Re: Available Hand Mics for QMX SSB ?
On Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 04:20 PM, K6AEF wrote:
How about an old lineman test key with a built in mic?
That's the most clever I have seen yet! Thanks for sharing!
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Re: Available Hand Mics for QMX SSB ?
How about an old lineman test key with a built in mic? Quick switch from CW to SSB just by changing the mode and holding the key up like a mic!  
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Re: #qmx #SSB Firmware beta 1_01_003 release
#qmx
#ssb
Just tried this and was able to run calibration from the front panel with USB disconnected. Interesting results.
My QMX+ has TN0110 finals so I was expecting possible issues with calibration. When I first ran cal from Putty, three or 4 of the upper bands plotted as mostly flat lines at the top line of the graph. Most of those bands also exhibit the "
Continuous weak tones at 1KHz/1.5KHz/2Khz so I thought maybe those were affecting the calibration. Some of the tones go away when the USB cable is unplugged so I unplugged it and ran front panel calibration. I thought I was on to something because I could see
full curves being plotted on the LCD for all of the bands. But when I went back to putty and looked at the curves that way, they were still flat lines at the top of the graph. So, there is a difference in plot scaling between the LCD and Putty.
I need to dig some more but it seems like running without the USB cable does make a small effect on some bands. I should have saved captures of the first calibration plots. I will have to save all of these and rerun with the USB cable attached to be sure.
Tony
AD0VC
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Hi all
I updated the SSB beta testing webpage of the brave, here:??and released firmware version 1_01_003
to it. These are the changes:
- Bug fix: Initial value for noise gate samples was 100 (should be max 99) - makes no real difference but it needed to be fixed
- Added TX indication underlining the A character when transmitting from USB sound card in SSB mode. Note that the two possible states for this indication are a single dot (indicating PTT has been applied and now the radio is in TX mode) and the solid bar
(indicating audio is being received from the PC and transmitted). There is no double-dot like there is in Digi mode indicating insufficient volume, because in SSB mode the radio transmits whatever you give it, even if the volume is low.?
- Bug fix: CAT command TQ1; did not cause transmit when in SSB mode. Now TQ1; and TQ0; work properly in SSB mode.?
- Bug fix: Prevent button presses from accidentally activating VOX, which was happening due to sound picked up from the internal (cancellation reference channel) microphone when you pressed buttons right next to it, and that prevented band change because
the second click of the double click was ignored because by then the radio was in transmit mode. All fixed! Now you can click buttons however you like and when button clicks are done, VOX is temporarily disabled until your button pushing frenzy is over.?
- Power meter now reads Peak Envelope Power (PEP) when in SSB mode. Previously it was just reading a sampled value (NOT an average); so if the power meter was updated 10x a second, the updates would just randomly pick a value from the SSB amplitude?envelope,
which was most unlikely to be its peak value.?
- Bug fixL Calibration hung at DAC 1300 when run on LCD. Now the calibration completes properly when run from the LCD.
Many thanks for all the feedback so far, SSB in QMX is getting better and better!
73 Hans G0UPL
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Re: Available Hand Mics for QMX SSB ?
My workbench this weekend, assembling them as fast as the printer can print them:
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A work in progress... It uses the front panel from a QCX.? The controller is a 68HC11 SBC from Axiom.? My daughter used the board for a collage course and gave it to me many years ago.
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This radio is a solar powered WSPR transmitter.? It has a QRP labs arduino shield, PIC16F690 controller, a dds module, a high side switch to control power to the transmitter parts.? It uses a WWVB receiver from Universal Solder for timekeeping.
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I found that the DDS draws considerable power even when powered down ( the 125 mhz oscillator I think ).?? With the high side switch the DDS is only powered when transmitting and it drifts about 16 hz over two minutes.? The frequency is measured before and after the transmission to determine drift. ?? A linear adjustment to the DDS frequency is added with each wspr element transmitted.?
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The WWVB signal is received by setting the pic16F690 UART to 10 baud.? This works really well with the UART hardware doing all the WWVB signal timing.? If you look at the WWVB signalling protocol you will see it looks just like serial data from a UART.
