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Fun QRP SSB POTA Activation with QMX mid-band
It really does work well! Thank you again, Hans! Activating Saguaro NP in Arizona with SSB was fun! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1N3Lr332Pg/
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Greetings! First post. I'm a seasoned electronics kit assembler with above average skills. That said, I have virtually NO skills with radios, but am a quick learner... I'm confident the electronics assembly is OK, but unsure about the coils and possibly enamel coating issues. This is a screen cap of the results from ADC I/Q test: Based on the 1_00_027 operation guide, this should be a pair of sine waves slightly timed differently. All of the bands are pretty similar, and most tests are way off like this. I suspect the trifilar phase splitting is shorted and needs rebuilt, but wanted to make sure before I redo it. My concern is that when I twisted the 2 wires together, I used a drill and may have wrapped them so tightly the wire cut through the enamel coating. In the Operation guide, it seems to indicate this trifilar phase splitting transformer tends to be involved when multiple tests are not normal. What do you think? And THANK YOU in advance!
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Michigan QRP Week Zoom Chat
2
There will be no MI QRP Chat on May 8. It is reserved for the Club¡¯s Annual Meeting. We had thirteen folks join the MI QRP Zoom Chat on 1 May. Please join us Thursday May 15 (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 Pete WK8S Ed AB8DF Ernie NE3TE Stan WB8QJZ Casey KC9IH Dave N8SBE Stuart M0SGV Yvon AE7YD Jerry KI4O Bill N5IM Harry K9DXA Robert G0RYL John KC1VPP Bill from TX showed up for the second week in a row. Stan has not been doing much with satellites recently. Not that many passes right now that are capable of doing slow scan TV. New Yaesu QRP rig coming out? Will we see it at Hamvention? There was a leak that there is a companion 100 watt amp. Dave had an old 817 and now has 818. The Elecraft KPA100 amp works well with it. Others use a Hard Rock amp. He has been watching the Rat Pack videos and they have a lot of interesting stuff https://www.ratpac.us. The most recent one was all about packing for POTA. This was Roberts first time in the chart. He is a homebrew builder. Currently playing with a one tube (valve) regenerative receiver. Stuart has his Michigan Mighty Mite working and will try to get it on the air soon. John is new to the chat. His QTH is in Connecticut. He needs CW practice. He has a QRP Labs rig. Yvon is playing with his new ZBitx. So far he is not impressed. Bill did a POTA this week. The mosquitoes were bad. Used a QMX rig and Ham Sticks which is modified to use a telescopic whip. Ernie suggested trying a performer vertical set up to help get better resonance. Harry just finished a QMX+ and it is not working. Others have been able to get SSB to work on their QMX+. He likes using his Ham Sticks for his POTA operations. He also uses the magic carpet approach. https://www.jpole-antenna.com/2024/01/13/this-is-the-new-magic-carpet-faraday-cloth-ground-network/#google_vignette Ed uses one of these adapters https://www.cometantenna.com/product/comet-ad-35m/ with a mag mount. He puts the mag mount on the roof of his car and the adapter allows radials to be attached. Much better than just using the capacitive coupling of the mount for a ground plane. There will be no MI QRP Chat on May 8. The topic for Thursday, 15 May will be TBD. The agenda for the 15 Mayl QRP Chat: Ernie to do a short introduction and acknowledge any new folks to the Zoom chat. The topic for next May 15 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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New Chat: QMX current too high
#qmx
#troubleshooting
#chat-notice
A new chat has been created: Hi, I recently finished building my qmx but when I connect it to the psu it immediately draws 200mA of current and voltage drops to 3,7V (from initially 7V). The device boots up fine and I can connect to it via the serial console. I get the following output from it: Supply Voltage: 3.7 V 5V SMPS Status: Error Voltage: 3.34 V Duty max: 85 % Duty cycle: 85 % Bias is off. I can't find a short between any of the voltage rails and when testing the buck converters they seem to be fine too. Any ideas where I can start looking? Cheers Lieven DF1CN By: df1cn@... View/Join This Chat Do not reply to this message to post to the chat. You can participate in chats only through the group's website.
