Re: Synchronising QMX IQ output with an SDR app
Hi Danny,
?
Did you follow these instructions?? Pretty sure I did this with the QDX, which is pretty much the same goal and strategy...
?
?
73,
Mark N8MH?
|
Re: QMX+ Built and working.... Then Not working!
On Tue, Jul 23, 2024 at 03:03 PM, G0DDX wrote:
A friend bought some cheap Chinese ones, and the Pinouts were reversed so you couldn't put the flat side down on the pcb.
They are not BS170's.
?
They are mislabelled 2N7000's as many of us have discovered, and barely
produce 300mw.
?
Documented well in the group archives.
?
Stick to suppliers like CPC / RS if you want real BS170's.
?
Play sensisble with the PA just like any other rig.
?
The QRP Labs stuff is quite happy giving the full 5w on a
CW QSO, a per spec.
?
If you wanna play data modes and long keydowns then reduce
the voltage / bias to give about 2w, just like any other commercial
rigs do.
?
And as other have stated take precautions for tuning.
?
The advice that they have given is good.
?
I know of folks personally that follow *good practice* and their
QRP Labs kits *never* fail.
?
--
- 73 de Andy -
|
On Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 04:04 AM, Daniel Walter wrote:
Neville Shutz' "On the Beach."
Great clip here -
?
Anyone got a better link (off list) ?
?
--
- 73 de Andy -
|
Synchronising QMX IQ output with an SDR app
OK I hope I can make this make sense.
?
I am struggling to get the IQ output of my QMX+ be properly synchronised with any SDR app.? The screenshot attached is of SDRConsole and you can see that the FT8 signal is not on 14.074 even though that is what my QMX+ is tuned to.? Also, when I dial the VFO the signals move up and down the frequency range.
?
So, even when I have it sync'd for say 14Mhz to 14.024 (the bandwidth of the panadapter), when I then dial the VFO to start moving up to 14.025 and beyond the whole thing becomes unsync'd.
?
Note - I have tried using Omnirig to read too and from the QMX+ and whilst the kind of works, if I click on a signal to tune to it, because then the IQ out frequency jumps it the alters the whole IQ output to a different output frequency so it does not then tune to the signal I saw.
?
Am I missing a step somewhere?
?
?
?
?
|
Thanks Zhenxing, now everything is clearer now.
I will try it when I reach my station.?
|
I have found that QMX+ works great with most N1MM key combinations & shortcuts. However it does not appear to work for the primary function key assignments: F1 (CQ), F2 (exchange), F3 (TU), F4 (MyCall), F5 (HisCall), etc. All other keyboard key combinations in N1MM work as expected and require no special coding, for example Alt+Mouse Wheel moves freq up/down 1khz, and Ctrl + Page up /down changes band up/down, etc. Does anyone know how to make the primary F key assignments work running QMX+ with N1MM? See this for a complete overview of N1MM keyboard shortcuts, and keyboard combinations.
?
¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-
Jim?
N7RCS
Palm Bay, FL
|
My radio was a Hallicrafters SX100
Heck, I have a venerable old Yaesu FT-101 up in my office. It has a weird audio gain problem I don't know how to diagnose, much less fix. The mechanical stuff I manage to take care of, like replacing the planetary gearbox for the main tuning vernier, and the funky thing used for the preselector. I found new/old stock replacements on eBay and figured out how to install them, and it was working great, until this problem cropped up.
If I leave it on for a fairly?long time, a minimum of an hour, at some point the audio just falls to half its original volume. The receive audio amp seems to be the only part affected -- transmitting has no issue, for example. If I turn it off and let it cool down, the audio is back to?normal. I'm thinking there's either a capacitor that's going leaky when it heats up, or maybe a tube is going. Doing a retube and recap job on the thing scares the ever-lovin' pee-waddins out of me, but I'll either do it, find someone to do it, or junk it if it isn't worth fixing. Thing is, I really love the FT-101. It's the radio I fell in love with in the 70's, when a CB operator friend got one that had been modded for 11 meters. He had a massive Moonraker 6 antenna on a tower in addition to a Starduster vertical. (I tried to talk him into using the Anixter Mark V sleeve antenna, but even though his partner worked for Anixter, he just couldn't warm to it. So *I* got the Anixter Mark V -- his partner got me one for a song -- and we put it on the garage roof. It was the single best CB antenna I ever had, with gallons?of gain.)
