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QCX Mini Keyer lockup

 

Hi Guys, wondering if someone had this same experience and could share a solution.

This am I was fortunate enough to have some time to go out and play POTA. I decided to use my QCX mini as I have never used it at a POTA site, but rather only in the shack and ¡°backyard¡± portable. ?The mini was built by Hans et al and is prob less than one year old. ?At the park, I had my 40 m hamstick attached to a hood mount and connected the feed line to a ZM2 tuner and then to my QCX. I tuned up no problem and nearly extinguished the LED on the tuner suggesting a good match. ?I sent a few QRL¡¯s to make sure the freq was clear then I use the memory keyer and sent a couple CQs. After I got a reply, I tried to send the caller¡¯s call sign back to him but my keyer was locked up. There was nothing I could do to get the radio to send via paddles. I hit the memory keyer again and it sent, but no response to the paddles.

I had to power down the rig and ¡°reboot¡± to get it to work with the paddles. After another memory keyer CQ, same thing w/ the paddles. ?Luckily I had a back up radio to use and finished the activation. Has anybody had a similar experience? ?I wonder if RF got into the radio and screwed something up. I¡¯m thinking I may throw a common mode choke on the feedline and see if that helps. FWIW, I¡¯ve been using the same hamstick antenna setup w/ my KX2 and Penntek radios without issue. Any suggestions esp from someone who had a similar issue would be greatly appreciated.

Rich

KQ9L
 

I have not seen this particular problem but my QCX is much happier with a common mode choke. I use it with a random wire or a qrpguys tribander. My random wire uses a 49:1 unun and a common mode choke at the feed point and another common mode choke at the radio. The wire is hidden wrapping in the eves of my workshop. It¡¯s about 47¡¯ of wire. I use a tuner with it. It¡¯s decent enough to test equipment but not useful for most communications.?
--
Colin - K6JTH?
 

I had a similar problem and it appeared to be rf on the keyer cord. Some snap on toroids solved it for me. Rf from the tuner I expect.?

72, Bob KI0G




On Saturday, December 3, 2022, 2:07 PM, Colin Kaminski <colinskaminski@...> wrote:

I have not seen this particular problem but my QCX is much happier with a common mode choke. I use it with a random wire or a qrpguys tribander. My random wire uses a 49:1 unun and a common mode choke at the feed point and another common mode choke at the radio. The wire is hidden wrapping in the eves of my workshop. It¡¯s about 47¡¯ of wire. I use a tuner with it. It¡¯s decent enough to test equipment but not useful for most communications.?
--
Colin - K6JTH?
 

Rich,

FWIW, I've had problems with my internal keyer also.? I've also added 6 ferrite beads to my keyer cable with some improvement but not yet complete success.

RF feedback is a common problem with QRP unbalanced antennas (EFHW, long wire, even trapped verticals) that is aggravated by poor or non-existent grounds with these rigs.

I've always been able to use my straight key, however.

All the best.

Jack
 

Thanks guys, I¡¯ll use a common mode choke on feed line and?snap some toroids on key cable and see if that works.

Rich
KQ9L

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