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Hans,
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I set the QMX to "practice" mode whenever I want to disable the transmitter and use the QMX as a receiver only in CW, DIGI or SSB mode.
This makes sense when I listen with a random non-resonant antenna and want to avoid transmitting in any mode, even the beacon.
Please maintain a simple way to disable the transmitter
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73, Carol KP4MD
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On Sat, Mar 22, 2025 at 04:35 AM, Hans Summers wrote:
1. Practice mode does not make sense in SSB I guess. When enabled in CW Keyer menu and SSB mode is selected it could be temporarily disabled and then when CW is selected again it could be automatically re-enabled.
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I agree but I think this his already the case isn't it? Doesn't SSB ignore practice mode?
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Bug in firmware beta 1_01_003 display during Tune SWR:
When I choose Hardware tests and then Tune SWR from the QMX menu, the screen shows a frequency, the tune %, the band, and SWR:. Pressing the left button begins the test and shows the measured SWR value.
The Bug is that the frequency shown on this screen is the frequency that my QMX was tuned to before the test, but this is not the frequency that is transmitted for the test, as confirmed by listening for the tuning signal with another radio.
Turning the TUNE knob while this screen is displayed, either before or after starting the test, updates the display to show the actual frequency used for the test, and allows adjustment of that frequency.
This behavior is the same whether the QMX is in CW, Digi, LSB or USB mode. I did not notice this bug before installing the beta firmware, but I cannot be certain that it wasn't there before.
Peter LaRue
AI7YN
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I just got this one and it's the best so far, better than my trusty Retevis speaker-mic and also better than the original speaker mic of my Kenwood TH-D72E in terms of noise / sensitivity / required QMX gain: /g/QRPLabs/wiki/39099?
73, Andreas
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On Wed, Apr 2, 2025 at 12:26 PM, John Laidler wrote:
I can find micriophones for sale which say they are suitable for Baofeng and Yaesu.
Baofeng (and Wouxun and other Chinese rigs) and Kenwood 3.5mm+2.5mm plugs share the same pinout/spacing.? The programming cables seem to be interchangeable, too.
I bought a Retevis clone mic, cut off the plug and rewired it.? I tried fabbing an adapter first but it was too clunky.??
73, Don N2VGU
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Replying to my own question here!? I don't think the Icom 705 microphone can be made to work as the PTT and microphone output are connected together.? My guess is when you press the PTT on the microphone this applies the 3.3V feed to the microphone and powers it up.
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However, I have discovered that a Baofeng* micriophone works perfectly and has the connections in the correct order on the 3 pole plug.? I say "perfectly" in the sense I can set a suitable gain using the microphone test.
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*? and possbly a Yaesu microphone as well but I haven't tested this but I can find micriophones for sale which say they are suitable for Baofeng and Yaesu.
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John
M0WIV
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It's all good. The height of the cycle. In a few years we will need a few more watts!?
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Hi George, all
Should be noted that CESSB does not introduce distortion or splatter.?
Compression does introduce distortion (though still not splatter), including in-band audio harmonic content. Though I spent many weeks designing techniques to minimize the distortion arising in the compression processing, as much as possible.?
73 Hans G0UPL
On Mon, Mar 31, 2025, 20:42 George Korper via <georgekorper= [email protected]> wrote: There is plenty of room in the QMX+ on the development board for the best solution in QRP SSB mode, which is neither compression
or CESSB but rather linear amplification, a tried and true solution. It appears to me that the QMX+
is a good exciter....but let's be real. We often criticize too much compression or other faults, .on the bands. Nobody tolerates distortion very long.?
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But as Grandma said, "Never show a fool, half a job." And I am easily fooled. HiHi.
'Go for it, Hans!"??
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There is plenty of room in the QMX+ on the development board for the best solution in QRP SSB mode, which is neither compression
or CESSB but rather linear amplification, a tried and true solution. It appears to me that the QMX+
is a good exciter....but let's be real. We often criticize too much compression or other faults, .on the bands. Nobody tolerates distortion very long.?
?
But as Grandma said, "Never show a fool, half a job." And I am easily fooled. HiHi.
'Go for it, Hans!"??
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I'm trying to use an IC-705 microphone which from the specification should be suitable as it uses a 3.3V supply.? The problem is the male connector on it uses 4 poles.? From the tip these are:?
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Microphone + PTT
3.3V input
Microphone key output
GND
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How to connect these to the QMX is the problem where the 3 pole connections are, from the tip:
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PTT
Microphone
GND
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The Icom microphone has microphone output and PTT connected together but on the QMX they are separate. The 3.3V input and the microphone key outputs I think I can ignore as I assume the 3.3V input is to power the keys on the microphone, which are separate to the PTT button.?
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I'm intending to make the connections using a 4 pole 2.5mm female socket which is the correct size for the Icom microphone and a 3 pole male 3.5mm plug for the QMX end.?
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Any suggestions on how to wire this would be very welcome.?