That FT-101 just screamed RADIO!!!?to me, and I dearly loved visiting them and using that radio. Was it illegal? Yup. Did I care? Not much, no. But when I got a chance to buy one for a pretty darned good price, I jumped at it. I had just gotten my Extra, and was excited and wanted to give myself a gift. Except for this one weird trick it insists on doing, it's a great radio. But right now, it's sitting up in my office, waiting for me to learn how to fix it. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get there, though. I may have to ask someone else to help me with it.
I had an ancient WWII receiver that reputedly was a Navy unit from either a ship or a plane. I'm thinking ship, but only because the plane would have to be a monster to haul this thing around. It was 80 or so pounds, and that's only the receiver. I never got my hands on the transmitter. The biggest issue I have with that memory is that I don't know what make and model it was. I've looked at hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures, and can't find it. That radio got me into SWL, like the Yaesu FT-101EE my friend had. (Mine is just an FT-101. No E, no EE, no Z. Just an FT-101.) I used to go to sleep listening to classical music from a dozen different countries. I learned to love the BBC, Voice of America, and others. I adored a local AM station, WQXR, that was relatively close to where we lived on Long Island. It moved to FM a while back, and is now available via streaming. They've even got an app, which I have. The music is still wonderful.?
But that's a bit of my history with those old radios, and even if I'm not going to gut an old "parts only" radio and build a QCX+?or QMX+?into it, and a Baofeng or something for VHF/UHF, the memories of what those radios meant to me when I was young are still sweet.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 73, Gwen, NG3P
|
Make a nozzle for a hair dryer and then when the rig is cold try heating up various components until the audio acts up.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Jul 24, 2024, at 11:45, Gwen Patton via < ardrhi@...> wrote:
Heck, I have a venerable old Yaesu FT-101 up in my office. It has a weird audio gain problem I don't know how to diagnose, much less fix. The mechanical stuff I manage to take care of, like replacing the planetary gearbox for the main tuning vernier, and the funky thing used for the preselector. I found new/old stock replacements on eBay and figured out how to install them, and it was working great, until this problem cropped up.
If I leave it on for a fairly?long time, a minimum of an hour, at some point the audio just falls to half its original volume. The receive audio amp seems to be the only part affected -- transmitting has no issue, for example. If I turn it off and let it cool down, the audio is back to?normal. I'm thinking there's either a capacitor that's going leaky when it heats up, or maybe a tube is going. Doing a retube and recap job on the thing scares the ever-lovin' pee-waddins out of me, but I'll either do it, find someone to do it, or junk it if it isn't worth fixing. Thing is, I really love the FT-101. It's the radio I fell in love with in the 70's, when a CB operator friend got one that had been modded for 11 meters. He had a massive Moonraker 6 antenna on a tower in addition to a Starduster vertical. (I tried to talk him into using the Anixter Mark V sleeve antenna, but even though his partner worked for Anixter, he just couldn't warm to it. So *I* got the Anixter Mark V -- his partner got me one for a song -- and we put it on the garage roof. It was the single best CB antenna I ever had, with gallons?of gain.)
That FT-101 just screamed RADIO!!!?to me, and I dearly loved visiting them and using that radio. Was it illegal? Yup. Did I care? Not much, no. But when I got a chance to buy one for a pretty darned good price, I jumped at it. I had just gotten my Extra, and was excited and wanted to give myself a gift. Except for this one weird trick it insists on doing, it's a great radio. But right now, it's sitting up in my office, waiting for me to learn how to fix it. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get there, though. I may have to ask someone else to help me with it.