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Re: SSB Microphone Settings (feel free to share yours)
Brein,
Your settings are nearly identical with what I arrived at except that I did engage EQ, but it isn't really necessary unless you change the TX filter upper and lower limits.? With a flat response Mic, there is too much at 250 Hz and this is typical on every radio I've ever tested, traditional heterodyne type or SDR.? Too much 250Hz will give slightly muddy audio, but if the?lower limit?is kept at 300Hz, there are no worries.? Moving the?upper limit up to 2900 seems fine, with very pleasant audio,?when band conditions allow.? Obviously for best "talk-power" you'll keep it narrower.
For those looking for easy Mic solutions, there are likely plenty in most of our old radio parts bins.? Here are some tips from the 15 years since I retired,?of doing this?for Ham Radio headsets.
Boom-Mic Headsets or handheld Electret Mics intended for today's handheld devices the Mic output should be low enough not to overdrive the?ADC in these devices and should work fine on the QMX.? I saw no need to raise the?Mic Gain above 50, but I didn't see appreciable distortion going as high as 60 or even 70, when using the?Mic as it was designed.? Noise-Cancelling Communications Mics are operated directly in front?of the?lips 1/8" away.??
Many fixed boom Mics on consumer electronics headsets may have far more output (lack acoustic noise canceling) and are not near your mouth, so care has to be taken not to overdrive the radio and or pickup more outside noise.? Hans' internal Mic noise cancellation is quite unique for any Ham Radio.??
Those Mics designed for early PC Sound Cards (they have stereo Mic inputs on any I've ever seen for PCs since the?1980s as they are being used for music recording) always supply Mic BIAS on the Mic + line Tip and Ring for 2 Mics) and those early ones expected a lot of Mic output.? Virtually all late PC sound cards (no longer cards, now builtin to chip sets) expect much lower Mic output (compatible with modern handheld?devices) and have 10/20/30 dB Mic Boost after the ADC.??
The headset to USB Sound cards usually don't have any Mic Boost Control.? It's possible but requires software to support it with every OS fully supporting the USB HID (Human Interface Device) specification. I don't see this radio being a candidate for remote operating, it kinda spoils the point of a pocket sized radio, and a PC for HRD is another piece of gear to tote up the mountain. I use a lite paper log book.
Speaker Mics for handhelds (particularly?early ones 1980s to 2000) may have much more output and you'll need to back off the Mic Gain.? Also remember that Speaker Mics for Handheld radios key PTT very differently.? Yaesu and ICOM shunt the Mic with a specific value resistor to effect PTT and shunt with different values to Scan Up or Scan Down.? Kenwood simply ties the Mic- to Headphone Common Ground to key PTT probably why?the Kenwood interface is the most copied (and Kenwood hasn't changed this most popular interface in decades).? The Kenwood, Icom, and Yaesu/Standard Vertex all have some very different interfaces for their commercial handheld radios because the connectors are screwed to the?side of the?radio.? If you're looking to modify any speaker mics for your QMX, look up the Speaker Mic schematic online.? ? A Ham in the UK has provided most of these schematics.??
OK, back to work...
Dave WI6R
I realize that settings are dependent on microphone, voice characteristics, etc.? but I thought I would publish my current settings that are seeming to work at the moment.? ?Power output is very dependent on controlling the microphone distance within an inch.
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Transmit EQ? No? (Don't even want to mess with more variables at the moment)
Mic AGC On Yes
Max gain 10
Hold time 10
Recovery 10? ?(If this is set too low AGC will recover too quickly and your power output will be all over the map)
Mic. gain 55
Mic compression 0
Mic. noise cncl. On
Mic. noise gate ON
Threshold? 95
Samples 100
Attack slope 10
Vox OFF
Drive Level 900? ?Default
CESSB? On ? ? ? ? ? Default
Phase predistort ON ? ?Default
Ampl. predistort ON ? ?Default
Ampl. PD thresh 70 ? ? Default
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Brien - KE7WB
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I tried to use up some parts on hand for projects this winter.? This radio has a QRP-Labs arduino shield, a QRP-Labs receiver module, Teensy LC controller, Nokia display, Rtc clock for time keeping, qrp labs OCXO.? Added not in the picture is USB sound card, USB hub, laptop running HDSDR and WSJT-X.
