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Hi all SSB firmware was released into beta on 17-Mar-2025 after 9+ months of development. Many thanks to everyone who bravely helped test it and patiently provided their feedback and observations. There are now quite a few YouTube videos, forum reports and other social media mentions about on-air successes with QMX SSB. Now that it has been at least 6 weeks in beta and I believe most of the issues have been resolved, it's time to promote it to an official version. I have called this version 1_02_000 and published it on the QMX page http://qrp-labs.com/qmx where I have also published the updated operating manual, which grew from 111 pages to 134 pages. The main changes are: SSB (obviously!) including CESSB, TX Equalization, Mic AGC, VOX, Pre-distortion and and and... Addition of up to two more USB Virtual COM serial ports (up to three total). All of the hardware tests such as RF and SWR sweep, and Diagnostics, are now available on the LCD too. New CAT commands for LCD contents, S-meter, AGC-meter, Power meter, SWR meter, SSB source Complete list (relative to 1_00_027 the previous official version): SSB modes added (USB and LCB), with CESSB, TX Equalization, Mic AGC, VOX, Phase pre-distortion and more Rationalization of menus, grouped into CW, Digi and SSB submenus (now Keyer and Decoder are submenus of CW) Added up to two more USB Virtual COM serial ports (configurable) LCD versions of AF, RF, Image, LPF, Test ADC I/Q sweeps (miniature graph on LCD) New function PA mod. test to check operation of amplitude modulator Diagnostics screens are now available on the LCD interface too Now remembers previous menu location on ALL menus regardless of nesting level Add way of forcing factory reset, press Menu (left) button during power-up Change TX color in diagnostics screen from red to blue, to avoid confusion since red things are errors Added CAT LC command to retrieve LCD contents Added CAT commands SA (AGC meter), SM (S meter), PC (Power meter), SW (SWR meter) Added CAT command SS (get/set SSB input source) Bug fix: PTT P did not work properly Bug fix: Incorrect PA voltage display on the Diagnostics screen 73 Hans G0UPL http://qrp-labs.com https://www.buymeacoffee.com/g0upl
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Iam working on the 10 watt amp and I need a little better understanding of the power input it will need. I have a Smart Power Attenutator that will give me a 0 to 15 db reduction. I am not sure about the rquirement of the level of rf in watts (mili watts ?) for a drive level. My QMX+ shows average of 3 to 3.8 watts across the bands and I beleive this is just a little more than this little amp needs. Any help, thoughts, or other welcome, but be kind to an old gyser. Thanks all -- 73 ChuckR
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QMX Receiving FT8 but No Change When Antenna Disconnected
10
Hi all, I¡¯ve completed assembly of my 60¨C15m QMX. It powers on and passes the RF and SWR sweep tests. Test ADC I/Q shows sine waves, particularly on 60m. I can hear what sounds like FT8 on 7.074 MHz in DIGI mode, and the tones appear to cycle every 15 seconds as expected. However, I¡¯ve noticed that disconnecting the antenna makes little or no audible difference ¡ª there¡¯s no significant drop in the noise floor or change in the signal. Additional observations: The BNC center pin shows ~0 ¦¸ to ground (I understand this is expected due to the SWR bridge). BNC center has continuity to one side of C510 and C526. Test ADC I/Q and scope work as expected. Reflowed L506, L508, L510, L511, L512, and L513 for better LPF continuity. I¡¯ve confirmed IC402 pin 13 is not grounded, but I don¡¯t have continuity from the BNC center to pin 13. At this point, I¡¯m hearing what I believe is live FT8, but the lack of change when removing the antenna is making me question whether the antenna signal is actually routed through the intended receive path. Would appreciate any guidance or suggestions for what else to check. Thanks! -Tanner
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QDX Receive Now Low on all Bands
2
In my quest to get my QDX to receive on all bands instead of just 20M and 30M, I have boogered it up totally. I wound a completely different L-12 using a T-50-2 but used a wire that looked close to the 28ga that is specified. Now I¡¯m getting -45 to -60 on the RF filter sweeps whereas previously I got -2 on 20M and +2 on 30M approx and then the -45 to -60 for 40M &80M. Thank goodness I¡¯ve got a Hakko desolderer which makes life much easier and I don¡¯t mess up the board. I¡¯ve removed the second L-12, and then re-fastened it making sure I did a good job and checked under a microscope I use for small work. I don¡¯t see anything like wiskers. While I had the second L-12 out I checked the pads to make sure i hadn¡¯t made a crack in one of those. No cracks. All the wires from the new L-12 to the pads show continuity when mounted. BTW all xmit function is fine on all bands. I checked continuity on IC-3 from Pin 3 to 9, 4 to 9, 5 to 9 and 6 to 9. All check good. Question - 1) How much leeway is there in the gauge of the wire for L-12? Is it super critical? Thanks to everyone who has helped me through the process. 73¡¯s. John / K7RLD
