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QMX+ PC software?
4
Other than WSJT-x, what do folks use for waterfall display and CAT control under Windows? -- Brent DeWitt, AB1LF Milford, MA
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QMX+ with ~1000 tone on 12M & 6M
43
The radio is a Ver. 1 QMX plus that in general performs exactly like I expect. It does not have the GPS option installed, and there is no battery in the clock battery slot. The radio is used for CW only. As the title suggests, I have an approximate 1000 tone on only 12M and 6M bands. It is internal, in that I can remove antenna and it's still there. It does not change in level or tone while tuning around the band. It appears to de-sense the receiver a bit, as a signal must be pretty strong for me to be able to copy it on 12M. There is normally a 'beat' frequency between the received signal and the tone when I can copy someone. I have run the I/Q sweeps in Putty, using a raspberry pi computer. The tone is present with or without the computer attached. The I/Q sweeps look very nice on the lower bands, and begin to deteriorate as the frequency goes up. They are still showing the two sine waves, but are a bit distorted( not a perfect line of x's ). This deterioration is also noted on 10M and 15M ( to some extent ) and the sweeps for 12M and 6M are not suspiciously worse than others. 10M works flawlessly, as do the other bands. The remaining filter sweeps look good, with some tweaking needed possibly, but totally functional as is. I have a set of QMX HB and LB radios to compare symptoms, and the HB QMX does not have the 'tone' on 12M when swapped into the system. I am curious what path to take troubleshooting this issue. I did not find anything in the archives that addressed this strange behavior. Thanks & 73 Dick W4PID
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Just finished my QMX+ and really enjoyed the build. Built a QDX a couple of years ago and it has been great. Powered up at 9 volts and no smoke! Draws about 100 ma and audio out can be controlled and tune appears to work and mode / band does something. Connecting an antenna increases the noise so it appears the receiver is working. But nothing appears on the display except for the backlight. Turned the pot from stop to stop with no results. I’m going to touch up all 16 of the display header pins. What a bad place for a soon to be 83 year old duffer to be soldering. Why couldn’t that bave been added to the display board before mounting? Any other thots? 72/73 Jim w0nkn
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On 4/11/25 I had a CW practice / rag chew session on 30 meters. I worked five stations: Date / TimeCallBndFrequencyModePowerRecSntSPC#NameCommentsOff4/11/2025 14:35AB2EW3010.108CW100579559NYSteveK3 at 100 watts 100 ft sloper doublet15:044/11/2025 14:17VE3UXJ3010.108CW100569559CanadaCraigK3 at 100 watts 100 ft sloper doublet14:224/11/2025 13:26W4SYV3010.108CW100579449FLRichK3 at 100 watts 100 ft sloper doublet14:054/11/2025 13:11K1PUG3010.108CW100559449CTHankK3 at 100 watts 100 ft sloper doublet13:224/11/2025 12:59WB4DKF3010.108CW100349229FLDickK3 at 100 watts 100 ft sloper doublet13:09 Conditions were OK. SSN = 112, SFI = 153, A = 17, K = 2. My next CW practice session will be April 12 at 20:00 EDT / 00:00 UTC on 30 meters. Anyone and everyone is welcome. This practice is intended for operators who are new to CW or they need some practice. IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW POOR YOUR CW IS. Mistakes are OK. Poor fists are OK. Slow speed is OK. Really slow speed is OK. This practice is meant for you to improve your CW. I will do my best to adjust to your skill level. Operate at any power level. If several stations show up, I will operate as a round-table control station. I will do it as a round-table so everyone gets a chance to transmit. Please listen to my directions. Details: Date - April 12 2025 Time - 20:00 EDT 00:00 UTC Band - 30 Meters How to find me - I will find a clear frequency and call CQ. Go to the Reverse Beacon Network and search for my call sign AB8DF. That will tell you what frequency I am on. Tune your station to that frequency and if you hear me give me a call. If there is a QSO in progress, please wait for a break in the action. Then send your callsign. If I hear you, I will invite you to join the QSO and start a round-table QSO. Reply to this email if you have questions. IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW POOR CW IS Ed AB8DF _._,_._,_
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Hi, I've just finished my QMX+ rev.3 (firmware 1_00_027). Everything seems to be working correctly, except for the SWR and PWR does not show. They don't appear on the LCD, even though I have them enabled ON in the setup. The LCD display is working properly, showing the battery icon and clock, frequency, etc. Any advice would be welcome Thank you so much! 73 Miguel
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QMX display unususal problem
8
#qmx
#dispay
Hi All, My mid band QMX Rev.2 developed display problem after 4-5 months of good working. Firmware 1_000_027 I build 12V version. After switching on all seems ok and works, but after 20-30sec display becomes corrupted. Initially it is just a few letters but soon after that all text is corrupted and gibberish. When I switch off and on top row is just black boxes. If I leave radio switched off and detached from battery for day or so and switch it on problem repeats itself again. I mean first it works and then display problems start. I done this couple of times now and each time Initially it works and then after display stops to play a game. Connecting to computer through USB works and all diagnostics and LPF/SWR/etc... tests do not show anything unusual. Any ideas what's going on? I am not that knowledgeable to sort it out myself. Can you direct me what else I should check? --------------------------------- 73 de Marek SP9TKW
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QMX+ new asssembled powers on but makes 'chuffing' sound on receive on CW?
