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QMX SSB settings for Winlink?
13
Hello Hans and others, I just uploaded the new firmware and am trying to get Winlink / VARA-HF working. Are there any specific settings that need to be adjusted? When CAT control supposedly keys up the radio, I can see activity on the signal bars on the right side of the display, but I do not get the bar or even two dots under the "A" on the left side of the display. Thanks, Darrell
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Jeffery Moore contact info
2
Need to get in touch with Jeffery Moore to get my factorey built new qmx+ which will not transmit repaired. A Phone number or email would be helpful. Thanks Steve N1SG
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I finished assembling my QMX+ (including a battery mod) and finally got the chance to test it. In the diagnostics everything appears to check out, until I press P. At that point the SMPS bias current for every band is ~4.6mA (where the PIN forward bias is 30mA). If I press T (while connected to a dummy load), the RF output and the Transmitter Voltage turn RED, with the Voltage reporting ~9.5-10.0V. Power is consistently listed as 0.0W, and the SWR (into the 50 Ohm dummy load) is all over the map. Any ideas what I did wrong? I've looked at all of my soldering connections multiple times and don't see any bad joints or bridges. I've checked everywhere I can think of for continuity, and everything has checked out so far.
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Hello, I recently just fished putting my QMX Rev 4 kit together with the windings necessary for 12v input. As I was going along I verified I all continuity checks as instructed and verified no pads were bridged. Upon attempting to power on the device, I connected my 12v power supply to the barrel connector. The screen immediately lit up and I had black rectangles across the top half of the screen. A second or two later I started seeing smoke, heard a pop, and the screen went dark. Upon further inspection, I was able to discern that the Q108 MOSFET on Plug-in PCB #1 blistered and exploded. The L101 inductor nearby also looks a little singed but the enamel coating does not appear to be compromised. I do not see any other areas of the device that appear to have been compromised or damaged. I was wondering if anyone may be able to assist with what actually went wrong here. I have ordered a new power supply board as well as a replacement MOSFET to try my hand and replacing the bad component. My current theories on what went wrong are: I am missing a bad solder joint somewhere that caused the issue, still attempting to find one if so. It's still unclear why the MOSFET would blow in this case as it's rated for 20V and my power supply used is only capable of 12V out. MOSFET AO0415A Data Sheet There is a step in the instructions that says to bend a tab of the LCD screen at about 45 degrees to clear the L101 inductor. I noticed that this appears to have been discolored possibly due to heat. There's a good chance that this tab was not bent quite enough and made contact with the top face of the L101 inductor, though I don't think the top face is conductive. This could have resulted in a short to ground? My winding on the RWTST Transformer is somehow incorrect. Image upon powering up. Seconds before smoke and pop. Note: I did not press the left dial in, the screen lit up as soon as power was supplied to the barrel connector.
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Release 1_01_004 bugs that did not get addressed
Two issues that I have reported before are not fixed in 1_01_004 and that is OK. I just wanted to make note that I had tested them and the bugs, as expected, are still there: 1. With VFO B selected, SWR sweeps do not sweep. 2. Attempting FT8 with USB mode results in only one transmit cycle. After the first transmit cycle, subsequent transmit cycles produce no power. This has been confirmed by at least one other user. Tony AD0VC
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Hello, I completed building the QMX yesterday. The initial plug in went smooth, no smoke no current draw. I booted the QMX into update mode, put the firmware on it no problems at all. Then I removed and re-inserted the dc plug and tried to start the radio by pressing the left encoder, suddenly I saw big current draw (stupidly i forgot to limit my power supply) it went up to something like 7 amps, so I unplugged it immediately. I dint see any smoke but the device did get hot in some areas. Visually I do not see anything burned on any of the PCB. So now, when I plug the radio in the DC plug nothing happens until I press the left encoder which creates a short and puts the power supply into constant current mode. (This time limited...) Can anyone please advise for any troubleshooting steps? I put some pictures of the boards in attachment. Thank you.