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I've had some issues with my QMX+. When I received the board the L101 inductor was damaged but appeared functional. I had the unit fully assembled and working but then IC101, 3.3v regulator fried. While removing that IC I lifted the pin1 and pin 2 traces. I was able to replace IC101 and put in jumpers to bypass the pulled traces. The 3.3v supply is now working. I decided to replace L101 and managed to lift the pad adjacent to C107. It didn't fully detach but it did break the through board connection to R113. I have replaced L101 and installed a jumper to restore the connection from VCC to R113. I added some extra solder to C107 to bridge over to L101 to help lock it to the board. Here is the issue. On the Diagnostic screen 3V3 SMPS reads 3.31 V so the 3.3v supply is working. However the 5V SMPS is reading 5.75V, and the Supply voltage is reading 13.4V. I have measured with a multimeter and VCC reads about 5.05v and the Supply voltage is 12.1v. Something is appears to be causing the Supply Voltage and 5V SMPS to read high. Any thoughts on what might be causing this?
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QDX Low Receive but Xmit fine with OSX
5
Thank you Nick. I saw that in some messages but didn¡¯t know how to get in and gain access to change it. I wanted to use the terminal program you suggested but getting there was a yeoman¡¯s feat. I first had to install a number of programs to even install PuTTY for OSX. The first one was Xcode which was almost 30GB only to find out I didn¡¯t really need to. I really only needed to download Developer Tools for Xcode, then something called Quartz and then one called Maxports. Then it was just a matter of launching the PuTTY desktop icon on the Mac, fill in the proper blanks on the GUI (Quartz provided this for PuTTY) and away it went. There is a step by step tutorial on how to install PuTTY for OSX - https://phoenixnap.com/kb/install-putty-on-mac I raised every band to 70 from 54 and although it's still near the bottom of the range (about 1/3 scale) it's much much better. I¡¯m sure folks a lot more familiar with using a Terminal program to make all kind of changes, would have breezed right through this. You pointed me in the right direction which I really appreciated. 73¡¯s. John/K7RLD
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IFTx + QMX sound issues when transmitting
#Vox
#ipad
#qmx
Hello all I have an issue since updating both my QMX (80-20m) and iPad to iPadOS 18.5. I have used the iFTx app several times and it have been working like a charm. now it seems that the QMX does nor get the sound from the iPad USB-C port. I can see that it recognises the QMX, but can¡¯t do any sound level adjustment. Tried the QMX with my mac and WSJT-X as well to rule out any problems with the QMX. It worked well although conditions were really lousy. But it transmitted correctly. So any ideas what the problem is? It can ve either some change in the OS for iPad or it can be something in the QMX that is not working right. I have been able to copy the new FW to the QMX via the iPad before. But not with 1.02.00 for some reason the iPad did not like it. 72/73 Mikael SM7UDB
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QRP QDX low audio output
9
BLUF: I think something is off with the audio chain of the device and I am looking for advice on things to check. Thinks were working great and now they are not without my ability to pinpoint anything significant. I built a high band QRP QDX (rev 5 board with 1.10 firmware)a few weeks back and other than some low power (~2w) on some of the bands, everything was working great. At some point this weekend I started to try to use the QRP QDX with a raspberry pi instead of my Ubuntu loaded intel NUC. I was able to transmit fine, but was getting less than 20 dB in in. I played around with the pi audio setting and only just barely got it up of 30. I figured it was just something new with the the pi and moved it back to my nuc, and experienced the same dB levels. Prior I had been getting close to 50-60 dB. Playing with audio gain in terminal application mode increased dB, but with not as much sensitivity prior. (Small changes used to bring about significant dB gain, so I pretty much left it default on most bands). Now audio gain of even 99 hardly gets over 50-60dB in WSJT-X, and despite the increased dB... im not decoding that much more. Any advice is welcomed.
