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Hi all
Firmware 1_10 is now available for download at ?
Changes: - Faster rendering of the Configuration screen
- Added "Custom USB name" parameter to Configuration screen - facilitates multiple QDX on one PC
- Improved precision of RF output frequency at given audio offset (3rd term Taylor expansion)
- Bug fix: 2200m and 630m transmit hung the QDX, this is now resolved
Details:
Faster rendering of the Configuration screen
Well the way I had written it was bad... every time you pressed an up or down arrow button the whole screen was redrawn. Unnecessary! (As well as particularly annoying if you were using your beloved DEC VT3230 terminal at 19600 baud). All you need to do is rewrite the former and the current value cell entries so as to update the highlight (inverse text). So I rewrote it and it's a lot slicker now.?
Added "Custom USB name" parameter to Configuration screen - facilitates multiple QDX on one PC
This one is interesting and is a request by Ramon?KP4RX, I'm grateful for his suggestion! For this change, there is a new "Custom USB name" parameter at the bottom of the Configuration. By default, if you leave it blank, the name of your radio is just "QDX Transceiver". But if you enter a name here, then this becomes the name of your QDX audio device. Which means now you could connect multiple QDX to one PC, and have each show up as its own distinctly named USB sound card.?
Furthermore, Ramon KP4RX informed me of an additional way to connect to the serial port on Linux. On Windows I believe you will still have to use COM1, COM2, etc according to the whims of however Windows decides to enumerate the serial ports for you. On Linux, the equivalent was ttyACM0, ttyACM1 and the numbers get assigned sequentially according to when you plug in these serial devices. HOWEVER, on Linux Ramon informed me that you can also refer to a serial device by name. Which is very useful because the name doesn't change, if you connect other serial devices in a different order!?
Instead of
/dev/ttyACM0? (where the 0 could be 1, 2 etc depending on what other serial devices you connected)
use
/dev/serial/by-id/usb-QRP_Labs_QDX_Transceiver-if00
And now, if you use the new "Custom USB name" feature, that device gets named accordingly - so for example in my example in the new operating manual, I set my "Custom USB name" parameter to "QDX-DEV" - then I can connect a terminal to:
/dev/serial/by-id/usb-QRP_Labs_QDX-DEV-if00
It's quite nice if you have several serial devices connected. Often I do, because I have ISP?programmers for example. So I have to keep remembering the ACM0, ACM1 or whatever, depending on which devices I plugged in first; or I have to remember to plug the devices in in the same order every time. Not any more! BUT... unfortunately WSJT-X doesn't seem to allow you to specify it like this :-/?
Improved precision of RF output frequency at given audio offset (3rd term Taylor expansion)
It turns out that the algorithms I used to get very precise audio tone shifts (version 1_06 onward) work very well at HF but there is an error term which gets increasingly objectionable at lower frequencies. So now we are trying to develop QDX-M for 630m and 2200m, there would be a larger error down there, which is less acceptable. So I added what can be considered to be an additional term of the Taylor series expansion, which greatly improves the accuracy at LF.?
Bug fix: 2200m and 630m transmit hung the QDX, this is now resolved
As it says - 2200m and 630m were supposed to be supported by the firmware but it didn't work - if you tried to transmit, it hung the QDX. So I have found and resolved this bug.?
73 Hans G0UPL
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On 2023-07-19 11:05, Hans Summers wrote: ....
And now, if you use the new "Custom USB name" feature, that device gets
named accordingly - so for example in my example in the new operating
manual, I set my "Custom USB name" parameter to "QDX-DEV" - then I can
connect a terminal to:
/dev/serial/by-id/usb-QRP_Labs_QDX-DEV-if00
It's quite nice if you have several serial devices connected. Often I do,
because I have ISP programmers for example. So I have to keep remembering
the ACM0, ACM1 or whatever, depending on which devices I plugged in first;
or I have to remember to plug the devices in in the same order every time.