I had an ancient WWII receiver that reputedly was a Navy unit from either a ship or a plane. I'm thinking ship, but only because the plane would have to be a monster to haul this thing around. It was 80 or so pounds, and that's only the receiver. I never got my hands on the transmitter. The biggest issue I have with that memory is that I don't know what make and model it was. I've looked at hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures, and can't find it. That radio got me into SWL, like the Yaesu FT-101EE my friend had. (Mine is just an FT-101. No E, no EE, no Z. Just an FT-101.) I used to go to sleep listening to classical music from a dozen different countries. I learned to love the BBC, Voice of America, and others. I adored a local AM station, WQXR, that was relatively close to where we lived on Long Island. It moved to FM a while back, and is now available via streaming. They've even got an app, which I have. The music is still wonderful.?
But that's a bit of my history with those old radios, and even if I'm not going to gut an old "parts only" radio and build a QCX+?or QMX+?into it, and a Baofeng or something for VHF/UHF, the memories of what those radios meant to me when I was young are still sweet.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 73, Gwen, NG3P
|
I recapped and replaced out of spec. Carbon composition resistors and it brought it back to like new. If it has paper tubular caps they should go also.
Heck, I have a venerable old Yaesu FT-101 up in my office. It has a weird audio gain problem I don't know how to diagnose, much less fix. The mechanical stuff I manage to take care of, like replacing the planetary gearbox for the main tuning vernier, and the funky thing used for the preselector. I found new/old stock replacements on eBay and figured out how to install them, and it was working great, until this problem cropped up.
If I leave it on for a fairly?long time, a minimum of an hour, at some point the audio just falls to half its original volume. The receive audio amp seems to be the only part affected -- transmitting has no issue, for example. If I turn it off and let it cool down, the audio is back to?normal. I'm thinking there's either a capacitor that's going leaky when it heats up, or maybe a tube is going. Doing a retube and recap job on the thing scares the ever-lovin' pee-waddins out of me, but I'll either do it, find someone to do it, or junk it if it isn't worth fixing. Thing is, I really love the FT-101. It's the radio I fell in love with in the 70's, when a CB operator friend got one that had been modded for 11 meters. He had a massive Moonraker 6 antenna on a tower in addition to a Starduster vertical. (I tried to talk him into using the Anixter Mark V sleeve antenna, but even though his partner worked for Anixter, he just couldn't warm to it. So *I* got the Anixter Mark V -- his partner got me one for a song -- and we put it on the garage roof. It was the single best CB antenna I ever had, with gallons?of gain.)
That FT-101 just screamed RADIO!!!?to me, and I dearly loved visiting them and using that radio. Was it illegal? Yup. Did I care? Not much, no. But when I got a chance to buy one for a pretty darned good price, I jumped at it. I had just gotten my Extra, and was excited and wanted to give myself a gift. Except for this one weird trick it insists on doing, it's a great radio. But right now, it's sitting up in my office, waiting for me to learn how to fix it. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get there, though. I may have to ask someone else to help me with it.
I had an ancient WWII receiver that reputedly was a Navy unit from either a ship or a plane. I'm thinking ship, but only because the plane would have to be a monster to haul this thing around. It was 80 or so pounds, and that's only the receiver. I never got my hands on the transmitter. The biggest issue I have with that memory is that I don't know what make and model it was. I've looked at hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures, and can't find it. That radio got me into SWL, like the Yaesu FT-101EE my friend had. (Mine is just an FT-101. No E, no EE, no Z. Just an FT-101.) I used to go to sleep listening to classical music from a dozen different countries. I learned to love the BBC, Voice of America, and others. I adored a local AM station, WQXR, that was relatively close to where we lived on Long Island. It moved to FM a while back, and is now available via streaming. They've even got an app, which I have. The music is still wonderful.?
But that's a bit of my history with those old radios, and even if I'm not going to gut an old "parts only" radio and build a QCX+?or QMX+?into it, and a Baofeng or something for VHF/UHF, the memories of what those radios meant to me when I was young are still sweet.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 73, Gwen, NG3P
|
Sounds like old lit is to me. That¡¯s where I would start.
Heck, I have a venerable old Yaesu FT-101 up in my office. It has a weird audio gain problem I don't know how to diagnose, much less fix. The mechanical stuff I manage to take care of, like replacing the planetary gearbox for the main tuning vernier, and the funky thing used for the preselector. I found new/old stock replacements on eBay and figured out how to install them, and it was working great, until this problem cropped up.