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Another troubleshooting question QMX+
11
#QMXplus
#troubleshooting
Seems I found a new issue with the QMX+ I built a few weeks ago. After fixing the power supply (thanks Ken), I found that the 40-20 meter bands were dead and exhibiting random "pops" the sound like a ball bearing in a tin can. Here is what I found: - Transmit works correctly on all bands. - The transient is not related to the signal path through the CMOS switches. Other band groups receive as advertised. - There is a large voltage transient on the output IC403 that corresponds to rather random signal on CLK1 into IC403 from the clock generator IC 204 (MS5351). On all other band groups, the CLK1 looks normal. So my current suspicion is that the I2C command being sent by the micro is simply not doing the correct thing with the clock chip. The SDA and SCL signal levels look fine and are reliably setting the clock in other bands. I've tried a factory reset a couple of times with no change in the behavior. Ideas? 73, -- Brent DeWitt, AB1LF Milford, MA
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SOLVED Re: Another troubleshooting question QMX+
#QMXplus
#troubleshooting
I decided to bite the bullet and swapped in an SI5351 from my QCX+ to the QMX. 10MSOP is not the easiest rework! Anyway, all is well and CK1 is healthy across all bands and all built-in tests look good. Now to order a new 5351 to repair my QCX+! Thanks again all. -- Brent DeWitt, AB1LF Milford, MA
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I recently purchased a high band QMX that I'm planning on modding to do 40-10. (Hasn't come yet, delayed to June 10). I'm also adding a small audio amp board and a small 10mm speaker. The amp board takes from 2-5v, so I'm thinking of grabbing either 3.3 or 5v off of the QMX board. I looked through the schematics but I can't tell which color trace is 5, 12, or 3.3v. Can anyone point me in the right direction where I can just steal some power off the board? Also, for the audio jack, I cant tell which channels are right or left, does anyone know which one is which? Thanks!
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QMX+ L504 1/2 W or 1 W? Must be 1/4W!
Whelp, I ordered 1/2W yesterday, and found out that is larger than the others in the QMX+. They must 1/4W size. Oh well, I jammed to fit. Don't think it's too critical. 73, -- Dave, N8SBE, Hamshack Hotline 550-0971, HamsOverIP 101018, AmateurWire 1348
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QMX Plus Outputting Loud Audio Noise
8
Just powered up a newly build rig. The display and control functions seem to be working. I can change bands and modes. Using a lab supply running around 11 volts and nothing unusual in current consumption. But when I power it on - get a loud blast of noise. Not hearing any signals as I operate the VFO. Nothing changes most of the time when I exercise the volume control - once I was able to gain volume control on 160m after a long battle. (I haven't installed the button battery yet - I imagine no harm in doing this (-: Where do I begin troubleshooting? It seems to be on all bands. No receiving and lots of noise. Curt
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I am on a Mac M1. I basically have everything working except that unlike Windows and Linux, the USB soundcard in the QMX has no way of adjusting output/input levels in system settings. Everything is greyed out. The result is that audio input sits around 22 and might get up to 30 with a strong signal in the decode. Anyone found a way to use third party software to bump up input levels to the recommended 60? Or is there a way to do this on the QMX itself in digital modes? I'm running the latest firmware.
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Has anyone measured the variation in output power with voltage on a QMX? i.e. varied the voltage for a 12V unit from say 9.5V to 12V and recorded the power out? Andy
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#qmx #ssb #mic Recommended MIC element source?