Not any more! BUT... unfortunately WSJT-X doesn't seem to allow you to
specify it like this :-/
It also works in WSJT-X. However, you can't select it, you have to type the whole string. 73, Uli DF7SC
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Hans thanks a lot for your outstanding work on your products! I've been dreaming of this USB enhancement so I'll be able to have both a Low Band and a high band QDX at my remote station! I'm away from home on work travel but upgraded a Remote QDX and can confirm that this works even with WSJT-X, the serial port by id won't show in the drop-down menu for serial ports but if you type it directly it will work. Below Screenshots of every config. I've set the Custom USB name on this one to QDX-LOW. For those wanting to use the serial by id you can easily find it by typing "ls /dev/serial/by-id/" in the terminal. To be able to use 2 radios on a single PC you can leverage the -rig switch in WSJT-X and configure each instance accordingly or you can use the profiles menu.    There are no QSOs on the main screen as antenna was disconnected during screenshot but you can see in there that Audio and CAT are working. 
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On Thu, Jul 20, 2023 at 12:04 AM, Uli DF7SC wrote:
It also works in WSJT-X.
However, you can't select it, you have to type the whole string.
I dont get this ... My WSJT-X v2.6.1 still only lists original QDX/QRPlabs in the Settings-RADIO list, and same in the Settings-AUDIO section, does not show my new configuration name? Where are you typing the whole string?? I am running Windows 11. 73 Ken G4APB
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Ken, this only works on Linux AFAIK. Windows will always use a COM# depending on various factors. Also if you are using just 1 QDX on a computer there's no added value on changing the name. The purpose of this feature is to be able to connect multiple QDX's simultaneously at any given time.
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Hi Ramon,?
you say¡
To be able to use 2 radios on a single PC you can leverage the -rig switch in WSJT-X and configure each instance accordingly or you can use the profiles menu.
please explain/expand what you mean by this or is it Linux only?
73 Ken g4apb?
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Hi Ken,
I can run FT-8 multiple rigs in WSJT-X on a single PC by creating multiple instances of WSJT-X ?through establishing independent shortcuts on the desktop and using the -rig switch. More details on my experience is here, if you interested:
73! @Linas_LY2H
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Thanks for your reply Linas,
however, this method does not use the new feature of ¡®custom USB name¡¯, which I was trying to do.
73 Ken g4apb
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Hi Ken, let's see If I can help clarifying this doubt.
This feature allows an operator to be able to plug multiple QDXs to a single computer simultaneously and be able to identify them easily. I requested this enhancement to Hans some time ago and he gladly offered to implement it (Thanks again Hans), a little background story on it: I have a remote station in PR with a QDX that backs in time before the High Band version was available. When the High Band version became available, I've built one and the desire to add it to that remote station came to light, that means having there 2 QDX Transceivers, one high band and one low band. The problem on doing that lies in that the device name for Serial port and audio card would be the same if "BOTH XCVRS Are Connected AT THE SAME TIME" thus making it impossible for me to identify which one is the one I intend to use at a given time (This in fact is true for the Sound card, for the serial ports there are many ways to identify one without any device change, in fact my original wish was specifically for the sound card but while discussing back and forth Hans saw the bigger picture and included the serial port too). This is where the 'Custom USB name' Comes in to play, with this feature I can be sure at all times which XCVR is the target. Now changing WSJT-X config each time I'd like to switch between HIGH and LOW Bands would be a nuisance and that's where the --rig-name comes into play exactly as in Linas video. I can create 2 shortcuts, one for low and one for high using the software switch to point to the corresponding configuration. Everything I'm stating here is true just for Linux as on Windows there's no way to set a "name" for a serial port. Maybe a couple screenshots can Say more than a thousand words:
Here there are Both a LOW band and a HIGH Band connected to the same Linux PC. Note the similarity between Custom USB Name and the serial port used in Putty?
Now let's go to the WSJT-X part, here?is where the Custom USB Name feature shows in all of its gloriousness, This is the WSJT-X configuration for the XCVRs showing how to use the Custom USB Name. Note how the name matches what was configured in Custom USB name in the QDX Config?
?
?