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QDX-M 80m
4
#80m
Hi All, I have a plan to build a QDX-M for 80 metre FSQ activities. The QDX-M appears to be ideal for this with it's clever non SSB method of producing the tones required. However, the web page shop only lists 10,11,12 metre bands at the moment. After looking at the circuits for the QDX and QDX-M the changes for 80 metres would seem to be: 1. Use the low pass filter design for 80 m from the QDX. i.e change the inductors and capacitors in the QDX-M to be the same as the 80 m filter in the QDX. 2. Change the inductor in the QDX-M (L12) so that it resonates with the 56 pF capacitor at 3.6 MHz. 3. It looks like L14 remains the same for all bands. So my question is: Has anyone done this and are there any steps I've missed, and can I buy a QDX-M kit with all the appropriate toroids, inductors, and capacitors? I'd like to buy one QDX-M for 80 metres and one extra set of components to change the unbuilt 10 metre QDX-M I have to 80 metres. Apologies for the long and involved post. Best Regards Richard Katsch VK2EIK
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QRP Labs QMX-PLUS-CW/SSB/FT8-NRV to be activated during ARRL Field Day 2025 with new club call sign
Please see: https://www.qrz.com/db/KR4DID 72, Bill, N4QA//QRP on the mountain in Roanoke County, Virginia.
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MI QRP Weekly Zoom Chat
We had six folks join the MI QRP Zoom Chat on 17 April. Please join us Thursday April 24 (and every Thursday) at 4PM Eastern for the Michigan QRP Club weekly QRP Chat where the main topics will be QRP and other ham interests. New hams are encouraged to participate and ask questions. It's fun, it's easy, and it's free. You only need a computer, a smart phone, or a tablet that can connect to the Internet. OR if you can't be close to any of those you can join by audio with any standard phone. Just follow the directions below. No software needs to be loaded or installed. Anyone can join and non members are welcome. Details are here: https://www.miqrp.net/zoom Zoom ID: 811 0835 6229 The topic for Thursday, 24 April will be an OPEN FORUM. Pete WK8S Ed AB8DF Ernie N3ETE Tony W8CDC Stan WB8QJZ Casey KC9IH The bands have been crummy lately. TAXES! Pete is getting an old National five tube receiver. The weather is improving and we are all getting antsy to do some POTA. Stan is still playing with SSTV and the ISS. He had a good pass yesterday but got sidetracked with a ham radio zoom meeting. Another satellite starts in a couple of days so he may try it. He is also working on the DMR Net Michigan One Net https://www.michiganonedmr.net. This sounds very interesting and several of us will be checking it out. Tony is still trying to fix his TenTec. Ed got some color burst crystals to bring to Hamvention and the Michigan Mighty Mite Revival at club night. He also got some non inductive 250 watt resistors. He will build a high power dummy load with them. Pete is working with his Zbitx https://www.hfsignals.com/index.php/zbitx/. The recent firmware updates have improved the rigs performance. Need to look at 40 meters for the CW practice sessions and maybe even for the clubs net. We talked about the FCC issuing callsigns to stations and the ability to get a call sign outside of the station's area. Like a Michigan station being able to get a AB6XX callsign. We talked about tariffs and what they may mean for us QRPers. We are all in a wait and see mode on the tariffs. Pete is trying multiple elevated radials with POTA verticals. He is also looking at towers including a ALM-31 - US Tower. The agenda for the 24 April QRP Chat: Ernie to do a short introduction and acknowledge any new folks to the Zoom chat. The topic for next week will be an open forum. During the open forum anyone can take the floor. We will go one by one until all have had a chance to have the floor. Files, pictures and presentations can be shared if you have any. Please try to stay muted when someone has the floor. Thanks Ed AB8DF
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Yesterday I decided to venture into the latest beta release of QMX SSB. I'm nearly 100% CW op, so this was mostly done out of curiosity. I'm a big fan of Hans and QRPLab, and have been impressed with the SSB technology. Anyway, the firmware install went fine. This QMX+ is factory-built, by the way, and has been trouble free. The only mic I have was intended for use with a PC and has no PTT, so I turned VOX on. The mic test built into the firmware worked fine (with PUTTY) and indicated the mic was working fine with the default gain. So I ran the LONG calibration process (I'm guessing it took about 30 min., but I didn't measure the time), initiated by the R command so it went through all 3 calibrations on all bands with no further input from me, and completed normally, as far as I could tell. But, the curves produced by the phase error and IMD Sync cals are in many cases, drastically different from the ones that Hans posted. I included some samples below - some similar to Hans', and some very different. On the IMD Sync curves, there's a set of numbers to the right of each plot, and those numbers are within +/-2 or 3 of those on Hans' plots. I'm guessing that's what matters for those. After calibration, with my mic (tested good in the mic test) plugged in and VOX on, I get no output when speaking into the mic ( into dummy load). I tried power cycling, the QMX, but still no output. In fact, the radio doesn't switch to transmit at all. The rig still works fine in CW mode. Its certainly possible that there's some SSB setting I've overlooked. Any comments welcomed. 73, Randy, KS4L ++
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Hi, I have released a version 1.2 of the solution. Please refer to the readme front page file at the git repository with details: https://github.com/AC8L/QMX_Plus_Autotuner_Internal_Battery_Speaker/ While I am writing this note - a group buy with 35+ participants is happening for this same version 1.2 - organized by Cal (AD8Q) and Stan (KC7XE). -- 73, Sardar (AC8L, 4K6SA, VA3DUA).
