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Hi all
QMX kits: FINALLY after some UNNECESSARY delays and FedEx FRUSTRATION Arrrggghhhh we finally got the 8 boxes of 1,000 QMX Rev 3 boards yesterday afternoon. My team are building two for testing right now. I don't expect any issues. My team are also flashing the bootloaders. The other components and enclosures are already prepared. Subject to successful testing we'll begin shipping the pending QMX kit orders today; there are around 250 orders pending so it will not happen instantly, but I hope we can clear the backlog within a week.?
QMX Assembled (and QCX-series, QDX-series): See attached: we are making good progress on reducing the size of the backlog. The assembled radio waiting list is here: and I update it normally every weekday unless I have a brain lapse. It currently stands at 815 orders, down from a peak of 906.?
Any urgent requests, please let me know.?
We have two new employees starting on Monday. Which reminds me I need to order some new soldering irons and solder today otherwise that's not going to help us much, is it :-/? ?And we have a carpenter building two new 90 x 270cm tables for our 4'th room up here in QRP Labs towers.?
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Hans,
I do have a few of these to overnight to you if your looking for quality soldering irons that last and need quickly ?
Just trying to help......
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" . . .?a carpenter building two new 90 x 270cm tables . . . "
If you can procure motorized leg sets locally, consider having these built as standing desks. Your team will greatly appreciate them. I just upgraded my office with such a desk, and it makes the 10-12 hour work days healthier and much more tolerable!
Best wishes with the production ramp-up, Hans! Love AGC!
--
73 Jim K1IR
Hi all
QMX kits: FINALLY after some UNNECESSARY delays and FedEx FRUSTRATION Arrrggghhhh we finally got the 8 boxes of 1,000 QMX Rev 3 boards yesterday afternoon. My team are building two for testing right now. I don't expect any issues. My team are also flashing the bootloaders. The other components and enclosures are already prepared. Subject to successful testing we'll begin shipping the pending QMX kit orders today; there are around 250 orders pending so it will not happen instantly, but I hope we can clear the backlog within a week.?
QMX Assembled (and QCX-series, QDX-series): See attached: we are making good progress on reducing the size of the backlog. The assembled radio waiting list is here: and I update it normally every weekday unless I have a brain lapse. It currently stands at 815 orders, down from a peak of 906.?
Any urgent requests, please let me know.?
We have two new employees starting on Monday. Which reminds me I need to order some new soldering irons and solder today otherwise that's not going to help us much, is it :-/? ?And we have a carpenter building two new 90 x 270cm tables for our 4'th room up here in QRP Labs towers.?
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Hello Hans,
How is the V3 testing and shipments going?? I see I have a tracking number but no acceptance of the item yet - hopefully this doesn't mean you found an issue.
Dave
AI6VX
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Hi Dave, all
We DID find an issue but it's a small one and should be easy to resolve.?
Who knew - but apparently the BSS84 P-channel MOSFET from different manufacturers are significantly different... In particular, some have built-in ESD (Electrostatic discharge) protection with a TVS diode across the gate-source, and others don't. Q202 on page 2 of the schematic has its gate connected directly to the left rotary encoder button. At the time you're soldering on the 2x4 pin header for the controls board, nothing at all is connected to the gate. I didn't have any problems with my soldering station but some of my colleagues, with their lesser soldering irons, did show a tendency to kill Q202.?
On several assembled QMX here there was a clear tendency for the Q202 transistor to be killed by ESD during assembly. The symptoms then are that the QMX is on whenever power is plugged in, it doesn't wait for you to press the ON button; nor can you subsequently turn it OFF with the button while power is still applied. It can also be confirmed by a resistance reading of under 100K between Gate and Source (it should be extremely high resistance).
It's still not completely clear how it happened but the current best theory is that the Rev 3 boards were made with a different manufacturer's BSS84 to the Rev 1 and Rev 2 boards. It's also possible to test the voltage drop across the internal body diode, Rev 1 and Rev 2 always measure 0.58V on my meter but Rev 3, between 0.61 and 0.63V, indicates clearly that there is some difference.?
I had a few P-channel MOSFETs on hand having internal ESD protection circuits, but only 18. After replacement the?ESD sensitivity was removed,?in testing none were destroyed. We sent out those 18 QMX Rev 3.?
While the instructions quite clearly do state in bold red font (assembly manual page 5) that ESD precautions?should be observed, we all know that many constructors aren't going to observe ESD precautions or will do so inadequately. So though I could hide behind my bold red disclaimer, I don't really want to simply ship out the Rev 3 boards like that and cause an increased rate of construction failure.?
Therefore I suspended shipments; I located some BSS84AK made by Nexperia (formerly NXP, and before that,?Philips), in stock at a Turkish distributor, and ordered 350 on Tuesday. According to the Nexperia BSS84 datasheet they have integrated ESD protection diodes rated for 1,000V ESD.? See? . With any luck they should be here tomorrow. So the plan is to replace Q202 on all 1,000 QMX Rev 3 boards with this Nexperia BSS84AK, assuming it passes initial testing. I'll order the other 650 later.?