These are 2 different shortcuts for WSJT-X in my Linux Desktop. These shortcuts point to separate configurations for each XCVR using the --rig-name switch, "/usr/local/bin/wsjtx --rig-name qdxhigh" and "/usr/local/bin/wsjtx --rig-name qdxlow" that's basically what Linas was trying to demonstrate with his video but on a windows PC. This feature won't matter on Windows but the shortcut with --rig-name serves the same purpose.
Hope this clarifies one of the feature's use cases.
73 de KP4RX
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Hi Ramon,
many thanks for the detailed explanation. HOWEVER¡?facilitates multiple QDX on one PC¡??is not quite accurate. I see a dangerous precedent being set here with a split from ANY PC (and so ANY operating system) is now ¡®some features work on Linux based PCs and some features don¡¯t work on Windows based PCs.
This is the first time I have seen this operating system split in QRPLabs products.?
I have Windows systems. No Linux based PC. So your excellent explanation cannot be performed by me. That is my point.
I now know how to do the wsjtx ¡ªrig thing, but that could be done prior to this new feature being added. That is because wsjtx can run on either Windows or Linux, nothing to do with the new QDX USB feature.?
No need for you to respond Ramon, I am just voicing my concerns.
best 73 Ken g4apb?
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MNY TNXS Hans and Ramon for this capability, this thread, and the tutorials. Its' an excellent use of this forum.
es vy 73 de "baab" w9ya
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of KEN G4APB Sent: Saturday, July 22, 2023 11:20 AM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [QRPLabs] #qdx firmware 1_10 release ? Hi Ramon,
many thanks for the detailed explanation. HOWEVER¡?facilitates multiple QDX on one PC¡??is not quite accurate. I see a dangerous precedent being set here with a split from ANY PC (and so ANY operating system) is now ¡®some features work on Linux based PCs and some features don¡¯t work on Windows based PCs.
This is the first time I have seen this operating system split in QRPLabs products.?
I have Windows systems. No Linux based PC. So your excellent explanation cannot be performed by me. That is my point.
I now know how to do the wsjtx ¡ªrig thing, but that could be done prior to this new feature being added. That is because wsjtx can run on either Windows or Linux, nothing to do with the new QDX USB feature.?
No need for you to respond Ramon, I am just voicing my concerns.
best 73 Ken g4apb?
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Hello Ken
Nothing is dangerous, here.
Windows and Linux already handle Virtual COM serial ports differently which is way way outside my control.
When Ramon requested the ability to name QDX, which is useful because it definitely allows naming the soundcard, which was the main request - I saw no reason not to do this. Now if you name two QDXs differently, say QDX-HI and QDX-LO, you could operate both on a Windows or Linux machine because in both cases, the custom name is now the name of the soundcard. What happens with the serial port is a different matter. They'd appear on a Windows machine as two different COMn numbers and on a Linux machine as two different ttyACMn numbers.?
Without the new USB name feature I don't think multi-QDX operation is possible because neither OS can differentiate between soundcards which have the same name.?
I have never tried or wished to run WSJT-X on the same machine, whether windows or Linux. If it's possible to run two windows instances of WSJT-X I see no reason why it isn't possible to specify each one to connect to a different QDX.?
Now it so happens that Ramon pointed out, separately, which was not the main reason for the request, that on Linux you can also connect to a serial port referring to it by name. Not just by ttyACMn. Which I think is a very nice and convenient feature. And I'm sorry, Linux makes something much more convenient... And Microsoft doesn't hold a gun to anyone's head... But better not start another Linux vs MS Windows thread again.?
I didn't follow this entire thread but as far as I understand it, the Custom USB name feature makes a named soundcard on both Windows and Linux that facilitates multi-QDX operation. The serial ports already enumerated differently on both Windows and Linux and weren't an obstacle to multi-QDX operation. So the fact Linux provides some additional convenience in serial port naming is just a useful side effect, it isn't the main functionality, it doesn't facilitate or block anything either way.?
Having said all that... If anyone did request a non-mainstream feature that was relatively easy to implement and seemed to be useful to them, I wouldn't hesitate to add it - even if it was exclusive to Windows or exclusive to Linux.
