And it's not a kit for beginners. s
On Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 12:26 PM, jon allen wrote:
How do I get started simply without running out of paper.
Don't print the manuals.
-- Gary W0CKI
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Thanks; I agree it's expected the bands may have different efficiency. In my case 10m was quite a bit lower output and higher draw, and I saw that running 10m also heated the finals much faster than other bands. I would like to troubleshoot this more, but other than messing with the winding spacing I'm not sure where to start. Now that I run it with a little fan cooling the finals most of the time I don't worry about heat as much. But interested to hear suggestions or other builders' experiences. (Should note my QDX also has TN0110 finals instead of BS170 now, but I also saw differences in heating across the bands with the original BS170s.)
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On Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 12:26 PM, jon allen wrote:
How do I get started simply without running out of paper.
Don't print the manuals.
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I also printed this cover es like it.
All I did was warm both sides with the heat gun and bend
them in si there was some pressure against the radio.
No more slipping.
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Hello, Ive built a few kits over the years. So as secretary for my local radio club I thought I would buy this one to recommend for a club project. The kit is very professional in appearance, but immediately a few things became apparent.? Firstly, the building instructions came to 70+ pages. No problem but because of a paper jam and printer crash the file did not allow me to start part way through. Why not? I had to start from scratch, so new printer cartridges and paper wasted. Frustrating.? Reading through - transformer winding is now a separate document. So print I this off. Looks complicated as obviously problems in this area.? Wondering about the operation manual and this is nearly 100 pages!!!? How do I get started simply without running out of paper. Even Yaesu and Kenwood have a quick guide?? Next looking through the bugs and fixes for the many software download iterations I'm left wondering is it worth worth starting to build the kit? . It probably won't work as it seems to be too complicated and so 'sticking pasters' are extensivey used.? Have I wasted my money? Jon Allen M0IXK?
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Re: QDX - Very low RF output after replacing burned finals
It looks like the driver IC may be broken. The final of QDX is similar to the one of the QMX. So read please this document from QRP Labs WIKI. 73 Ludwig
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I did the hardware test¡SWR tune¡the reading never stops changing. It will bounce around when testing¡even with a qrp labs dummy load.?
I¡¯m not certain horse to use my computer to test it¡do I need to research that?
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?I¡¯m a good directions follower. Do the build was within my ability. Software is a challenge for me.?
Thanks! 72
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QDX - Very low RF output after replacing burned finals
After I discovered that QDX can also do CW via Fldigi and MixWin I was trilled to work two QSOes on around 11.0V and PA was giving not more than 4.5W, and 1:01 SWR acording to my SWR/Powermeter. I used to do more qsoes before on different modes with this rig, also wspr with 2w over nights and all with same setup and with no problems at all. However, this time it seamed it was to much for my QDX and I heard a nasty "slap" sound and no CW any more.. Visual check showed one BS170 was broken apart, probably from taking to much heating. RX was ok, also terminal approach works but power output is less than 1w, probably 0.2-0.5 but the QDX board (Rev.5 and f/w. 1.10) is heating to much on TX and also on RX (!) so I left it rest for the time.
So I ordered pack of 10 and replace all four BS170 as replacing only one that was broken didn't repair anything, but also after replacing all 4 finals it is still the same:
- RX works fine, and QDX is ok on COM port recognized and CAT works and PTT all ok. PC is Windws7
- On TX I have very low power, probably less than 1W as it can not wake up my Chinese swr/rf meter that has limit around 1.5 W to show it. I know there is power out as it can be heard on other RX and also get some WSPR responce.
- The board is taking 300 mA on RX, and as I found here, it is twice as it should be..?
- The board is HEATING UP around the legs of two BS170 that are side by side, but not on the opposite pair.
- I also measured 0.33V on the middle leg of the BS170 pair that is not heated, but on the pair that is like heating it is 0V.
- I suspect by subjective finger touching that the IC 9AC3G9K (ACT 38) is also very warm, but it could be that is heated by this heating pair of finals as it is very close to it.
- Done Transmit testing from terminal but got only info that PTT and TX works, and I knew that already..
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Where to go from here? Help is appreciated. I have only standard DMM, soldering iron, DC from 5 to 20V and cheap frequency counter, also 4-5 more BS170 in stock with some experience of building and troubleshooting couple of QRP kits and some big "guys" also but with older technology... Hopefully will resolve this. Thanks!
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Srdjan, E78CB?
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Re: Congratulations, Hans
Congratulations, Hans! ?How wonderful to be recognized amongst your peers for your accomplishments. ?Taking care of your gap years in style, and being your own boss-priceless!
73,
deW3PB. Chris
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Getting T501 to deliver power from 1.8mhz to 50mhz is well beyond anything I'd attempt.
Amazing 6m works at all.
Variations between rigs with hand wound inductors is to be expected.