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Firmware 1_02_000 - Need help to upload
5
?I am having trouble uploading the newest firmware to my QMX+. In "Upload Firmware" window on the QNX+, I click the tune button when "Click Tune" appears, and the QMX screen goes blank, as the manual says it would. But No QMX memory stick symbol appears on my MacBook screen.The radio stays shut off. Nothing seems to be happening, My QMX+ has been running just fine with the older version and my USB cable is in good shape (I have used it for many other things such as uploading Arduino software without any problem). What am I doing wrong? Any advice would be appreciated. Hiroki AH6CY Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS
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Hello Don, I'll take one if still available. Sounds like just the safe p.s needed. 73, Ron K0OXB Liberty Hill, Tx Yahoo Mail: Search, Organize, Conquer
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My BS170s failed in my QMX+. There was no power output showing on my Power Meter, the QMX display contrast had changed, the QMX case was getting warm, and the battery voltage icon on my QMX display was flashing. My supply was 12v limited to 2 amps. Here are my steps to diagnose and repair my QMX+. I will add pictures, I hope groups.io will keep them. 1) Power off and remove the supply and all connections. Remove the case top, bottom, and rear, and remove the washer and screw holding the BS170s to the PC board. 2) Connect a dummy load and power supply. 3) Power up and quickly check the temperature of Q503, Q504, Q505, and Q506 with your finger and if you have one, a digital infrared thermometer gun. I checked the temperature with my finger first, and two of the BS170s were too hot to touch and two were room temperature. The two hot BS170s measured 94F and the other two measured 78F. I powered my QMX down after about 20 seconds, because I did not want it getting too hot. After a cool down period, I powered it back up to make other measurements. The temperatures of Q507 and IC503 were close to ambient. I measured the voltages on Q503, Q505, Q507, Q513, and Q515 to be as follows: Q503 and Q505 Source 2.35v Gate 0v Drain 0v Q507 Source 2.44v Gate3.3v Drain 5.9v Q513 Base 0.4v Q515 Base 3.25v 4) Because of its high temperature and obvious high current draw and after powereing off and disconnecting the power supply I cut just the Source lead of Q503 and Q505. I powered up and measured the voltages on Q507. No devices got hot. Q507 Drain 11.3v Source 11.3v Gate 6.7v 5) I powered back down and remove the PS. I then cut all the leads on Q503 and Q505 to remove those Mosfets. I cleaned the board with Q-tips and denatured alchohol. To remove the leads from the circuit board I held the lead on the front side with needle nose pliers and heated the back side with my 140W weller gun. When it became loose, I pulled the lead out thru the front. While heating from the back side I sucked the solder out of 4 of the 6 holes with a solder sucker. The remaining two holes were connected to the ground plane and I didn¡¯t try to clean them out. 6) While heating the one hole not cleaned out from the back side, I started a new BS170 into Q503 and Q505. I continued heating while lowering it down to a proper height. I then folded it over, checked the fit, and soldered all three leads of each Mosfet. I affixed all 4 Mosfets to the PC board with the screw, washer, and nut. 7) I soldered and trimmed the leads on the backside, and inspected them. After connecting back the PS and dummy load and powering on, Q503, Q505 and Q507 measured as follows. Q503 and Q505 Drain 0v Source 11.3v Gate 0v Q507 Drain 11.3v Source 11.3v Gate 6.7v I measured the power output to be 3 watts on 20m. I also ran the PA test which was as expected. 8) I reinstalled the QMX in its case, connected the dummy load and PS, and ran the SSB calibration, which completed successfully. Hope this helps! NQ5P
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Python LCD Script
Attached is a basic python script I am playing with to poll the QMX LCD. Some example uses: python ./Poll_QMX_LCD_v1.1.py --table --add-raw python ./Poll_QMX_LCD_v1.1.py --stream-cw python ./Poll_QMX_LCD_v1.1.py --json >> ./log.json
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#u4b Deniyap-1 and Deniyap-2 flights
4
#u4b
Hi all Yesterday we had a total of 7 visitors to QRP Labs from Mugla Deniyap (technology workshop) and Mugla university. Only one (Necati TA7MNA) is a radio amateur. We had a great time with hours of discussion about QRP Labs products and amateur radio in general. Then we arranged a workshop activity to prepare and launch two U4B tracker balloons, which we have called Deniyap-1 and Deniyap-2; these fly with callsigns G0UPL and TA7MNA respectively. By the time we were ready, and had driven to put helium in the balloons, it was evening and already completely dark. We launched from a nearby football field by the light of car headlamps and mobile phones. Of course as it was dark we had no telemetry from the balloons and no idea of success or failure until the following morning. But surprisingly both Deniyap-1 and Deniyap-2 showed up near Suez, Egypt having crossed the Mediterranean overnight. Deniyap-1 (callsign G0UPL) suffers a broken antenna (the wire snapped during launch) so far fewer reception reports. Deniyap-2 has crossed the Northern part of Saudi Arabia today and is almost at the Iraqi border. I prepared a web page which includes lots of photos of our activities, construction and launch: https://qrp-labs.com/u4b/deniyap.html 73 Hans G0UPL http://qrp-labs.com https://www.buymeacoffee.com/g0upl
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Heavy ssb tx distortion
5
So built the qmx with no issues installed Hans latest firmware completed full calibration. CW tests were fantastic no issues. BUT! Ssb is not behaving. Built the small electret microphone and tested with quite a lot of distortion tried various adjustments up and down to no avail. I have a suspicion that it may be the electret which is -50db . 1-10v The one everyone is using is -25db could this be the issue.?? I can't source the -25db one here. Currently doing another recalibration. Any suggestions are gratefully accepted :)
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SSB Calibration !!!! ?
