I am sure there are many QCX still to come otherwise
retirement or a multi band QCX ?
73s
Martin
DK3UW
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Hi Dave
I'm not ready to answer that question yet ;-)? ?Stay tuned ;-)
73 Hans G0UPL
On Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 12:06 PM David Wilcox via Groups.Io <Djwilcox01= [email protected]> wrote: Hans,
Since these kits are your main income eventually the whole world will have a QCX.? Then what?? What is in the works to keep the income flowing to feed those new lab assistants?
Dave K8WPE
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Hans,
Since these kits are your main income eventually the whole world will have a QCX. Then what? What is in the works to keep the income flowing to feed those new lab assistants?
Dave K8WPE
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Re: Shipment backlog cleared
Hello Hans,
It probably does. If that is explained in the manual I missed it
(always possible with me) and I never thought to set frame to
something less than the message length. I will try that.
I understand being busy, if for different reasons. I keep dreaming
that one of these days I am going to get caught up on building and
antenna projects, but it never actually happens. Instead, every
completed project seems to give rise to three more. :-)
73,
Paul N1BUG
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Show quoted text
On 07/25/2018 01:20 AM, Hans Summers wrote: Hello Chris, Paul
Although the shipment backlog is cleared, my plate is not - it is
still very full! The next 2 months are looking very busy :-(
Paul, regarding frames longer than 60 minutes because DFCW can take
longer than 60 minutes to send. If you have a message which takes
for example, 75 minutes to send... and if you set Frame to 30...
then the effective Frame becomes 90 minutes. The unit should
transmit DFCW for 75 minutes, then do a calibrate, then wait for the
90 minutes to complete before starting the next frame. Is this not
the case??
73 Hans G0UPL
On Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 7:15 PM N1BUG <paul@...
<mailto:paul@...>> wrote:
On 07/24/2018 10:05 AM, Chris Wilson wrote:
> If things are indeed a little calmer any chance of looking at
the U3S
> Iv output anomaly where it seems to output a high frequency
from one
> of the Si pads when not in TX mode?
Hi Hans,
The other half of the U3S to U3S amateur first two way QSO
USA>Europe checking in here... :-)
Congratulations on conquering the shipping situation.
If you do find yourself with time to look at the U3S, any chance of
looking at what we discussed regarding ability to force a CAL cycle
between mode transmissions without waiting for frame end? This would
be nice for those of us pushing the limits to do crazy stuff with
the U3S on 2200m.
It would also be very nice to be able to have frame longer than 60
minutes and/or be able to set frame to 00 and force a CAL cycle at
the end of a long message before starting to send the message again.
Why? Because many useful messages in DFCW can take longer than 60
minutes to send.
73,
Paul N1BUG
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Re: Shipment backlog cleared
Hello Chris, Paul
Although the shipment backlog is cleared, my plate is not - it is still very full! The next 2 months are looking very busy :-(
Paul, regarding frames longer than 60 minutes because DFCW can take longer than 60 minutes to send. If you have a message which takes for example, 75 minutes to send... and if you set Frame to 30... then the effective Frame becomes 90 minutes. The unit should transmit DFCW for 75 minutes, then do a calibrate, then wait for the 90 minutes to complete before starting the next frame. Is this not the case??
73 Hans G0UPL
On Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 7:15 PM N1BUG < paul@...> wrote: On 07/24/2018 10:05 AM, Chris Wilson wrote:
> If things are indeed a little calmer any chance of looking at the U3S
> Iv output anomaly where it seems to output a high frequency from one
> of the Si pads when not in TX mode?
Hi Hans,
The other half of the U3S to U3S amateur first two way QSO
USA>Europe checking in here... :-)
Congratulations on conquering the shipping situation.
If you do find yourself with time to look at the U3S, any chance of
looking at what we discussed regarding ability to force a CAL cycle
between mode transmissions without waiting for frame end? This would
be nice for those of us pushing the limits to do crazy stuff with
the U3S on 2200m.
It would also be very nice to be able to have frame longer than 60
minutes and/or be able to set frame to 00 and force a CAL cycle at
the end of a long message before starting to send the message again.
Why? Because many useful messages in DFCW can take longer than 60
minutes to send.
