|
Hi Hans,
My QMX is a year old in two months time, and for most of that time it has been unusable on CW for my style of operating (extra dits and dahs mainly the issue, as I am mostly a 20-25 wpm op.)
Thankfully FW 17 fixed that but now we have the key clicks. I had a QSO on it the other night, but after 20 minutes I had to switch rigs to an old vintage Shimizu as the clicks gave me a real headache and made it hard to concentrate on the sidetone. The rig has sadly had to be consigned back to the drawer it has spent most of its life in. (Note: I have played with AGC settings as mentioned on other threads - they helped a bit but it is too still intrusive to be usable.)
I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge and complexity of this rig, or of how busy you are with other work too, but is the light close to the end of the tunnel yet for CW please? I want to like the rig, but so far it has just not been usable in any meaningful way on CW. Many of the updates have been bug fixes or additional new features, rather than getting this core CW functionality right.
Please take this in the spirit it is intended - I am a fan, but am losing faith with this particular product. I hope we are close to a resolution.
Thanks,
Daimon. G4USI
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Hello Daimon
There are a lot of people using it WITHOUT these issues with key-clicks. So there's a bit of a mystery here. Could someone happy with QMX performance on CW without key-clicks please post your settings here? Sidetone settings?(level, absolute/relative) and AGC settings. Then if Daimon you can post your settings too, we could compare and perhaps more easily find the culprit.?
There could also be a possibility of a hardware problem on your particular unit. Do you see any errors reported on the Diagnostics screen? Anything is red coloured?
Hi Hans,
My QMX is a year old in two months time, and for most of that time it has been unusable on CW for my style of operating (extra dits and dahs mainly the issue, as I am mostly a 20-25 wpm op.)
Thankfully FW 17 fixed that but now we have the key clicks. I had a QSO on it the other night, but after 20 minutes I had to switch rigs to an old vintage Shimizu as the clicks gave me a real headache and made it hard to concentrate on the sidetone. The rig has sadly had to be consigned back to the drawer it has spent most of its life in. (Note: I have played with AGC settings as mentioned on other threads - they helped a bit but it is too still intrusive to be usable.)
I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge and complexity of this rig, or of how busy you are with other work too, but is the light close to the end of the tunnel yet for CW please? I want to like the rig, but so far it has just not been usable in any meaningful way on CW. Many of the updates have been bug fixes or additional new features, rather than getting this core CW functionality right.
Please take this in the spirit it is intended - I am a fan, but am losing faith with this particular product. I hope we are close to a resolution.
Thanks,
Daimon. G4USI
|
Thanks Hans, That is helpful, I thought from what i had seen that most of us had issues, so my apologies if I have that wrong.
I hope someone can do as you ask and then I will do the same and we can go from there.?
Thanks for the prompt reply.
Daimon.
|
Here's my observations on a QMX Rev 1 (80m-20m) and 1_00_017 firmware:
I keep AGC enabled. I no longer hear the old objectionable thumps I used to hear at the end of a dit or dah.? I do hear key clicks at the beginning and end of a dit or dah. They are not very objectionable but they are there.? The clicks appear louder when I'm on 40 meters with its normal background noise. The clicks are not as loud when I'm on a quiet band (I saw this on 20 meters.)? So the amplitude of the clicks seems to be somewhat a function of the background noise with AGC enabled.? In practice mode, I still hear the clicks, similar to how they sounded on 40 meters.? FWIW, here's my settings:
Audio:
atten = 0dB. Mute at min volume: No AGC: On
CW offset: 700
Sidetone freq: 700
Sidetone vol: 83
Sidetone rel/absolute: absolute
Keyer set to semi-break-in though this is not coded yet.
AGC settings:?
See attached
-Steve K1RF
------ Original Message ------
Date 3/12/2024 6:06:11 AM
Subject Re: [QRPLabs] QMX - Any progress on key clicks please?
Hello Daimon
There are a lot of people using it WITHOUT these issues with key-clicks. So there's a bit of a mystery here. Could someone happy with QMX performance on CW without key-clicks please post your settings here? Sidetone settings?(level, absolute/relative) and AGC settings. Then if Daimon you can post your settings too, we could compare and perhaps more easily find the culprit.?
There could also be a possibility of a hardware problem on your particular unit. Do you see any errors reported on the Diagnostics screen? Anything is red coloured?