2
Just did calibration on month old factory built and now the rf out is half or so of before in ssb or digi mode. Did I blow one or more pa. Who was the guy with the cape that was doing repairs and checkups :) What say ye? wd5eed ps: it did shut down when it got to the 11m cal. -- 73 ChuckR
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USB C on QDX
Has anyone tried replacing the USB B connector on the QDX (or any of the other Q*X radios) with A USB C breakout board like this one: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5807 Either with or without using the USB C for power delivery? Thanks, Nate KV4RD *** Nathaniel Drexler
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My Sick QMX+: Loss of FT8 signals in Digital mode
5
Details about my QMX+: Board rev 2, firmware rev 1_00_027, wired for 12v operation (RWTST output transformer). Running it from a Buck converter set to 10 volts. I recently completed the assembly of my QMX+ kit, and It¡¯s suffering from several problems (low output power: ~2.4 watts, low receive sensitivity, most of the filter scans have the right ¡°shape,¡± but the levels are low, the IQ scans look fine on some bands, but they are just noise on most bands). Rather than trying to cram everything into one thread, I thought I¡¯d break the issues up into separate threads. Anyway, the problem for this thread regards FT8 (WSJT-x) reception when the radio is in digital mode. When it¡¯s in CW mode WSJT-x can receive and decode FT8 signals. But the radio goes quiet as soon as I switch to the digital mode. I¡¯m having this issue on every band. In the QMX+ ¡°System Config.¡± settings, IQ Mode is Disabled, Sideband is USB, and CW-R is off. I¡¯ve also disabled VFO B and the Split mode. All communication between the QMX+ and WSJT-x is working fine. My WSJT-x is version 2.7.0 (64 bit) and I¡¯m using HamLib version 4.6.2 (I¡¯m not using the file that is bundled with WSJT-x; I downloaded the DLL separately). The computer is Windows 8 (64 bit). I did some experiments using my FT-817 (connected to a dummy load) to transmit CW to see if/where the QMX+ receives this signal (the two radios are side by side). The QMX+ was set to the band¡¯s ¡°FT8 Watering Hole¡± frequency (14.074, for example), and I monitored the reception on WSJT-x. To simplify the explanation, I¡¯ll call it ¡°Digital Working Mode¡± and ¡°Digital Not Working Mode.¡± Here¡¯s what I¡¯m seeing: Digital Working Mode¡ ¡¤ I can hear over-the-air FT8 signals, they are displayed on the waterfall, and they are being decoded. ¡¤ The CW signal from my ¡®817 shows up on the WSJT-x waterfall. ¡¤ As I increase the transmitted frequency (from the ¡®817), the ¡°tone¡± goes higher. For example, if I transmit on 14.075, the signal appears at the 1000HZ line on the waterfall. When I increase the transmitted frequency, the waterfall mark moves up (higher tone). When I decrease the transmitted frequency, the waterfall mark moves down (lower tone). Digital NOT Working Mode¡ ¡¤ As soon as the QMX+ enters this ¡°Digital Not Working Mode¡±, no signals are being heard. I can¡¯t even hear the signal from my FT-817. ¡¤ If I DECREASE the FT-817¡¯s transmitted frequency to 14.073 (1000 Hz BELOW the QMX+¡¯s dial frequency) the FT-817¡¯s CW signal appears on the waterfall at 1000 HZ. ¡¤ When I increase the transmitted frequency, the waterfall mark moves DOWN (lower tone). When I decrease the transmitted frequency, the waterfall mark moves UP (higher tone). This behavior is opposite from the CW mode and from the ¡°Digital Working Mode¡±. It almost seems as if the QMX+ is trying to receive LSB instead of USB? Switching between ¡°Digital Working¡± and ¡°Digital Not Working¡± Modes¡. Clicking WSJT-x¡¯s ¡°Tune¡± button, or trying to answer a CQ, or even clicking a selection from the WSJT-x ¡°band¡± drop down box (that¡¯s on the left side of the screen) causes the QMX+ to stop receiving the FT8 signals. It seems that any CAT command puts the QMX+ into the ¡°Digital Not Working Mode¡±. As soon as a CAT command is sent from WSJT-x, the QMX+ stops receiving the FT8 signals. The dial frequency is still on the ¡°watering hole¡± frequency, the radio is in the ¡°receive¡± mode, but no FT8 signals are heard or decoded. To get out of this ¡°Digital Not Working Mode¡±, all I have to do is to enter and exit the QMX+¡¯s menu (it doesn¡¯t matter which menu level is active). Simply by holding the left button and then exiting by tapping the right button allows the QMX+ to receive normally (in the digital mode). Any thoughts? Shouldn¡¯t the received signal on the WSJT-x waterfall go ¡°up¡± (higher pitch) when the transmitted frequency is increased? When it¡¯s working like that (either in CW mode or in ¡°Digital Working Mode¡±), I can decode signals. Why does entering/exiting the menu correct the problem? Has anyone else seen anything like this? Thanks much, Larry (WA2VKG) S