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It runs standalone WSPR on a single band or a band group.? And it runs digital modes using the type of modulation that the QDX uses - samples audio and sets the frequency with the Si5351.? It runs on 5 volt USB for power.
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At 200 mw, FT8 contacts are a bit challenging.?? I am not sure what the future of this project will be.? With a bit more power out it would be a very usable digital modes radio.
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Re: #qmx #SSB Firmware beta 1_01_002 release
#qmx
#ssb
Edit: Maybe I am just overloading the 6400M front end, but my Hermes Lite 2 doesn't sound like this when I listen to it in the same way.? Did try 6400M TX to QMX, SSB RX in the QMX sounds great.
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#qmx #SSB Firmware beta 1_01_003 release
#qmx
#ssb
Hi all
I updated the SSB beta testing webpage of the brave, here:??and released firmware version 1_01_003 to it. These are the changes: - Bug fix: Initial value for noise gate samples was 100 (should be max 99) - makes no real difference but it needed to be fixed
- Added TX indication underlining the A character when transmitting from USB sound card in SSB mode. Note that the two possible states for this indication are a single dot (indicating PTT has been applied and now the radio is in TX mode) and the solid bar (indicating audio is being received from the PC and transmitted). There is no double-dot like there is in Digi mode indicating insufficient volume, because in SSB mode the radio transmits whatever you give it, even if the volume is low.?
- Bug fix: CAT command TQ1; did not cause transmit when in SSB mode. Now TQ1; and TQ0; work properly in SSB mode.?
- Bug fix: Prevent button presses from accidentally activating VOX, which was happening due to sound picked up from the internal (cancellation reference channel) microphone when you pressed buttons right next to it, and that prevented band change because the second click of the double click was ignored because by then the radio was in transmit mode. All fixed! Now you can click buttons however you like and when button clicks are done, VOX is temporarily disabled until your button pushing frenzy is over.?
- Power meter now reads Peak Envelope Power (PEP) when in SSB mode. Previously it was just reading a sampled value (NOT an average); so if the power meter was updated 10x a second, the updates would just randomly pick a value from the SSB amplitude?envelope, which was most unlikely to be its peak value.?
- Bug fixL Calibration hung at DAC 1300 when run on LCD. Now the calibration completes properly when run from the LCD.
Many thanks for all the feedback so far, SSB in QMX is getting better and better!
73 Hans G0UPL
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Re: #qmx #SSB Firmware beta 1_01_002 release
#qmx
#ssb
Hi Group,
?
I took the plunge today and installed the second SSB beta FW on my 80-20m QMX.? Did the calibration and tried it out.? While I do hear myself well on my nearby Flex 6400M with no antenna, I also hear a fairly high pitched tone and the spectrum (outside of the TX voice passband) looks like "long, slow downhill slopes" if you will.? See picture below of 6400M spectrum/waterfall.? At first I thought it was the mic(s) I was trying, but then thought to try my Behringer XM8500 with the proper wiring to the QMX Paddle input.? Seeing the same thing on all mic's.
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Is anyone else finding strange sounding audio (audio with high pitched tone) and/or very wideband noise outside of the voice passband?? Maybe I am doing something wrong in my setup or testing thus far given the positive reports I read here?? Thanks for any advice, I'd love to be way wrong in what I am seeing!
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73,
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Robert, WA2T
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Re: SSB Microphone Settings (feel free to share yours)
Hi,
?
Thanks for sharing your audio setup. I adjusted mine and sounds better.
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Before I just made my 1st SSB QMX+ QSO. Portugal - Slovenia. With 3W on 17M, a long wire, 9:1 UNUN and an ATU-100 tuner, got a 57 report.
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Good DXing!
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73
Tony
CT1CXP
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Re: #qmx #SSB Firmware beta 1_01_001 release
#ssb
#qmx
Thanks,
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I suspected as much. Currently my BPF sweeps are all what the manual calls acceptable, but none of them are really centered on the bands in question. In fact all of them are centered below the bands.