So don't over-worry the situation. It's always been important to me that QRP Labs stuff works well on any OS. That was also one important reason for the way I developed the firmware update procedure using the USB Flash drive emulation. It works on any OS, easy, with no OS-dependent drivers, software or procedures.
Hi Ramon,
many thanks for the detailed explanation. HOWEVER¡?facilitates multiple QDX on one PC¡??is not quite accurate. I see a dangerous precedent being set here with a split from ANY PC (and so ANY operating system) is now ¡®some features work on Linux based PCs and some features don¡¯t work on Windows based PCs.
This is the first time I have seen this operating system split in QRPLabs products.?
I have Windows systems. No Linux based PC. So your excellent explanation cannot be performed by me. That is my point.
I now know how to do the wsjtx ¡ªrig thing, but that could be done prior to this new feature being added. That is because wsjtx can run on either Windows or Linux, nothing to do with the new QDX USB feature.?
No need for you to respond Ramon, I am just voicing my concerns.
best 73 Ken g4apb?
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On 22/07/2023 15:20, KEN G4APB wrote: This is the first time I have seen this operating system split in QRPLabs products. Yes Ken. Hans uses Linux but we Windows users have to do our own thing. Any multi-platform software like WSJT-X will work the same but audio and serial port connections involve different naming and setup procedures. I have no trouble using 4 QDX on Windows using Windows tools although I expect the latest firmware will make it more straightforward. Windows already identifies QDX1-4 but I have to rename them so they actually match the numbers I've punched on the cases. Presumably the new firmware will enable them to tell Windows their number. 73 Alan G4ZFQ .
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Hello Alan
Yes, I use Linux, I happened to find it made my life much faster and easier. But it is important to me every Windows user is happy too. So if there's any feature that I can add that helps Windows users please let me know. Or any clarification to the operating instructions if there is any part where Windows-specific information is needed. Just let me know what would help you.?
On 22/07/2023 15:20, KEN G4APB wrote:
> This is the first time I have seen this operating system split in
> QRPLabs products.
Yes Ken.
Hans uses Linux but we Windows users have to do our own thing.
Any multi-platform software like WSJT-X will work the same but audio and
serial port connections involve different naming and setup procedures.
I have no trouble using 4 QDX on Windows using Windows tools although I
expect the latest firmware will make it more straightforward.
Windows already identifies QDX1-4 but I have to rename them so they
actually match the numbers I've punched on the cases. Presumably the new
firmware will enable them to tell Windows their number.
73 Alan G4ZFQ
.
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What I've found with Windows is that as long as you don't change
the position a USB port is connected - the USB port, including
hubs, active extensions, then it's ID doesn't change.? And if you
have a FTDI USB to serial interface once it's been pluggen in and
assigned a COM id that doesn't change.
It's also possible to give an audio port a name, so my IC-7300
USB ports can be identified.? Don't expect that to be portable.
But fundamentally, as long as you connect using the same
connections things don't change.
Chris, G5CTH
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On 22/07/2023 19:02, Hans Summers wrote: any clarification to the operating instructions if there is any part where Windows-specific information is needed. Hans, There is not much difference. Having tried WSJT-X on a Raspberry Pi I reckon selecting the correct audio was more difficult than Windows, one setup showed the QDX, another did not.There were lots of choices, none obvious but try them until the signal bar comes alive. Some have looked for the dev/tty in Windows instead of a COM port but that's about all. Most other problems are unfamiliarity with the OS, and that counts for both systems. 73 Alan G4ZFQ
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Hans,
Did you solve the "Japanese bands" bug found in Hi-Bands QDX?
73?
Pierre?
FK8IH
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Hans,
Thanks, I think it can be necessary in countries where the local regulations are very strict about out of band transmission capable transceivers like Japan, Thailand,...
The bug I found is that with the previous (9) firmware it was possible to transmit on a QDX High Band only on 20M.
73?
Pierre
FK8IH
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Mike Besemer - WM4B
Pierre - FK8IH