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#20m #qdx #troubleshooting #wsjt-x
4
#wsjt-x
#20m
#qdx
#troubleshooting
Hi everyone, A quick little question: After receiving my fully assembled QDX, I noticed that it is not working correctly in the 20m band. As soon as it goes to TX in the 20m band, the LED flashes twice in quick succession. The QDX is then blocked and I cannot access it with wsjt-x (reports CAT error) or via a terminal program. Only after disconnecting the power supply and plugging it back in again is access possible. The error does not occur on 40m. Everything works fine there. I have tried the following: 1. Laptop with Windows 10 2. Laptop with Windows 11 3. Various USB cables 4. Older Firmware Versions Unfortunately, everything was unsuccessful. I hope someone in this group has an idea of what I can do and look forward to your feedback. vy 73 de Andree, DG7DK
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File /QMX Menu Reference.docx uploaded
4
#file-notice
The following items have been added to the Files area of the [email protected] group. /QMX Menu Reference.docx By: Paul K7VIQ <de.k7viq@...> Description: A QMC /QMX+ reference guide doc for those wanting a copy or to improve and update to keep current.
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#26 Magnet wire substitution QMX 5-Band
7
#AWG28
#qmx
#12v
#AWG26
This build although tedious has been challenging fun! I need HELP, I think I used too much wire when winding the T401 trifilar toroid. Is it possible to use #26 wire (I have a spool) instead of the #28 wire for the L511 Low Pass Filter toroid or should I purchase more #28wire? 73, John - W7OTD "people ought to saunter in the mountains - not 'hike!" -John Muir
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QMX+ Low Power After SSB Update
6
Folks, prior to going to the most recent firmware on one of my QMX+ rigs, I ran PuTTY and documented my power out into a dummy load on each band. Then I installed the 2.0 firmware and ran another PuTTY session, noting the power - it was exactly the same. Last night I ran the calibration procedure - geeze, that took forever! Anyway, after doing that I did a mic gain adjustment and went up to the 40 meter phone band. OMG - a bazillion stations - the 7 district QSO party in full swing! Started adjusting my manual antenna tuner and noticed that my power output was much lower than it had been. Looked like less than three watts now. Tried calling a station but no reply. So, I fired up my recently built WA3TFS 20 watt amp and was successful working several stations before calling it a day. This morning I started PuTTY and checked power out on each band. Sure enough, the result was that each band is now showing 50 percent less RF out than before. Not cool. I was thinking about doing a factory reset to see if that would cure the issue. Or going back to 0.027 firmware. But that would mean doing that hour long calibration routine again at some point. So, any thoughts about this problem? Have others seen this after doing the calibration run? And if so, what was the resolution? -- Jim / K7TXA Eagle, ID SKCC 10447T BUG 301
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Microphone output in SSB
11
Hello All, QMX Mid band I am not getting but less than a .5 watts out with mic gain all the way up. this is going into a dummy load input is on external mic, power is 9v for 9v build, mic is the one Hans has done the testing with brand new from Digikey. CW works just fine 5 watts out on all bands I ran the calibration in firmware 1_01_007 but have update to 1_02_000 to see if that would fix problem it did not. Any suggestions as to where my problem could be. thanks in advance John Dunn KJ4WSR
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Hi With more than 1 USB Serial Ports I use WSJT's FreqCal Mode together with TXCO frequency set from System config with putty (you have to return to a upper menu with Esc button the change you make to take place) I can get to less than 1 Hz accuracy. When the GPS frequency alignment implemented as QCX we will not need this. 73 DE muhsin TA1MHS
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40m and 20m RF Filter sweep peaks at higher freq
Just finished my QMX+ build today, and after tracking down one bad solder joint on L502 I¡¯m up and running with good TX power. I do see RF Filter scan that shows both 40m and 20m peaking off-screen to the right (high freq side). It¡¯s like the whole curve shown in the manual is shifted about +3-4 MHz. The on-band level is about -10 for both 40m and 20m¡ but I don¡¯t see any change when spreading or compressing coils on L403 (that should be the RX filter for 40/20 right?). Not sure what to try next or if it even matters much. Other performance seems good and tests report results as expected. Thanks! Andy
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Image Name
Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am