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Another good solar description
3
This one has a QRP focus. https://www.qrparci.org/resource/FDIM81.pdf Ed AB8DF
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3D model of QMX+? - To 3D print front and rear covers
2
Hi all, Having real struggles to find an existing cover(s) for the QMX+. All the ones are see are for the QMX. I can model some up easy enough but looking for a 3D model of a the QMX+ itself to model these around. I could model something close enough but looking to save some time. Thanks Colin
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Power out on 60 mtr QCX+
6
Hi I recently built a QCX+ for 60 mtrs. Everything works ok except that I only get about 1.5watts out into a dummy. load. Just wondering whether any one has built a QCX+ for 60mtrs and what power out that is expected for this band . look forward to any replies. Keith G4TJE
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Newly assembled QMX, SWR=1.5 with dummy load
20
Hey, I just assembled this a few days ago, made a couple of contacts with an end-fed. What I found odd is that when I attached a 50 ohm dummy load to the output and measured SWR, it was around 1.5 on 20m and <2 on other bands. Surely it shouldn't be that? What may have I done wrong? Should I worry? 73 de HF2J
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GPS QLG2 unstable 1pps
I have recently seen unstable 1pps on my QLG2, used for a GPSDO The QLG2 has a minimum of 10 fixes, tracking 17 vehicles and signal strength 35 - 40 on an external mushroom aerial. The 1pps suddenly jumps to a slightly shorter perid than 1s that throws the PSDO into holdover. Has anyone else seen this behaviour? Is it a duff GPS engine. Could it be a software glitch in the QLG2 ? Ideas on a $5 bill :-) 73 Mike
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#qmx #Heil #SSB #QMXplus
9
#qmx
#Heil
#ssb
#QMXplus
I plugged my Heil Pro 7 (IC) with AD-1-IC into my QMX+ with version 1_01_003 Firmware. I adjusted the mic gain with the hardware test from my PC and later from the QMX. I made my first contact with a POTA station in Houston from Colorado on 20m, with difficulty because of my weak signal. Although I have tried, I have yet to make any additional contacts on 20m. I plugged the Ad-1 stereo earphone connector directly into the QMX, but had to use a stereo splitter to isolate the ring and ground connections. While the ICOM radios like the 7610 supplies an 8 volt bias and the QMX 3.3 volt bias, the Pro 7 IC seems to work OK with the QMX. I use VOX. Using a Li-ion battery to power the QMX, I plan to drive over to a ham buddy who knows my voice and make further audio adjustments and check the transmitted signal quality. I will post my settings here after doing so.
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QMX+ Died on the Operating Table?
2
I started having problems with my QMX+ ver 1 after the SSB calibration. I ended up replacing the BS170s in the final amp which got me back to full power. However, I noticed that the power was not reducing in SWR test mode like it should. I determined that the power modulation transistor Q507 had probably failed. I replaced Q507 with a new transistor, but the QMX+ did not survive the operation. I am now unable to get the QMX+ to power up. I suspect that I damaged the board when I removed the old transistor and now have a short to ground on the board under the transistor. Is there hope of bringing this QMX+ back to life, or is it time for a new main board? -- Steve KA0SM
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QMX+ loose some characters while sending stored messages
11
#qmx
#QMXp
#QMXplus
#troubleshooting
hi, may i`m wrong with some qmx+ config, but sending cw from stored messages isn?t possible without loosing some characters, as like as "cq de df4bj" may ends in "ca de dfuba" or something else. Same behavior if sending from logging programm via cat. Did i don`t have correct configs or is that an known issue? I have installed the v1_01_003, updated from 1_00_027 on QMX+ Rev 3 , but going back to a non ssb fw doesn`t help. any suggestions ? vy 72/73 de Udo DF4BJ /qrp
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Image Name
Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am