5
#qmx
#ssb
#mic
Hi all, If I order a QMX kit, will the recommended MIC element come with the kit for board mounting? Would it be usable instead in a homebrew external mini-mic build? If not supplied, is it something that can be purchased as an order "add-on" / does Hans stock any for sale :-) ( I don't see it in the add on pull down, so I think I know the answer, but thought I'd ask! ) Thanks!Wayde VA3NCA/AD2GX
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Hi All, After putting together another QMX+ I found the time and inspiration to look into my heating issue of T2, T3 transformers on my 50w QRP-Labs Amp. As my T2 ferrite ring was cracked upon initial reception and mended using super glue, first on my list was to rewind T2 onto a new core. That made no difference at all. Then I replaced the pair of IRF510's just in case, that made no difference. Looking at the gates of the IRF510's with O-scope there is a nice sinus wave, and on the drains there is a much higher not-so-pretty signal when in transmit: (probe at 10x) Any ideas on what to check next? For instance, what impedance is the expected on the input side of T3? I was thinking of removing T3 and connecting a power resistor instead to see how the signal looks there then. (to get a hint of if the issue is on secondary side of T3 or LFP's. Perhaps insert signal from signal generator on secondary side of T3 and check signal as it Regards Jonas - SM4VEY Den tis 22 okt. 2024 kl 22:15 skrev Jonas Sanamon via groups.io <sanamon@...>:
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Continuous tone on 14.053.5
5
My home built QMX+ seems to be working great, starting to make good CW contacts as a rank beginner, but I have a consistent continuous tone on 14.053.5 regardless of antenna connected or not. Any pointers where to look? I have not installed any of the new ssb firmware.
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Hello. I'm assembling a 50 watt power amplifier for use with a QCX+ that I assembled last month, for the 80 metre band. I have very high harmonics at the output of T3 - as a result, I get only about 9.3 watts out when running at 13.8 V. Output from the LPF looks OK on the 'scope. I found the excellent videos by NA5Y which shows the output of T3 should be much closer to a sinusoid than what I get. I also found the discussion with KO1KR in August of 2020, but unfortunately I can't see his scope photos so I don't know if he had the same problem. I've since skimmed through the many discussions on this forum but haven't found the same issue exactly, though I did check out some of the suggestions given here. I found the amplifier took 67 mA with R5 fully CCW - I adjusted R5 till the amplifier drew about 70 mA with the QCX+ key-down in practice mode. Here are my scope traces: 0092 is the gate drive, yellow is Q1 gate, purple is Q2 gate - all is well here. 0090 is the drain voltage, Q1 in yellow and Q2 in purple - these look like there is oscillation ? 0091 is the voltage at the output of T3. This has a lot of third harmonic and doesn't look like the waveform NA5Y showed at this point. (QCX+ was set for 3.520 MHZ , amplifier connected to a dummy load.) I thought that perhaps my bench power supply is doing something odd when the amp is drawing power, but I probed the 12 volt line right at the barrel connector and the 'scope showed almost no disturbance of the +12 v supply. In frustration, I observed the output of T3 with the 'scope set for a long capture - it almost looks as if the distortion grows with time, for the first few tens of microsceconds the scope showed a small but sine-ish waveform, which over the span of a few hundred microseconds got wigglier and wigglier till it developed into the mess seen in my scope capture 0091. I've checked DC continuity to the windings of all the transformers and coils. I did find a bad joint on the primary of T1 but I cleaned it up and can now get power out of the amplifier. I haven't yet checked bias on all the 1N4007 diodes but the input looks quite sinusoidal at R3 closest to the input. The few watts the amplifier does produce look OK at its output. The QCX+ makes about 4.3 wats into a dummy load (43 V peak to peak) at 13.8 V DC. I'm assembling these units for a friend, and I had really hoped to have them ready for Field Day this year. The instructions are excellent and I have followed them closely. What can I look at next? Bill VE4STW
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QMX+ with Talent battery. ATU 10 for Sale
5
#antennatuner
#ATU
A factory assembled ( Nov 2024) QMX+ with GPS and case. Talent battery YB 1201100 connecting cable with diode for Voltage reduction to 12V and ATU 10 by N7DDC complete in ufb condition. Tested for FT8 successfully. N4AN@....
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Image Name
Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am