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After I posted the question, I reran all the diagnostic sweeps and they all are what the manual shows as being normal - so I guess this has been accounted for.
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However...
?In version 002, the calibration sweeps seem to now sometimes lock up the machine requiring a restart. This may be related to what I have been seeing - particularly on 80 meters. I think others have reported this as well. It probably has nothing to do with the BPF filter slopes at all...
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Despite this I'm making contacts daily with it so it's a great success as far as I'm concerned!
?
M
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Re: QMX SSB settings for Winlink?
On Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 11:38 AM, Darrell KI4RXJ wrote:
I noticed in JS8 call there's?a radio setting for "None", "USB", and "Digi/Packet". With USB and Digi/Packet selected I wasn't able to get out. I'll have to go up and switch the radio to Digi mode to do JS8 call. Or maybe I can change it in the serial menu??
With a little testing, I see that JS8call, with the radio mode set to "Data/Pkt", will use Digi mode on the QMX if you manually set QMX to digi mode.? It for some reason does not seem to ever send the mode command (MD6).
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When I set the JS8call radio mode to "USB", it does indeed send the mode command (MD2) when you hit 'ok' to dismiss the radio settings dialog.? And it works fine for me in USB; I get good hearbeat responses, at a little lower level than Digi mode, since SSB right now is putting out a bit less power.
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JS8call unfortunately won't switch QMX back to Digi mode, at least in any tests I have run.
But you can do that yourself remotely by sending the MD6 command via USB.? One way to do this is to bring up the QMX terminal program, select "PC and CAT", then "CAT command test".? Type in "MD6" and the radio will switch to Digi mode.? You can type in "MD" to verify, and see the response "MD6".? [The very first time you bring up this CAT command tool, you may have to type in the first command twice; sometimes the very first command isn't recognized.]? Some other radio programs have a tool that you can use to send custom commands to your radio; these will also work to send the remote command.
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Stan KC7XE
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Re: SSB Microphone Settings (feel free to share yours)
C'mon in Mike, the waters fine!? ;-)
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73,
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Robert, WA2T
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Re: #qmx #SSB Firmware beta 1_01_002 release
#qmx
#ssb
No calibration is needed to listen to SSB. It isn't really needed to transmit SSB either. Better performance for TX if you calibrate.
Tony
AD0VC
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Do I need to do the calibration to listen to SSB and will CW and digital not be affected if I load the beta? I haven’t done anything about a mic yet but want to see how it sounds on RX without affecting CW and digital.
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Re: #qmx #SSB Firmware beta 1_01_002 release
#qmx
#ssb
Do I need to do the calibration to listen to SSB and will CW and digital not be affected if I load the beta? I haven’t done anything about a mic yet but want to see how it sounds on RX without affecting CW and digital.
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Re: Available Hand Mics for QMX SSB ?
On Thu, Mar 20, 2025 at 12:57 PM, Dennis Rieger wrote:
Qrpguys has a kit that should work. I ordered one to try it out.
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And here's more info from Qrpguys that was apparently published before turning the mic design into a kit. Be sure to read the kit instruction manual (from the above page) too:
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Some might find these videos to be useful. I've only watched (tr)uSDX designer Manuel's (DL2MAN) video, the fourth one down, where he covers how he 3D prints his parts as well as explaining the other electrical details:
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Finally, for a larger, more conventional-looking 3D-printed microphone shell, the mesh model files here might be useful:
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I have three 3D printers but I'm currently too busy beta-testing the QMX+ABS V2 from Sardar to build anything else, so I might have to ask Erik to make a QMX mic for me. Then I could at least join in and sample some of the long-anticipated SSB fun too! :)
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73,
Cal AD8Q
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Re: QMX+ build output power adjustments?
James, that's pretty typical, and mostly due to variances in component tolerances, toroid winding differences, your output transformer, etc. Nothing to be worried about.?
--
73, Dan - W2DLC
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K6AEF
Dave WI6R
Daniel Conklin