73,
Paul N1BUG
|
QCX 40 Help - NO BPF signal
Gang,
A few weeks ago I built up the QCX kit for 40m which I had puchased at FDIM Vendor night. ?All worked well initially, though I did have to remove a few turns from T1 to get the trimmer cap in the right quadrant. ?Measured output was 4.01W @ 12.8V with the internal RF power meter, into a 50 ohm dummy load. ?I noticed the PA FET's were getting hot. ?I have an oscilloscope so I attempted to hook it up to view the signal and see if they were biased on. ?So, while hooking my 'scope to the gate of Q3 I shorted out Gate to Drain. ?That is where the real trouble started. ?Having trouble-shot down to some bad parts which were dragging down the +5v supply rail I have?come to a standstill. ?I have No BP Filter signal greater than 00. ?I have replaced the three PA FETs, they were all bad, Q6 was bad as well. ?Q5 was removed, checked with a transistor tester and reinstalled. ?IC3 which was bad was replaced with an SN7400 of 1988 manufacture. ?I bypassed Q5 with a wire (not transmitting of course) just in case the replacement IC3 was not turning it on to allow the receive RF to pass. ?I have some LM4652¡¯s on order, they should arrive Thursday, as well as a new batch of 74ACT00N¡¯s which should arrive Friday. ?Any suggestions the group might have would be greatly appreciated.
73 de W8VOS, Kevin
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Joe
Stick with order in the instructions, even where it may buck tradition. It is a tightly packed board, with resistors standing up.
Key hint is to set your pc screen next to the board. The labels are too tiny to read. I built easily with color coding on parts placement diagrams.
The image calibration is very cool. This kit may require more attention to instructions than most rigs I have built. Enjoy.
Curt
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Re: Case for the QCX transceiver possibly commercially available soon
#qcx
I ordered 1 case and 1, 100e upgraded chip on June 29, 2018.? I received an email that both had been shipped on July 9th.? I received both of them today, in Warren, Michigan (USA) July 24th, 16 days in shipping, great!? Everything extremely well packaged, no damage!? Metal machined components appear to be of high quality too.? Should make a very nice looking radio!
??
73, Karl, KO8S
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Hi Joe; ? ? I've built the QCX/20 & QCX/40 and presently building the QCX/30 kits.? I found no issues installing T1 in accordance to the building instructions sequencing.??
? ? I have found that if you take your time, wire wrap the entire T1 creating long loops between the primary & secondaries then simply snipping each loop, sanding off the varnish off the wire, applying heat to remove any remaining varnish then inserting each leg one at a time, there is no problem.? I use a pair of hemostats to lightly tug on each wire as I solder it into place.? I have never had a bad solder joint nor any issues with the installation.?? ? I think you will find it installs easier than you imagine.??
Good luck on your build.
73; Kurt - W2MW
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [QRPLabs] QCX T1 mounting
From: "Paul Harrison" < paul.harrison@...>
Date: Tue, July 24, 2018 11:28 am
To: [email protected]
Hi Joe, sounds like a good idea to me. You just need to be careful not to accidently break one of the windings during the insertion and soldering of the other components.
73 de Paul DJ0CU On Tue, Jul 24, 2018, 17:20 Joseph Trombino, Jr < w2kj@...> wrote: Howdy Gang.
Should be receiving my QCX kits in a few days and have a question about T1.
Is there any reason T1 should not be installed before any of the other components have been soldered in place?
Seems as though it would leave a lot of room to fit and solder this most critical part to the board.
Thanks for any suggestions/comments.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 73, Joe W2KJ
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? I QRP, therefore I am
|
Richard, ?Yes , Double sided PCBs have their own Cons . ?But we should , once decided to remove a component, especially multi legged, I prefer to butcher the part? but NOT MY board. eg, resistance
?i prefer to cut body close itself and remove two independent leads , rather than resistor as a component.
After all for one or two damages we need not bother . we can always find means to salvage and use it. all the best regards sarma ?vu3zmv
On Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 1:15 PM, Richard G4TGJ <rpt@...> wrote: I've been building my 30m QCX? over the last few days. Unfortunately I put a 33k resistor in one of the 47k positions. I discovered that removing components from double sided boards is quite tricky. In removing it I destroyed it. Annoyingly I didn't have any 33k resistors in my collection but a pack arrived from RS yesterday so I was able to finish it last night.
Alignment went well up to the IQ balance stage. But the Phase Low and Phase High adjustments don't give a proper minimum - the pots just adjust right to the end of their range. But it does receive and I couldn't find the unsuppressed sideband so it is at least usable. 30m seemed surprisingly busy last night.
The output power is lower than I would expect. With 12V I am getting about 1.5W instead of the expected 3W. Transmitting at 8MHz into a dummy load gave higher output so it looks like the LPF needs tweaking. I did put it on the air and although I didn't have any QSOs my signals were picked up by a few RBN stations so it looks very promising.
I won't get chance to look at it again until the weekend and it seems I need to revisit all the coils. But at least my soldering appears to be OK and I haven't fried any components!