If I leave it on for a fairly?long time, a minimum of an hour, at some point the audio just falls to half its original volume. The receive audio amp seems to be the only part affected -- transmitting has no issue, for example. If I turn it off and let it cool down, the audio is back to?normal. I'm thinking there's either a capacitor that's going leaky when it heats up, or maybe a tube is going. Doing a retube and recap job on the thing scares the ever-lovin' pee-waddins out of me, but I'll either do it, find someone to do it, or junk it if it isn't worth fixing. Thing is, I really love the FT-101. It's the radio I fell in love with in the 70's, when a CB operator friend got one that had been modded for 11 meters. He had a massive Moonraker 6 antenna on a tower in addition to a Starduster vertical. (I tried to talk him into using the Anixter Mark V sleeve antenna, but even though his partner worked for Anixter, he just couldn't warm to it. So *I* got the Anixter Mark V -- his partner got me one for a song -- and we put it on the garage roof. It was the single best CB antenna I ever had, with gallons?of gain.)
That FT-101 just screamed RADIO!!!?to me, and I dearly loved visiting them and using that radio. Was it illegal? Yup. Did I care? Not much, no. But when I got a chance to buy one for a pretty darned good price, I jumped at it. I had just gotten my Extra, and was excited and wanted to give myself a gift. Except for this one weird trick it insists on doing, it's a great radio. But right now, it's sitting up in my office, waiting for me to learn how to fix it. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get there, though. I may have to ask someone else to help me with it.
I had an ancient WWII receiver that reputedly was a Navy unit from either a ship or a plane. I'm thinking ship, but only because the plane would have to be a monster to haul this thing around. It was 80 or so pounds, and that's only the receiver. I never got my hands on the transmitter. The biggest issue I have with that memory is that I don't know what make and model it was. I've looked at hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures, and can't find it. That radio got me into SWL, like the Yaesu FT-101EE my friend had. (Mine is just an FT-101. No E, no EE, no Z. Just an FT-101.) I used to go to sleep listening to classical music from a dozen different countries. I learned to love the BBC, Voice of America, and others. I adored a local AM station, WQXR, that was relatively close to where we lived on Long Island. It moved to FM a while back, and is now available via streaming. They've even got an app, which I have. The music is still wonderful.?
But that's a bit of my history with those old radios, and even if I'm not going to gut an old "parts only" radio and build a QCX+?or QMX+?into it, and a Baofeng or something for VHF/UHF, the memories of what those radios meant to me when I was young are still sweet.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 73, Gwen, NG3P
|
Heck, I have a venerable old Yaesu FT-101 up in my office. It has a weird audio gain problem I don't know how to diagnose, much less fix. The mechanical stuff I manage to take care of, like replacing the planetary gearbox for the main tuning vernier, and the funky thing used for the preselector. I found new/old stock replacements on eBay and figured out how to install them, and it was working great, until this problem cropped up.
If I leave it on for a fairly?long time, a minimum of an hour, at some point the audio just falls to half its original volume. The receive audio amp seems to be the only part affected -- transmitting has no issue, for example. If I turn it off and let it cool down, the audio is back to?normal. I'm thinking there's either a capacitor that's going leaky when it heats up, or maybe a tube is going. Doing a retube and recap job on the thing scares the ever-lovin' pee-waddins out of me, but I'll either do it, find someone to do it, or junk it if it isn't worth fixing. Thing is, I really love the FT-101. It's the radio I fell in love with in the 70's, when a CB operator friend got one that had been modded for 11 meters. He had a massive Moonraker 6 antenna on a tower in addition to a Starduster vertical. (I tried to talk him into using the Anixter Mark V sleeve antenna, but even though his partner worked for Anixter, he just couldn't warm to it. So *I* got the Anixter Mark V -- his partner got me one for a song -- and we put it on the garage roof. It was the single best CB antenna I ever had, with gallons?of gain.)