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On Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 10:27 AM, G0TXL wrote:
Its producing the power specified with the exception of 6m which I suspect is normal
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The IC-705 does very well with every bluetooth device I've used with it; Bose, AirPods, Shokz. Still need a PTT but if you're using the mic you can tell the radio to use the mic or headset for TX audio.
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I'm always wondering why a ham radio can't utilize smartphone earbuds that have build-in mic and buttons, are there any technical reasons?
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72, Wei
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I haven't really run the rig for long other than quick cw tests, nothing seems to get warm. The current values were taken from the psu and are of dubious accuracy but should give a relative indication. The QMX+ broke down yesterday and I've only just got it going again (zener diode failure). I put the lower power down to the LPF compromise; looking at the diagnostics its not really optimised for that band, could be the amp is therefore running into an odd impedance.? But its speculation without doing some measurements. Its producing the power specified with the exception of 6m which I suspect is normal from other results I've seen on the forum; including those from Rick below.
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G0TXL (Paul)
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Re: Congratulations, Hans
Which reminds me of another Churchillian quote that seems so appropriate here: ¡°Never before in ham history has so much been done for so many by one dedicated and inspired man¡±. ?Or something like that.
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On Oct 16, 2024, at 12:15, Tisha Hayes, AA4HA via groups.io <Tisha.Hayes@...> wrote:
? The award should say 'never has five watts gone so far'.
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Tisha, AA4HA
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And you could/should run through the terminal mode diagnostic tests. See the Operations Manual ...
You must have a good dummy load when running the tests. ( And just in general! Very handy to have. )
QRP-Labs sells a nice kit for that as do many others.
GREG KI4NVX?
On Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 11:46 AM, Chris KB1NLW via groups.io <chrisrey1@...> wrote: The 20M wire is probably resulting in high SWR that will kick in and stop TX.
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I would recommend you recycle power and go to Hardware-tests/SWR to get an SWR reading.
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Re: QDX - output dropped from ~5W to ~2W
A short follow-up:
I replaced the 4 BS170s, and installed 2 Zener-diodes like Sverre Holm mentioned here , and now the QDX is back with 4-5,2W.
Thanks a lot for your replies, I realy appreciate! :)
Cheers,
Torsten
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vy 73 de Torsten | DB2TE
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign
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Am 15.10.2024 um 12:55 schrieb hamradio@...:
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Hello list :)
last year I finished my QDX, and I still run it nearly every day :)
Yesterday I noticed the output is reduced by ~50%.
In the beginning it was ~5W on 20m, and ~4W on 10m.
Now its ~2W on 20m and 10m.
As all the stuff is at the attic I'm pretty sure nothing has changed there (same power-supply, same antenna, same cables, same W11-NUC).
Where should I look to? What should I do?
Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Torsten
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Re: QMX kit mid band - Missing a few cm of 0.33mm and 0.60mm wire
#kit
#qmx
On Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 07:50 AM, DD5ET wrote:
I would think that at least one of the hundreds of builders of QMX kits so far would have paid enough attention during the build to be able to say whether or not you could make each wire, say, 4 cm (or 3 cm or whatever) shorter and still be long enough to easily wind each toroid ... and save the rest of us some time and, possibly, heartache.
I can say this.? For my QMX, I noticed after winding the first toroid that the length of the wire tails was more than necessary by a few cm, even allowing an extra 6-8 cm on the far end to make winding easy.? So for the remainder of the toroids I cut the wire a few cm shorter than the instructions called for, and ended up with a long piece of the smaller wire, and just a few cm left over of the larger wire.? Note that in winding each toroid, I only allowed about 2-3cm for the starting tail - enough to hold on to, and ample for installation, but not lots of extra, and then I wound the turns very tightly on the toroid.? ?How much shorter did I cut each wire? I can't say exactly,? but I measured the extra length I had from the first toroid, and left about half of that off on the second, to give me confidence, then chose a length to exclude from the rest.
However, after saying this, I will also say that the amount I had left over at the end gave me to believe that there would have been enough wire to use the instructed lengths.? I'm confident that Hans is providing enough wire in the kits.
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Re: Congratulations, Hans
The award should say 'never has five watts gone so far'.
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Tisha, AA4HA
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I have a Cisco headset that is normally used for IP telephony (like in call centers). I really like the form factor and comfort and it has an electret mic element. I am going to gut the little box for a PTT switch, mic gain control and headset volume. Since the headset also has a battery I will try and adapt that for powering the electret element while leaving the charging circuitry in place.
It is Cisco CP-HS-W-522 USBC?
Tisha, AA4HA
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Re: Congratulations, Hans
Congratulations Hans, and well earned.
Thank you for your efforts & dedication.
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Best,
Gary Threlfall
G7TOK
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Chris Raine W3PB
Tisha Hayes, AA4HA
G7TOK