73 Hans G0UPL
On Thu, Feb 22, 2024, 8:11?PM Dave Schmidt < dgschmidt@...> wrote: Hello Hans,
How is the V3 testing and shipments going?? I see I have a tracking number but no acceptance of the item yet - hopefully this doesn't mean you found an issue.
Dave
AI6VX
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Wow!? Thanks for the update!? Between new developement, existing support and dealing with supply chain and contract manufacturer's issues, I don't see how you can do it all and still get time to sleep!
Dave
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Nice large caliber iron, I'd use it for SMT!? ;)??
--
Allison
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Post online only,?
direct email will go to a bit bucket.
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Allison,?
I believe this is the size iron Hans is referring to, in his early Neolithic writings, as being just a little large, but still able to get the job done in a pinch.
I believe Hans found a Weller iron once that had the same characteristics.?
I believe his phrase was " it might be a tight fit. If we can get it close enough and not bump the board, the radiating? heat will free the BAS521.......? Of course this is before the advent of using hot air to remove such small trivial items.
Maybe Hans can reminisce and wax eloquent at the FDIM and let's us know what it was like way back when....
Warmest Regards
James?
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Your oversensitive MOSFET brings back memories of dealing with very ESD sensitive A/D converters from when I was a design engineer in the 1980's. We were constantly riding the production manager for poor manufacturing yield (infant mortality or failure during burn-in). He resorted to all sorts of weird methods to rein in ESD on the production floor. He was spraying the place down with fabric softener (that just made everything sticky and slippery at the same time) and chasing down people to make sure they had the conductive heel-straps inside their shoes. Finally we figured it out, his group was all wearing company issued lab jackets that were made of synthetic fiber and just moving their arms they generated a few thousand volts.
And yea, we had to go back and put 100k resistor blocks on the data busses at the card edges. The radio that was built in to the device was also generating RFI if there was a bad antenna on the two watt transmitter.
I am excited for my second QMX to be at position #68 on the list.
--
Tisha, AA4HA
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Hi all
GOOD NEWS... (rare, I know)
I carefully followed the mail tracking number with the domestic courier, for the 350 Nexperia BSS84AK I ordered from Istanbul on Tuesday afternoon that shipped on Wednesday. This morning I saw that it had arrived in the cargo depot in town (12km?up the road). So after I delivered the three kids to their schools and kindergarten respectively, I stopped off at the cargo depot and picked up my small package. A little quicker than waiting for them to put it on their next village van in my direction.?
We tested five QMX Rev 3 boards this morning. I changed the Q202 transistor from the factory BSS84 to the new Nexperia BSS84AK, and asked five different people in my team to assemble the boards, with their miscellaneous ESD fetishes... I'm very happy to report that all five worked perfectly!?
My technician has now started replacing the transistors on 345 QMX Rev 3 boards. I placed an order for 650 more of these transistors so we can complete the replacement on the entire batch of 1,000 Rev 3 boards. We are resuming QMX kit shipments today! Problem solved!
I'm still a bit annoyed that there are multiple kinds of BSS84, some with ESD protection and some without. Even Nexperia have a BSS84 with no ESD protection and the BSS84AK with ESD protection. Other parameters are different between the two variants, and with other manufacturers too. I don't get it, why keep moving the goalposts? Isn't life hard enough already... reminded me somehow of Japan, living in Tokyo 2011 after the great?Tōhoku earthquake in March 2011; standing on solid ground was always something kinda fundamental to my existencialism... but with all the daily aftershocks for a year+, the whole place was all jumping all over the place the whole time. And now I can't even rely on my BSS84's...
On Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 12:37?AM Dave Schmidt < dgschmidt@...> wrote: Wow!? Thanks for the update!? Between new developement, existing support and dealing with supply chain and contract manufacturer's issues, I don't see how you can do it all and still get time to sleep!
Dave
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Hi Hans. Glad your problem is (painfully) solved.? I can;t tell you how many times I've got bitten over the years with:
1. early CMOS chips that had no input protection.? They would get damaged if you looked at them the wrong way.? From where I live, I had ab expression, "CMOS loves the summer, CMOS hates the winter."? In anything I design for my own use, I always make sure devices have built-in ESD protection to the extent available.
2. I learned not to get too clever taking advantage of of a device's unusual internal structure that may not be there from multiple vendors.? I once minimized chip count for a 5 v to 10 v level shifter by taking advantage of a 5V CMOS device that could handle 10 volts on its output via a pullup resistor to 10 volts. This was confirmed by the vendor as acceptible use. I was happy for awhile, then I became unhappy when the vendor stopped making the part.? No problem. I said to myself. There are several other vendors making the part.? But it turned out they were all only 5V compatible on their output. So I had to do a redesign with considerably more parts and was considerably unhappy.
-Steve K1RF
------ Original Message ------
Date 2/23/2024 4:36:53 AM
Subject Re: [QRPLabs] #qmx #shipping update
Hi all
GOOD NEWS... (rare, I know)
I carefully followed the mail tracking number with the domestic courier, for the 350 Nexperia BSS84AK I ordered from Istanbul on Tuesday afternoon that shipped on Wednesday. This morning I saw that it had arrived in the cargo depot in town (12km?up the road). So after I delivered the three kids to their schools and kindergarten respectively, I stopped off at the cargo depot and picked up my small package. A little quicker than waiting for them to put it on their next village van in my direction.?