That FT-101 just screamed RADIO!!!?to me, and I dearly loved visiting them and using that radio. Was it illegal? Yup. Did I care? Not much, no. But when I got a chance to buy one for a pretty darned good price, I jumped at it. I had just gotten my Extra, and was excited and wanted to give myself a gift. Except for this one weird trick it insists on doing, it's a great radio. But right now, it's sitting up in my office, waiting for me to learn how to fix it. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get there, though. I may have to ask someone else to help me with it.
I had an ancient WWII receiver that reputedly was a Navy unit from either a ship or a plane. I'm thinking ship, but only because the plane would have to be a monster to haul this thing around. It was 80 or so pounds, and that's only the receiver. I never got my hands on the transmitter. The biggest issue I have with that memory is that I don't know what make and model it was. I've looked at hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures, and can't find it. That radio got me into SWL, like the Yaesu FT-101EE my friend had. (Mine is just an FT-101. No E, no EE, no Z. Just an FT-101.) I used to go to sleep listening to classical music from a dozen different countries. I learned to love the BBC, Voice of America, and others. I adored a local AM station, WQXR, that was relatively close to where we lived on Long Island. It moved to FM a while back, and is now available via streaming. They've even got an app, which I have. The music is still wonderful.?
But that's a bit of my history with those old radios, and even if I'm not going to gut an old "parts only" radio and build a QCX+?or QMX+?into it, and a Baofeng or something for VHF/UHF, the memories of what those radios meant to me when I was young are still sweet.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 73, Gwen, NG3P
|
Update: 7/22/2024
?
Hans provided a new MPU at very reasonable cost.?
?
While doing a through clean-up of the board in preparation to install it, I found a whisker of solder between two pads on the MPU pattern... Probably created during the Hot-air removal of the MPU as noted by Ludwig (Thanks!).? Cleared that and the PS rails went to just seeing a bit of capacitor charging leakage (>10k).?
?
Installed the new MPU.? (I'm getting too old for this I thought many a time during this process!!! I use and old-school binocular microscope...)
?
Repaired the 3.3V Reg board by installing a leaded 1N4198 diode between the output of the 3.3 lin reg and the 3.3V pin 4? to replace the damaged (missing) D104 SMT diode.
?
Built a jig to test the Power supply boards and tested them per the instructions in the Wiki here.? PSU's all Ok now.
?
Did power-up checks and flashed the system...? Viola! It lives!??
?
All happy!
?
Many thanks to all for the trouble-shooting advice and to Hans & Crew for a great kit!
?
Ray, KL7UT
?
?
|
Re: QMX+ Prebuilt waiting list
Thanks to Hans and other for clarifying this.?
I guess I will be ordering a kit instead.?
73, Robert OE7OER?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I second George¡¯s note above. While I haven¡¯t built a QMX+ yet (saving it for winter, winding all those toroids will give me something to do) I have built several QDXs and a QMX, with another QMX on the bench now, and I can confidently encourage just about
anyone with a small bit of soldering experience to build their QMX kits on their own.
?
If you have a modest set of tools and patience to read and follow the assembly manual then you can expect a good result. You can enjoy the pride of completing a kit and be on the air in a matter of days, not months.
?
Hans¡¯ designs are very forgiving to the builder and provide amazing value.
|
Re: QMX+ Built and working.... Then Not working!
My method described here is, I will admit, a bit obsessive, but whenever I'm setting up for a new band or antenna configuration, I use a nanoVNA to scope out the impedance match and SWR, and manually adjust my antenna tuner accordingly. Then I know I have a good match before I start transmitting.?
|
Inventation to Michigan QRP Club weekly Zoom Chat on 25 July 2024
Please join us Thursday (and every Thursday) at 4PM Eastern for the Michigan QRP Club weekly QRP Chat where the main topics will be QRP and other ham interests. It's fun, it's easy, and it's free. You only need a computer, a smart phone, or a tablet that can connect to the Internet. OR if you can't be close to any of those you can join by audio with any standard phone. Just follow the directions below. No software needs be loaded or installed. Anyone can join and non members are welcome. Details are here:
This weeks topic will be:
Your Favorite QRP rig
Anyone can take the floor and tell us about their favorite QRP rig. We will go one by one until all have had a chance to have the floor. Files, pictures and presentations can be shared if you have any. There will be time for comments and questions. Please try to stay muted when someone has the floor.