Hi Hans,
My QMX is a year old in two months time, and for most of that time it has been unusable on CW for my style of operating (extra dits and dahs mainly the issue, as I am mostly a 20-25 wpm op.)
Thankfully FW 17 fixed that but now we have the key clicks. I had a QSO on it the other night, but after 20 minutes I had to switch rigs to an old vintage Shimizu as the clicks gave me a real headache and made it hard to concentrate on the sidetone. The rig has sadly had to be consigned back to the drawer it has spent most of its life in. (Note: I have played with AGC settings as mentioned on other threads - they helped a bit but it is too still intrusive to be usable.)
I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge and complexity of this rig, or of how busy you are with other work too, but is the light close to the end of the tunnel yet for CW please? I want to like the rig, but so far it has just not been usable in any meaningful way on CW. Many of the updates have been bug fixes or additional new features, rather than getting this core CW functionality right.
Please take this in the spirit it is intended - I am a fan, but am losing faith with this particular product. I hope we are close to a resolution.
Thanks,
Daimon. G4USI
|
I¡¯ll post my settings later today, but want to say I definitely have the clicks. In the ARRL DX contest I noticed that the clicks were noticeably worse when there were multiple signals in the rx psssband. More later.
73, Randy, KS4L
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Mar 12, 2024, at 7:31?AM, Steven Dick, K1RF <sbdick@...> wrote:
? Here's my observations on a QMX Rev 1 (80m-20m) and 1_00_017 firmware:
I keep AGC enabled. I no longer hear the old objectionable thumps I used to hear at the end of a dit or dah.? I do hear key clicks at the beginning and end of a dit or dah. They are not very objectionable but they are there.? The clicks appear louder when I'm on 40 meters with its normal background noise. The clicks are not as loud when I'm on a quiet band (I saw this on 20 meters.)? So the amplitude of the clicks seems to be somewhat a function of the background noise with AGC enabled.? In practice mode, I still hear the clicks, similar to how they sounded on 40 meters.? FWIW, here's my settings:
Audio:
atten = 0dB. Mute at min volume: No AGC: On
CW offset: 700
Sidetone freq: 700
Sidetone vol: 83
Sidetone rel/absolute: absolute
Keyer set to semi-break-in though this is not coded yet.
AGC settings:?
See attached
-Steve K1RF
------ Original Message ------
Date 3/12/2024 6:06:11 AM
Subject Re: [QRPLabs] QMX - Any progress on key clicks please?
Hello Daimon
There are a lot of people using it WITHOUT these issues with key-clicks. So there's a bit of a mystery here. Could someone happy with QMX performance on CW without key-clicks please post your settings here? Sidetone settings?(level, absolute/relative) and AGC settings. Then if Daimon you can post your settings too, we could compare and perhaps more easily find the culprit.?
There could also be a possibility of a hardware problem on your particular unit. Do you see any errors reported on the Diagnostics screen? Anything is red coloured?
Hi Hans,
My QMX is a year old in two months time, and for most of that time it has been unusable on CW for my style of operating (extra dits and dahs mainly the issue, as I am mostly a 20-25 wpm op.)
Thankfully FW 17 fixed that but now we have the key clicks. I had a QSO on it the other night, but after 20 minutes I had to switch rigs to an old vintage Shimizu as the clicks gave me a real headache and made it hard to concentrate on the sidetone. The rig has sadly had to be consigned back to the drawer it has spent most of its life in. (Note: I have played with AGC settings as mentioned on other threads - they helped a bit but it is too still intrusive to be usable.)
I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge and complexity of this rig, or of how busy you are with other work too, but is the light close to the end of the tunnel yet for CW please? I want to like the rig, but so far it has just not been usable in any meaningful way on CW. Many of the updates have been bug fixes or additional new features, rather than getting this core CW functionality right.
Please take this in the spirit it is intended - I am a fan, but am losing faith with this particular product. I hope we are close to a resolution.
Thanks,
Daimon. G4USI
<AGC settings (2).jpg>
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I still have the thumps at the end of each dit/dah, running firmware rev 17 and with a clean bill of health from the terminal utility.?
Bad enough I can¡¯t use the unit for CW.?
Settings are the same as Steve K1RF.?
Mark
I¡¯ll post my settings later today, but want to say I definitely have the clicks. In the ARRL DX contest I noticed that the clicks were noticeably worse when there were multiple signals in the rx psssband. More later.