3
Hello i have received my assembled QMX+ a few days ago and go the power cabled assembled feeding this unit with 11.80v of dc. (12v model) I can putty into it and see the hardware tests pass, the data sheet shows all good on all bands. It powers up and down fine. I have not xmited w it yet. I can viewed the manual that i downloaded and printed out for vx.0027 of my software Still not sure of how to operate it. When i turned on practice mode or keyed i get a continuous series of dahs all the time. Even with key and cable disconnected. ???? If i put the unit in vfo mode it seems to go away. Volume., are and band changes seem ok. I got thsi to stop but not sure how?? on any band cw i get a continuous audio chuffing sound like its sampling or some such. I can use some help or guidance on this and i am not transmitiing until i get this sorted out. Can i or did i change a settting in the config when i puttyed in? Maybe its my ignorance of how it operates?? Thanks in advance Charlie k2cmc -- Charlie C. - K2CMC LICW/SKCC/NAQCC
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Tariffs?
37
Will USA tariff laws affect the import pricing of Hans’ great radios/kits into the USA?
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QMX+ MCU (? for Hans)
This type of request needs to be submitted to the support desk at qrp-labs, not this user-supported forum. Stan KC7XE
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QMX+ with Elecraft KXPA100 amp..;-)
Ok,,,, just for fun I thought I would try my QMX+ with my KXPA100 amp and *it works great*... puts out about 50 watts with QMX+ driving it. I made my first SSB contact in QRP mode on 20m the other day but since the bands are not that great and I have this amp normally hooked up to my KX3 I thought I would see how hard it was to get working... EASY.. just set the PTT on each band to "grounded" and I have a TRS-to-RCA breakout cable (not sure I have that but...) once I figured out which RCA plug was which, I just plugged it into the KXPA100 and bingo! Plus since the KXPA100 has an ATU built in I can use that as my tuner ! Pretty cool...just wanted to toss that out there in case anybody else was thinking "QRO".... Of course.. NOT a cost-effective solution...;-) Mark
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Updated Wiki Page: QMX QMX_plus debugging environment
#wiki-notice
The wiki page QMX QMX_plus debugging environment has been updated by @Ludwig_DH8WN <DH8WN@...>. Compare Revisions
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QMX+ issues on 1st operation??
#12v
#anomaly
Hello i have received my assembled QMX+ a few days ago and go the power cabled assembled feeding this unit with 11.80v of dc. (12v model) I can putty into it and see the hardware tests pass, the data sheet shows all good on all bands. It powers up and down fine. I have not xmited w it yet. I can viewed the manual that i downloaded and printed out for vx.0027 of my software Still not sure of how to operate it. When i turned on practice mode or keyed i get a continuous series of dahs all the time. Even with key and cable disconnected. ???? If i put the unit in vfo mode it seems to go away. Volume., are and band changes seem ok. I got thsi to stop but not sure how?? on any band cw i get a continuous audio chuffing sound like its sampling or some such. I can use some help or guidance on this and i am not transmitiing until i get this sorted out. Can i or did i change a settting in the config when i puttyed in? Maybe its my ignorance of how it operates?? Thanks in advance Charlie k2cmc -- Charlie C. - K2CMC LICW/SKCC/NAQCC
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QMX and power bank PD
39
Is the QMX itself in any way capable to negotiate the required voltage with the power bank PD? In other words is a 12V trigger cable required or not? I feel more comfy with a trigger cable as it steers away from any negotiating. 73 es dx
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QMX+ T507 winding direction?
7
In the QMX+ does the polarity of the 10-turn windings on T507 (part of the Fwd/Ref power detector) matter? In the assembly manual the photo looks like they're wound to be mirror images of each other. I wound mine so the turns advance clockwise on both sides. Will this cause a problem with RF power measurement? Or worse yet, cause a serious impedance mismatch for the lowpass filters and finals?
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Hand Mics for QMX SSB ? thank you all for the input.