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John
M0WIV?
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If the audio seems poor, check using the microphone test screen, whether or not you have enough sensiricity from your particular microphone. If you have to then up the gain too much then you will be amplifying noise as well as wanted audio.?
It's a bit confusing. Compression and CESSB are certainly not mutually exclusive. CESSB should not be considered a replacement for, or a form of compression. CESSB fixes the SSB modulation problem with overshoots. It operates on the RF envelope. Whereas compression acts on the audio.?
Compression will amplify noise as well as signal, in fact by definition it amplifies the weak parts of the audio more than the strong parts. So a lot of compression will increase the noise, as well as the average speech power. On a weak path where your SNR is low anyway, the use of compression will help a lot and be very useful. In strong signal conditions it will make your signal sound more noisy.
73 Hans G0UPL
Mel,
Yep, my audio is poor also. Since calibration never completes, I turned off the predistortion. The audio is really poor if you turn off mic agc, then it is just loud noise transmitted. With agc, when you talk the noise is suppressed. I have not done much experimenting with compression and EQ as reported. My recollection is that with CESSB, you don't want to use compression.
Gary
W9TD
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Mel,
Yep, my audio is poor also. Since calibration never completes, I turned off the predistortion. The audio is really poor if you turn off mic agc, then it is just loud noise transmitted. With agc, when you talk the noise is suppressed. I have not done much experimenting with compression and EQ as reported. My recollection is that with CESSB, you don't want to use compression.
Gary
W9TD
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Hi Gary,
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Mine is the same. I can't get it to complete on any band. I have spent several hours messing with band edge and center frequencies. It didn't seem to make any difference at all.
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Resetting the radio back to factory default give me the 'best' audio. Event at that, the audio still isn't good enough to use.
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Mel. M0KMD
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On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 05:00 PM, @Ludwig_DH8WN wrote:
On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 08:10 PM, Pawe? H wrote:
software glitch
Pawel, I'm not sure about software. I'm also not sure about ESD. Maybe it is a unstable PCM1804. There are reports about PCM1804 working wrong related to temperature. Maybe here something is similar.
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73 Ludwig
I think that's possible too. After several hours experimenting with band configuration settings and calibration settings, my QMX+ suddenly started screaming in my ear on one band and developed a little digital sounding irregular beeping noise on certain other bands. After I let it cool off over night, it seems to be back close to normal, but I noticed that the audio noise levels seem to return to max volume on some bands when I cycle through them. I suspect some damage to the PCM1804 because the symptoms seem similar to others who have had PCM1804 failures.
--
73, Dan - W2DLC
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On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 08:10 PM, Pawe? H wrote:
software glitch
Pawel, I'm not sure about software. I'm also not sure about ESD. Maybe it is a unstable PCM1804. There are reports about PCM1804 working wrong related to temperature. Maybe here something is similar.
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73 Ludwig
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Thanks, Gary, for this hint.
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May be. So, the hardware glitch then :)
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73
Pawe?
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Pawel,
I have had this happen also, it is not the SSB software but I think it is ESD from our fingers causing the processor to go "off in the woods". Someone showed how he put a ground shiels over the I/O board to prevent this.
Gary
W9TD
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Hello?
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I think I found a software glitch. I have QMX+ connected to the logging software, having fun in the CQ WPX contest. From time to time, randomly (without any particular scenario), when you turn frequency knob, S meter goes to max and the headphones blowing out my ears with the overdrive noise. Not sure if this is overdriven real band noise or something like digital noise (wrong data sent to codec). Off and on cycle solve the topic, until the next time.
Happened already about 5 times during 2-3h of contest activity (mostly listening, less than 30 contacts made).
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73
Pawe? SO8FM
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I measured the frequencies used for phase calibration on my rev 1 QMX 80-20.? For 80, it is 3.560MHz; 60, 5.346MHz; 40, 7.061MHz; 30, 10.123MHz and 20, 14.061MHz. The settings of the band configuration have no effect to the frequencies used, it is most likely that when one fiddles with those settings, they are running a lot of phase calibrations, and it just happens to work one of those times. My QMX never finishes phase calibration on any band, only getting about 1/3 done before it aborts.?
Gary
W9TD
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Turning the EQ on and maxing it out to +20 took care of my distortion problem. Also tried the QRP Guys microphone and everything seems to be working. Before that it was unusable.?
I now show power out and have made contacts from San Diego to Kentucky.
I need to try it on my QMX+ now. The test I just ran is on a QMX 20-10. Not going to calibrate again. It’s been calibrated multiple times.?
Im running the mic gain at 63 and compression at 5.
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Hi All,
Has anyone tested CESSB vs. SSB. Is the claim and brag ( marketing parlance)? that it is like having a 10 watt output something the 'brave'?
feel after installing the new firmware? Is there a noticeable difference??
73,
George?
K3GK
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Carol KP4MD
Donald S Brant Jr
John Laidler
Gary W9TD
Daniel Conklin