73, Randy, KS4L On Mar 12, 2024, at 7:31?AM, Steven Dick, K1RF <sbdick@...> wrote:
?
Here's my observations on a QMX Rev 1 (80m-20m) and 1_00_017 firmware:
I keep AGC enabled. I no longer hear the old objectionable thumps I used to hear at the end of a dit or dah.? I do hear key clicks at the beginning and end of a dit or dah. They are not very objectionable but they are there.? The clicks appear louder when I'm on 40 meters with its normal background noise. The clicks are not as loud when I'm on a quiet band (I saw this on 20 meters.)? So the amplitude of the clicks seems to be somewhat a function of the background noise with AGC enabled.? In practice mode, I still hear the clicks, similar to how they sounded on 40 meters.? FWIW, here's my settings:
Audio:
atten = 0dB. Mute at min volume: No AGC: On
CW offset: 700
Sidetone freq: 700
Sidetone vol: 83
Sidetone rel/absolute: absolute
Keyer set to semi-break-in though this is not coded yet.
AGC settings:?
See attached
-Steve K1RF
------ Original Message ------
Date 3/12/2024 6:06:11 AM
Subject Re: [QRPLabs] QMX - Any progress on key clicks please?
Hello Daimon
There are a lot of people using it WITHOUT these issues with key-clicks. So there's a bit of a mystery here. Could someone happy with QMX performance on CW without key-clicks please post your settings here? Sidetone settings?(level, absolute/relative) and AGC settings. Then if Daimon you can post your settings too, we could compare and perhaps more easily find the culprit.?
There could also be a possibility of a hardware problem on your particular unit. Do you see any errors reported on the Diagnostics screen? Anything is red coloured?
Hi Hans,
My QMX is a year old in two months time, and for most of that time it has been unusable on CW for my style of operating (extra dits and dahs mainly the issue, as I am mostly a 20-25 wpm op.)
Thankfully FW 17 fixed that but now we have the key clicks. I had a QSO on it the other night, but after 20 minutes I had to switch rigs to an old vintage Shimizu as the clicks gave me a real headache and made it hard to concentrate on the sidetone. The rig has sadly had to be consigned back to the drawer it has spent most of its life in. (Note: I have played with AGC settings as mentioned on other threads - they helped a bit but it is too still intrusive to be usable.)
I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge and complexity of this rig, or of how busy you are with other work too, but is the light close to the end of the tunnel yet for CW please? I want to like the rig, but so far it has just not been usable in any meaningful way on CW. Many of the updates have been bug fixes or additional new features, rather than getting this core CW functionality right.
Please take this in the spirit it is intended - I am a fan, but am losing faith with this particular product. I hope we are close to a resolution.
Thanks,
Daimon. G4USI
|
All,
I definitely have the clicks. They are not as bad as pre 017 levels, but definitely there. They are much worse at high volume levels. So from a practical point of view, when you work a strong station, they are very low and not bothersome. When you turn up the volume, they become much more objectionable. Because of this, they tend to be much more noticeable with a dummy load, because you can turn the volume rather high before the back noise is very noticeable.?
Settings:
Audio: ON; thresh 9; slope 40; NF 10; Hang 30; smooth 50; recov 40; sample 4; S9 S9
Vol Step 2dB
Atten 0
Mute NO
ST Vol 70; Abs; 700Hz
I took iPhone recordings with DL Hi Vol, DL LoVol, & on 20 m with moderate signals. The HiVol was incredibly objectionable, while the other two were noticeable, but fairly easy to ignore. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out how to send them yet in this forum. I will try to post them separately under 'QMX Click Audio'.
All in practice mode, but clicks are the same with practice on or off.?
?
--
73, Dan? NM3A
There are moments when everything turns out right .... Don't let them alarm you; they pass.?
-Jules Renard
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I have one each hi band and low band QMX Rev 3 using _017. Settings are: AGC ? ON Threshold ? ? 7 Slope dB/dB ? ? 95 Noise Filter ? ? ?5 Hang time ? ?50 Smooth Samples ? ?99 Recovery dB/S ? ? 40 Sample Blocks ? ? 4 S9 Sounds like S ? ? 9 Sidetone vol ? ? 73 Sidetone ? ? ? Absolute
With these settings I no longer have the thump sound experienced earlier but I still have very low level clicks. They are present at low levels but not objectionable at 20-25 WPM operation.