We tested five QMX Rev 3 boards this morning. I changed the Q202 transistor from the factory BSS84 to the new Nexperia BSS84AK, and asked five different people in my team to assemble the boards, with their miscellaneous ESD fetishes... I'm very happy to report that all five worked perfectly!?
My technician has now started replacing the transistors on 345 QMX Rev 3 boards. I placed an order for 650 more of these transistors so we can complete the replacement on the entire batch of 1,000 Rev 3 boards. We are resuming QMX kit shipments today! Problem solved!
I'm still a bit annoyed that there are multiple kinds of BSS84, some with ESD protection and some without. Even Nexperia have a BSS84 with no ESD protection and the BSS84AK with ESD protection. Other parameters are different between the two variants, and with other manufacturers too. I don't get it, why keep moving the goalposts? Isn't life hard enough already... reminded me somehow of Japan, living in Tokyo 2011 after the great?Tōhoku earthquake in March 2011; standing on solid ground was always something kinda fundamental to my existencialism... but with all the daily aftershocks for a year+, the whole place was all jumping all over the place the whole time. And now I can't even rely on my BSS84's...
On Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 12:37?AM Dave Schmidt < dgschmidt@...> wrote: Wow!? Thanks for the update!? Between new developement, existing support and dealing with supply chain and contract manufacturer's issues, I don't see how you can do it all and still get time to sleep!
Dave
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Hans,
On 2/19/24 I received an email stating my QMX high band shipped.??
Today FedEx shows "label created" as status.? Will my order #82084?have Q202 problem?
Charles Murrell
K5KXJ
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Hi Charles, all
To be clear: ***NO*** QMX Rev 3 will have a Q202 problem. 100.0% of all the 1,000 in the batch, the Q202 will be changed by us, to the Nexperia BSS84AK I sourced. It should be noted also that it's a precautionary measure. Even with the factory assembled BSS84 it works fine... But it is a little vulnerable if you didn't observe good ESD practices, and this is why we are changing it. I didn't want to introduce a new increased failure probability mechanism.?
73 Hans G0UPL
Hans,
On 2/19/24 I received an email stating my QMX high band shipped.??
Today FedEx shows "label created" as status.? Will my order #82084?have Q202 problem?
Charles Murrell
K5KXJ
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Thank you so much, Hans, for the reply.
I really appreciate your customer care and especially your responsiveness to your vast? market.
Charles K5KXJ
On Friday, February 23, 2024 at 09:27:43 AM CST, Hans Summers <hans.summers@...> wrote:
Hi Charles, all
To be clear: ***NO*** QMX Rev 3 will have a Q202 problem. 100.0% of all the 1,000 in the batch, the Q202 will be changed by us, to the Nexperia BSS84AK I sourced. It should be noted also that it's a precautionary measure. Even with the factory assembled BSS84 it works fine... But it is a little vulnerable if you didn't observe good ESD practices, and this is why we are changing it. I didn't want to introduce a new increased failure probability mechanism.?
73 Hans G0UPL
Hans,
On 2/19/24 I received an email stating my QMX high band shipped.??
Today FedEx shows "label created" as status.? Will my order #82084?have Q202 problem?
Charles Murrell
K5KXJ
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Should I be worried if order 82084 shipped but 81846 is still just showing as "Complete"? I just want to make sure that mine hasn't slipped through the cracks or something, since I never got any confirmation or shipping email.
Thanks!
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No... don't worry, it will all come good in a few days!
On Mon, Feb 26, 2024 at 8:00?PM Loky < mrloky@...> wrote: Should I be worried if order 82084 shipped but 81846 is still just showing as "Complete"? I just want to make sure that mine hasn't slipped through the cracks or something, since I never got any confirmation or shipping email.
Thanks!
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Would Q204 be as sensitive to ESD? Being connected to an external jack (PTT) isn't it sort of hanging out there like an antenna?
--
Tisha, AA4HA
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Hello Tisha
The MOSFET gates are particularly ESD sensitive. It's the Drain which is connected to the external jack (via a resistor).?
On Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 5:29?PM Tisha Hayes, AA4HA < Tisha.Hayes@...> wrote: Would Q204 be as sensitive to ESD? Being connected to an external jack (PTT) isn't it sort of hanging out there like an antenna?
--
Tisha, AA4HA
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Hello Hans,
Could you do a favor and share a order id for recently sent parcel?
I understood the huge backlog you having right now and thus I am sorry for my impatient =)
Thanks a lot,
Yury
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Hello Yury
Your order ID is?83360. The package has not been shipped yet.?
On Wed, Mar 6, 2024 at 12:27?PM Yury Krasouski < krasoffski@...> wrote: Hello Hans,
Could you do a favor and share a order id for recently sent parcel?
I understood the huge backlog you having right now and thus I am sorry for my impatient =)
Thanks a lot,
Yury
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KB9NBL
Tisha Hayes, AA4HA
Yury SP2RM