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Re: Shipment backlog cleared
On 07/24/2018 10:05 AM, Chris Wilson wrote: If things are indeed a little calmer any chance of looking at the U3S
Iv output anomaly where it seems to output a high frequency from one
of the Si pads when not in TX mode? Hi Hans, The other half of the U3S to U3S amateur first two way QSO USA>Europe checking in here... :-) Congratulations on conquering the shipping situation. If you do find yourself with time to look at the U3S, any chance of looking at what we discussed regarding ability to force a CAL cycle between mode transmissions without waiting for frame end? This would be nice for those of us pushing the limits to do crazy stuff with the U3S on 2200m. It would also be very nice to be able to have frame longer than 60 minutes and/or be able to set frame to 00 and force a CAL cycle at the end of a long message before starting to send the message again. Why? Because many useful messages in DFCW can take longer than 60 minutes to send. 73, Paul N1BUG
|
Hi Joe, sounds like a good idea to me. You just need to be careful not to accidently break one of the windings during the insertion and soldering of the other components.
73 de Paul DJ0CU
On Tue, Jul 24, 2018, 17:20 Joseph Trombino, Jr < w2kj@...> wrote: Howdy Gang.
Should be receiving my QCX kits in a few days and have a question about T1.
Is there any reason T1 should not be installed before any of the other components have been soldered in place?
Seems as though it would leave a lot of room to fit and solder this most critical part to the board.
Thanks for any suggestions/comments.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 73, Joe W2KJ
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? I QRP, therefore I am
|
Howdy Gang.
Should be receiving my QCX kits in a few days and have a question about T1.
Is there any reason T1 should not be installed before any of the other components have been soldered in place?
Seems as though it would leave a lot of room to fit and solder this most critical part to the board.
Thanks for any suggestions/comments.
73, Joe W2KJ
I QRP, therefore I am
|
Re: Shipment backlog cleared
Hello Hans,
Great to see you have regained control of the huge popularity of the
QCX and the nightmare sounding issue of the GPS chip! :) What a
success the QCX has been, a very impressive product.
If things are indeed a little calmer any chance of looking at the U3S
Iv output anomaly where it seems to output a high frequency from one
of the Si pads when not in TX mode? And I may well be totally wrong,
but is there a remote chance with there being any anomaly with the TX
delay function? I had a whoopsie where I managed to TX into the RX
antenna socket of my TS-590 doing is a real mischief, and i assumed it
was something amiss with my antenna change over relay box, but I have
been unable to find anything wrong with that unit at all. Could there
POSSIBLY be any glitch with the switching delay bearing in mind I was
using X2 and taking the drive direct to my 1kW amp from the Si chip
pads? I had a LOOOONG delay set, too. Thanks and all the best!
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
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Show quoted text
Hi all Just to re-iterate, in case you missed it in the July newsletter -? 1) We are now up to date with shipments.?
2) We now aim to ship all orders within 1 business day of ordering.?
3) Tracking is provided on all orders, included in your shipment notification email.?
4) All kits are in stock with the exception of the new QCX
enclosure kit, which is awaiting fresh supplies from the
manufacturer. If your order includes a QCX enclosure kit, the whole
order will wait for the enclosure, and the order will all ship together.? 73 Hans G0UPL
,_._,_ -- 2E0ILY Best regards, Chris mailto:chris@...
--
Best regards, Chris Wilson (2E0ILY)
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are you sure of T1. All coils in the same sense, connected correctly and perfectly welded ? That would be (was) my starting point.
Martin
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I've created a spreadsheet calculating the phase shift through IC6 and IC7. This shows that the correct 90 degree phase difference should happen when R17 and R24 are at their midpoints. So I think I will start by checking that these are soldered correctly. Across R14 and R21 I should measure about 8.3K and 6.5K so this seems a good place to start.
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Hi all
Just to re-iterate, in case you missed it in the July newsletter -?
1) We are now up to date with shipments.? 2) We now aim to ship all orders within 1 business day of ordering.? 3) Tracking is provided on all orders, included in your shipment notification email.? 4) All kits are in stock with the exception of the new QCX enclosure kit, which is awaiting fresh supplies from the manufacturer. If your order includes a QCX enclosure kit, the whole order will wait for the enclosure, and the order will all ship together.?
73 Hans G0UPL
|
In the photo of T1 in the QCX manual it shows the 4 windings as very distinctively separate. The 30 turn winding takes up half the toroid and then there are 3x3 turn windings, each being quite tight with a large gap to the next one. In my 30m version all the turns are spread around the toroid fairly evenly. Does this matter? Richard, With these types of coils it does not actually make much difference. >I am failing to get a minimum with the Phase Low and Phase High adjustments and am getting to the end stop. But as Martin says T1 and it's soldering is the first thing to look at. 73 Alan G4ZFQ
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I can't tell, what I did wrong but facing the same problem I took T 1 out again took all the windings off and did it again. It looked much neater then and it worked fine.
Fot the lack of output I took of turns from the toroids in the filter and replaced the 390 pf by something of better quality. Its not perfect but I get 4 W at 15 V.
Martin
DK3UW
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David Wilcox K8WPE
N1BUG
AdverseYaw
Kurt Zimmerman