73 .... Ron
On Tue, Mar 12, 2024 at 6:37?AM Mark Knight < kd7dts@...> wrote: I still have the thumps at the end of each dit/dah, running firmware rev 17 and with a clean bill of health from the terminal utility.?
Bad enough I can¡¯t use the unit for CW.?
Settings are the same as Steve K1RF.?
Mark
I¡¯ll post my settings later today, but want to say I definitely have the clicks. In the ARRL DX contest I noticed that the clicks were noticeably worse when there were multiple signals in the rx psssband. More later.
73, Randy, KS4L On Mar 12, 2024, at 7:31?AM, Steven Dick, K1RF <sbdick@...> wrote:
?
Here's my observations on a QMX Rev 1 (80m-20m) and 1_00_017 firmware:
I keep AGC enabled. I no longer hear the old objectionable thumps I used to hear at the end of a dit or dah.? I do hear key clicks at the beginning and end of a dit or dah. They are not very objectionable but they are there.? The clicks appear louder when I'm on 40 meters with its normal background noise. The clicks are not as loud when I'm on a quiet band (I saw this on 20 meters.)? So the amplitude of the clicks seems to be somewhat a function of the background noise with AGC enabled.? In practice mode, I still hear the clicks, similar to how they sounded on 40 meters.? FWIW, here's my settings:
Audio:
atten = 0dB. Mute at min volume: No AGC: On
CW offset: 700
Sidetone freq: 700
Sidetone vol: 83
Sidetone rel/absolute: absolute
Keyer set to semi-break-in though this is not coded yet.
AGC settings:?
See attached
-Steve K1RF
------ Original Message ------
Date 3/12/2024 6:06:11 AM
Subject Re: [QRPLabs] QMX - Any progress on key clicks please?
Hello Daimon
There are a lot of people using it WITHOUT these issues with key-clicks. So there's a bit of a mystery here. Could someone happy with QMX performance on CW without key-clicks please post your settings here? Sidetone settings?(level, absolute/relative) and AGC settings. Then if Daimon you can post your settings too, we could compare and perhaps more easily find the culprit.?
There could also be a possibility of a hardware problem on your particular unit. Do you see any errors reported on the Diagnostics screen? Anything is red coloured?
Hi Hans,
My QMX is a year old in two months time, and for most of that time it has been unusable on CW for my style of operating (extra dits and dahs mainly the issue, as I am mostly a 20-25 wpm op.)
Thankfully FW 17 fixed that but now we have the key clicks. I had a QSO on it the other night, but after 20 minutes I had to switch rigs to an old vintage Shimizu as the clicks gave me a real headache and made it hard to concentrate on the sidetone. The rig has sadly had to be consigned back to the drawer it has spent most of its life in. (Note: I have played with AGC settings as mentioned on other threads - they helped a bit but it is too still intrusive to be usable.)
I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge and complexity of this rig, or of how busy you are with other work too, but is the light close to the end of the tunnel yet for CW please? I want to like the rig, but so far it has just not been usable in any meaningful way on CW. Many of the updates have been bug fixes or additional new features, rather than getting this core CW functionality right.
Please take this in the spirit it is intended - I am a fan, but am losing faith with this particular product. I hope we are close to a resolution.
Thanks,
Daimon. G4USI
|
I have key thumps, such that my QMX is unusable.? They are worse on the lower bands.? I have tried a variety of Audio and AGC settings to no avail.? Settings adjustments are at best like aspirin for a migraine.
Mike // AK6AR
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BTW, Hans, I never said I was happy with no key clicks, just that I was happy that they were reduced enough to make the QMX easily useable with 017, while before it was bad enough to make me use another radio most of the time.?
--
73, Dan? NM3A
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Hi Dan -? Your "QMX HiVol DL" recording captures what my QMX sounds like under realistic?conditions when connected to an antenna. Thanks for posting those.?
Mark
All,
I definitely have the clicks. They are not as bad as pre 017 levels, but definitely there. They are much worse at high volume levels. So from a practical point of view, when you work a strong station, they are very low and not bothersome. When you turn up the volume, they become much more objectionable. Because of this, they tend to be much more noticeable with a dummy load, because you can turn the volume rather high before the back noise is very noticeable.?
Settings:
Audio: ON; thresh 9; slope 40; NF 10; Hang 30; smooth 50; recov 40; sample 4; S9 S9
Vol Step 2dB
Atten 0
Mute NO
ST Vol 70; Abs; 700Hz
I took iPhone recordings with DL Hi Vol, DL LoVol, & on 20 m with moderate signals. The HiVol was incredibly objectionable, while the other two were noticeable, but fairly easy to ignore. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out how to send them yet in this forum. I will try to post them separately under 'QMX Click Audio'.