Id like to thank everyone that took the time to answer my question regarding the QRP Guys mic. Larry NA0F
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Too Much Power
8
#qrp
#cw
#qmx
The QMX mid-bander (60m thru 15m) is one of my primary radios for portable QRP operations for nearly a year now. The “problem” is that it puts out too much power in CW mode. Here are the numbers using a fully charged 12v battery into a 50 Ohm dummy load measured with an external watt meter: 60m - 6.1W 40m - 5.3W 30m - 5.1W 20m - 5.6W 17m - 4.5W 15m - 6.5W QMX Firmware is 1.00.026 Question; with the amplitude modulation capability that exists to provide SSB, can the CW mode be enhanced with per band configurations that enable trimming the power down to 5.0W for “by-the-book” QRP and to also lessen any risk to the hardware resulting from power levels that exceed 5 watts. I can also see a use case for an easily accessible CW power level “knob” for running QRPp without fiddling with the supply voltage. 72, Matt
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Hand Mics for QMX SSB ?
4
I have two questions. I purchased a mic kit from QRP Guys. If I understand the QMX & QRP Guys instructions the jumper should go straight for the QMX’s not the cross on the PCB board. Second has anyone found a wind screen for this mic barrel. I have not had any luck at all. They are either much to large or small. TIA Larry NA0F
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Hi All, Just wanted share my experience with you. I have experimented with 3 electret mic capsules so far. 2 that I scrounged off of other boards and one utilising the mic from my PC gaming headset. The mic from the head set resulted in low volume and unsatisfactory modulation. When I turned up the mic gain on the QMX+, the QMX also amplified internal noise creating unacceptable background noise in the modulated output. The other two capsules were a little better but still unsatisfactory. One of the capsules that I had took off was from a MAX9814 Arduino mic amplifier module. I thought, "Hey, why not use the amplifier module to use with my headset!" Well, I did just that. I wired up 2 x 1.5v AA's in series to power the board with and wired the mic from the headset as the input to the amp. I then wired the output of the amp to the mic input of the QMX via a 1uF capacitor to block the 3.3v dc from the QMX. Well, that done the trick! I'm getting much better results now. But I did have to reduce the mic amp module gain as it was way too high. As it currently stands, I am unable to achieve a satisfactory calibration with any of the bands on my QMX+. As a result of this, my QMX+ is in default calibration settings. The mic gain on my QMX+ is now set at 35 and have made a few contacts with good reports with this setup. Now, the question is, how do I wire up the mic amp module to the QMX using the 3.3v supply on the TRS rather that using batteries? I did try taking the 3.3v via 2k ohm resistor from the QMX TRS terminal to the vdd of the mic amp module, and connect the output of the module back to the same TRS terminal via a 1uf dc blocking capacitor, but sadly that didn't work. I'm clearly missing something... Cheers, Mel. M0KMD.
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QMX first launch: power failure
4
#12v
#building
#power
#qmx
Hello, I just completed a QMX build and had a power-up issue. I used a lab PSU at 7V initially; QMX draws ~150 mA right away - not proper. But at the same it did power-up and display lights up. So I tried USB connection and was able to flash the firmware successfully. - it self-turns on; - MCU probably thinks it is underpowered: as soon as it boots and displays normal view, it shows "Shut down!" and cycles; - display backlight blinks randomly - again, power stability issue? - draws too much power: I dared to try to turn it on with 9V and got almost 1A consumption. I double-checked all components, especially on power boards and found no fried parts or soldering issues. I also checked the 8-pin power board connector; it is the only board getting the incoming voltage, is this correct? I don't see constant grounding on PWR_ON pin (unless left knob is pressed). There's no measurable impedance between power and ground on the power connector if the power board is removed. I also checked for notorious Q103/Q104 short before building - not a known V4 problem, but just in case. What else I can check? I assume the problem is within 8-pin power board; could it be somewhere else? Thank you in advance.
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QMX+ RF output fluctuates wildly
15
#QMXplus
#troubleshooting
Assembled my QMX+ and it's working. I had a couple of issues related to enameled wire not making good connections that were resolved. I know it's working, I've made contacts on several bands successfully, including some decent DX, all on FT8. What bothers me is that the output power seems to jump around wildly. If I go to the diagnostics screen and key the transmitter, the Bias SMPS shows fluctuations in current that correspond to the fluctuations in the output power. The Duty cycle on the Bias SMPS always shows 0%, even as the current jumps around in the red. I suspect I've managed to damage one (or more) of the surface mount semiconductors. At least that's what my reading on the subject would seem to suggest. What I need is a test that can be done with a multi-meter that would shed some light on the problem. I can probably resurrect an oscilloscope if I need it, but I'm hoping someone can lead me to a simple voltage or resistance test that could help isolate the problem. My last problem was related to soldering and enameled wire which was easily resolved. I'm hoping this issue can be resolved without major surgery as well. Thanks in advance for all of the good advice I'm about to receive. Andy WB9YXA
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Image Name
Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am