We have a list of future topics:
QRP Skills and Tools Shack logging Field logging QRP Contesting CW practice
If you suggestions for topics, please send them to: Ed AB8DF ekwik at
|
Re: #LPF PCB problem
#lpf
On Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 02:43 AM, Hans Summers wrote:
go into a sideline of ear-ring manufacturing.
Back in the '70s, at my first job at MSC, we made microwave test fixtures using 1 inch square white alumina ceramic boards with gold metallization.? We etched the boards in-house.
One of the assemblers had an anniversary with the company, and we made her a pair of pendant earrings with a the company logo in gold on the white alumina.?
They looked like fine jewelry.
?
73, Don N2VGU
|
Hans:
It would be helpful to enable mode control to easily select a tune mode using the volume control, mode select:
?
So it would be:
CW
Digi
SSB (hopefully soon!)
Tune
|
Re: CAT control and compatibility with Kenwood TS-480
Hello Hans.?
No the QMX is too efficient!?
I built the 9V version and output power vs supply voltage is:
(Measured at 80 meters with a dummy load and a good scope)?
9V 4.50W
8V 3.53W
7V 2.56W
6V 1.96W
5V 1.30W
At 5V the display starts to show strange characters (I am surprised that the QMX still works at 5V!)
|
Re: QMX+ Built and working.... Then Not working!
Reading the post by Dj Merrill, I totally agree.??
?
To use an ATU on the QMX/QMX+, go into the settings on the radio, Hardware Tests, then Tune SWR. Select the band you want to use, then press TUNE button on the ATU, and then start the SWR Tune on the radio. It is a bit of a PITA to have to do this every time you change bands, but it does work.
?
But that brings up a firmware enhancement I would love to see.??
?
Given the importance of tuning the antenna with reduced power every time you switch to a new band on an antenna with a tuner (manual or automatic), it should be far easier to get to that menu item.
?
I would suggest that the "Tune SWR" menu item should be the first option in the menu.
For portable operation, it should be the first thing you do before you start operating.? For a fixed operation, I need to do it every time I switch bands.? Navigating to a lower level menu takes way too much time.
In addition, Tune SWR should use the VFO frequency as the default.? That would allow you to optimize to a specific frequency without going through other menu items.
?
Tune SWR is in my opinion the most import function in the menu for day to day operations, and it should be easier to access and use.??
?
Mark
W8GU
|
Re: QMX and 50W PA - Is high VSWR into the PA an issue?
For what it's worth. I ran into the same condition of high SWR between my QMX HB and a 50W PA.?
Turned out to be a failing RF interconnect cable. Would work OK if the interconnect run was completely straight. Any bend or curve caused problems.?
It's gone to the landfill now.?
YRMY :)?
GREG. KI4NVX?
On Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 8:55 AM, Steve H <n1xnxham@...> wrote: I have a QMX and a newly-built QRP Labs 50W PA that I want to use for FT8 on 20m. I'm powering the QMX with 10 V (a 13.2V LiFePo battery with a dropping regulator) to reduce the stress on its output transistors, and operating the PA from the 13.2 V battery. (Yes, that reduces the power output to well below the design max, and I'm fine with that.)
My initial measurements show that the QMX is putting out about 3 W, and the PA is delivering 15 W into a 50-ohm dummy load. (This ought to be ample for operating FT8 with a well-matched antenna, which I have. I've already worked Europe with only the QMX!)
?
However, I also measure a rather poor VSWR of 2.3 into the PA during TX. (My VSWR bridge screams and complains about this.)
?
The question here is, does this VSWR create a risk to the QMX, and can/should I improve the impedance match within a reasonable amount of effort? I really, really want to avoid damaging the QMX; it deserves to be treated well.
?
Thanks,
Steve
|
TA3ONK
Gwen Patton
Ray D Congdon
Steve H
Donald S Brant Jr