All in practice mode, but clicks are the same with practice on or off.?
?
--
73, Dan? NM3A
There are moments when everything turns out right .... Don't let them alarm you; they pass.?
-Jules Renard
|
For me the key clicks are quite noticeable (especially at low sidetone volume) but I can live with it.
At a sidetone volume of 25, it is all clicks and no signal!
Anyway, these are my settings:
73, Mike KK7ER
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Hi Daimon,
The key clicks are definitely there and they can be annoying - after I did a bit of fiddling with the settings and also based on what others reported here, I ended up with something usable (for me, at least).
Hope it helps,
YO3GFH
op. Adrian
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Interesting discussion. To wit:
Part 1:
- Well like ALL of the responses so far, I also am affected with clicks that are there no matter what combinations of settings I use, with some settings worse than others. AND no matter what settings I may be using to make it seem better; heard signals and noise generally impinge the usefulness of any particular settings I may be using. (And no; I have NOT tried everyone else's settings in their *entirety* to compare ALL of the various ideas.....sorry I need to sleep, eat, make merry, and so forth during my days and nights....hi hi)
- i.e. Sadly, I think the problem is more fundamental than any particular combination of user settings as the solution will be found in the SDR code. Perhaps when Hans finds a fix, I will be proven wrong about my gut feelings. I hope I am. Truly.
Part 2:
*** I would ask another question; Is there ANYONE using this radio that does NOT hear clicks when running CW at 20-25 wpm and hooked to an antenna ? IF SO; I'd sure like to know what those particular settings are !
i.e. Go ahead prove me dead wrong ... please, as I want this radio to be more than an FT8 radio.
es vy 73 OMs de "baab" w9ya - QMX serial number 100 running .017 firmware. (I bought mine the 1st evening they were available.....so yeah; it's a rev1 board.)
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My QMX running .017 is also very unpleasant to use on CW due to the thumps. No amount of massaging of the settings has made it any more pleasant to use. I¡¯m hoping one day that the solution will be found but until then, it¡¯s an FT8 rig in my shack and I¡¯m still using my KX1, K1 and PFR3 CW rigs, all perfectly thump-free.
CW operators are careful listeners and we seek an enjoyable auditory experience.
Let¡¯s wait and see if QMX can deliver one.?
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I only just started to test my QMX with a paddle a few days ago.? Initially I experienced the severe sidetone clicks that have been reported with the latest and previous version of firmware.? I made a few arbitrary changes to the settings as follows and the clicks have vanished completely!?
and a sample of here's the signal being produced
73 Chris - M0KNF
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I think the thumps are coming from the AGC and you disabled it. increasing sidetone volume to 60 also somehow helps.
Simon
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Hans - It looks like we have a real problem for many (most?) of us! Perhaps it is a bigger issue than we all realised. I welcome your comments please, meanwhile, back in the desk drawer it goes as, sadly, unusable.
Everyone - Thanks for posting your settings.
Rather than reproduce my settings here, I will just say that I am using the same settings as Adrian YO3GFH, having copied them from an earlier thread. I have also tried disabling the AGC and copying Chris Bolton's settings - it makes no difference. Audio thumps exist after (not before) every dit and dah (whether at 2 wpm or 30 wpm.)
Please can we fix this asap?
Best wishes all,
Daimon.
G4USI
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I have to admit that I was a bit mystified as to how I managed to get the sidetone working perfectly as I initially played a lot with the settings to no avail and then the problem just seemed to disappear.
I've just remembered that I had headphones connected to the audio jack when I first had the problem.? I just tried those same headphones again and the problem returns but when I connect the audio jack to the line-in on my PC soundcard it's perfect!? So It seems that input impedance of the headphones/speaker may be a factor here?
?
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Chris, ?I tried your settings and there is no change. Unless... you turn the volume way down. Volume level is the only thing that seems to make a difference. Low volumes, I don't hear clicks. High volumes, it is awful. As I said before, at volume levels in a QSO with medium to strong stations, the clicks are minimal.? -- 73, Dan? NM3A There are moments when everything turns out right .... Don't let them alarm you; they pass.?
-Jules Renard
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Randy
Mark Knight
Ronald Taylor