delay offset? jitter ============================================================================== x127.127.20.16?? .GPS.??????????? 0 l?? 51?? 64? 377??? 0.000 -449.25? 99.001 -135.125.165.132 90.187.112.137?? 2 u?? 50?? 64? 335?? 17.897 -1.969?? 6.292 *185.157.229.254 192.168.10.1???? 2 u?? 49?? 64? 377??? 9.335 +0.566?? 4.311 -93.94.88.51???? 135.125.165.135? 3 u?? 54?? 64? 377?? 26.832 +0.563?? 1.486 +31.3.135.232??? 192.33.96.101??? 2 u?? 57?? 64? 377?? 20.450 +2.506?? 1.451 +162.159.200.123 10.13.8.124????? 3 u?? 51?? 64? 377?? 11.723 +0.613?? 4.970 I don't understand why it is not using the GPS, it should be better than internet ones. I may need a waterfall so I could trade the PI for the pc, but getting the NTP running on it is a major PITA (several versions of instructions that don't work). Yes,? I have a PI4 with a GPS board with 1PPS and NTP on it, I just would like not to use the PI4 for this. ? Not sure what you mean here - sorry
The whole O100 project was to avoid to be forced to use a laptop and have just the radio for rtx. QLG-2 is used to generate the 10MHz for the whole components (whole means transverter, LNB, ...even the 857 could be using the 10MHz see ). ProgRock2 hopefully will be usable for this. For this part in itself, NTP is not needed (phone/cw). In reality I may need a laptop to display a waterfall to find people to talk to, and having a good clock could help for FT8, either on SAT or normal hf. PI4 has the advantage that could be powered without messing with the 220V inverter when portable but I would need to include a monitor and it would not run HRD and the other windows software. Hope it is more clear. Giuseppe Marullo IW2JWW - JN45RQ
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Re: QDX New build zero RF output
#qdx
My understanding was that keying up the TX via the emulator should work even in the absence of sufficient audio. Maybe I got that wrong - however all audio sliders I can find are at 100%)
Make sure your computer audio levels are at 100% and the power slider in WSJT-X is all the way up.
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73, Dan - W2DLC
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Re: U4B Impressive WSPR Propagation and TELE question
#u4b
Hi Dave:
I'm still powering the U4B with USB, controlling by PuTTY, with a dummy load on pigtails for the antenna, so it's not yet propagating out on wsprnet. My own decoding with WSJT works fine for the first two blocks, then fails for the third block exactly as you describe in your first comment on this thread. It's TXing something on the third block, but WSJT cannot decode it. Clearly something is wrong if WSJT is failing just on the ext telem block.
I'll attach my antenna and if it's getting spots from other stns, I'll PM you. First TX slot will be 06.
If I'm not decoding the third frame, I'm failing to see how others will be able to, since undecoded spots won't be posted. Am I missing something?
Much thanks,
Steve NU7B
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Re: QDX - High Band - too 'hot' on 20m
Thanks to all for the ideas!? I had considered doing the 'buck convertor' option to reduce the input voltage (and may still play around with that).? But for the short term, I implemented Hans' suggestion, reducing the PIN diode forward bias.? Going down to the minimum (5ma), I was able to get the power out down to 4.5w on 20m.? And as Hans pointed out, this didn't affect output on other bands.
Will give it real world test tonight, on the air!
Tom
W5VS
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Re: U4B Impressive WSPR Propagation and TELE question
#u4b
Hi Steve??
Hans has a few things that will be adjusted in the U4B with the next update I believe.? I have just discovered that my recent flight U4B-33 may have an issue writing to the eeprom ... that may have a work around buy using a delay command between read and write and also a problem that could arise if the computer is trying to write to the eeprom as the solar voltage is crashing. This issue could be worked around by checking the voltage before the write command... anyway some of the more sophisticated features are being tested by my recent flights.? Attached is another way of deciphering the? telen code using excel and VK7JJ Wspr rocks site.
If you want to put some telen data on wsprnet by sending the two telen 6 digit numbers? 654321? 123456? with the command?
TELE 654321 123456
I will give a shot of decoding your tele with my excel sheet and perhaps we can find out where the issue is?
You can PM me after you have sent 10 transmissions or so
73 Dave VE3KCL
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Re: U4B Impressive WSPR Propagation and TELE question
#u4b
I'm having the same issue with TELE, and it is now February. I can't launch until this is fixed - the main point of my next flight is a sensor I have added. Glad I found this post - I was spending some time spinning my wheels.
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Steve NU7B
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Jim,
It looks like you are away to the races!
One thing you will not see on YOUR Waterfall is what the DX sees on THEIRs, (particularly on 40m) so your QRP sigs can in fact be UNDERNEATH a stronger signal (at their end) - try changing frequency from time t time - it works!
CU on 20.
73
Terry
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Re: QDX reviewed in ARRL's March QST edition
If you thought toilet paper was scarce during Covid in the US, watch what happens to the availability of QDX in the coming days!? Congratulations Hans on a fine product that is being recognized more and more in the amateur radio community.? Steve KY4GX.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:14
On Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 02:35:59?PM EST, Hans Summers <hans.summers@...> wrote:
Hi all
Charles NK8O reviewed?QDX for the March edition of ARRL's QST magazine. The article is reproduced with ARRL permission on the QDX page see
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QDX reviewed in ARRL's March QST edition
Hi all
Charles NK8O reviewed?QDX for the March edition of ARRL's QST magazine. The article is reproduced with ARRL permission on the QDX page see
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Success - mostly. I removed two turns from L2 and did a little subsequent turn spacing adjustment on it and now I get a reading of about 42 volts with a 9v supply setting. But the sine wave is unstable, as it was previously. Will start a new thread for this one.
In the mean time, thanks to all for the help in getting the QDX putting out a nice solid 4.5 watts or so on 40, 30, and 20 meters w/o having to use excessive supply voltage.
--
Jim / K7TXA
Eagle, ID
SKCC 10447
BUG 301
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David Wilcox K8WPE
ON7DQ Luc
Paul
VE3KCL
Steve R