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#qmx #SSB Firmware beta 1_01_003 release
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#qmx
#ssb
Hi all I updated the SSB beta testing webpage of the brave, here: https://qrp-labs.com/qmxp/ssbbeta.html and released firmware version 1_01_003 to it. These are the changes: Bug fix: Initial value for noise gate samples was 100 (should be max 99) - makes no real difference but it needed to be fixed Added TX indication underlining the A character when transmitting from USB sound card in SSB mode. Note that the two possible states for this indication are a single dot (indicating PTT has been applied and now the radio is in TX mode) and the solid bar (indicating audio is being received from the PC and transmitted). There is no double-dot like there is in Digi mode indicating insufficient volume, because in SSB mode the radio transmits whatever you give it, even if the volume is low. Bug fix: CAT command TQ1; did not cause transmit when in SSB mode. Now TQ1; and TQ0; work properly in SSB mode. Bug fix: Prevent button presses from accidentally activating VOX, which was happening due to sound picked up from the internal (cancellation reference channel) microphone when you pressed buttons right next to it, and that prevented band change because the second click of the double click was ignored because by then the radio was in transmit mode. All fixed! Now you can click buttons however you like and when button clicks are done, VOX is temporarily disabled until your button pushing frenzy is over. Power meter now reads Peak Envelope Power (PEP) when in SSB mode. Previously it was just reading a sampled value (NOT an average); so if the power meter was updated 10x a second, the updates would just randomly pick a value from the SSB amplitude envelope, which was most unlikely to be its peak value. Bug fixL Calibration hung at DAC 1300 when run on LCD. Now the calibration completes properly when run from the LCD. Many thanks for all the feedback so far, SSB in QMX is getting better and better! 73 Hans G0UPL http://qrp-labs.com https://www.buymeacoffee.com/g0upl
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QMX+ RF output fluctuates wildly
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#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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QMX/QMX+ internal Transmit Voltage measurement question
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Hans (and others who may know): On my QMX and QMX+, I have often wondered why the measured TX voltage, as shown in the Diagnostics page, always has a significant drop (about 1.5V) from the supply voltage. Looking at the schematic, it should have only the very small drop due to Q507. So (while answering someone else's question today) I measured the voltages at Q507 and ADC_PA with my DMM and oscilloscope, on my 12V QMX+ build, all measurements done at 7.074MHz. Diagnostic screen shows: - supply voltage 11.8V receive, 11.5V during TX - transmit voltage 0.4V receive, 9.8V during TX (the unexpected drop of 1.7V in TX voltage) DMM measurement shows: - supply voltage 11.84V receive, 11.48V during TX (measured at Q507 source terminal) - agrees well with QMX+ supply voltage measurement - transmit voltage 0.43V receive, 11.22V during TX (measured at Q507 drain terminal, a drop of 0.26V) - does NOT agree with QMX+ transmit voltage measurement - but is as expected from Q507 drop So it appears that measurement of TX voltage on QMX/QMX+ is not well calibrated. Could this be causing some of the problems seen in SSB calibration, etc? So I measured the voltage at ADC_PA with my DMM (at top of C529), in case it is helpful: - ADC_PA during diagnostic receive mode (off): 0.08V - ADC_PA during diagnostic transmit: 1.96V Using just the 47k/10k voltage divider ratio, this would equate to 9.2V (rather than the full 11.22 measured); hmmm, is this part of the problem? Or is there an expected additional resistance in the STM32 input that completes the voltage divider? Stan KC7XE
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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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Do any of the commercially available hand microphones for existing QRP radios work with the new QMX SSB? Or perhaps pre-wired adapters for those mics already in the marketplace? Bill W3WJ
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QMX Feature Request
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#building
#qmx
#QMXplus
Gents, Just finished build of QMX+. Everything works perfectly from first power-up. Glad I watched Hans' video. The 6-layer board really does take a lot of heat to solder properly. Power is a little low - about 3W on most bands, compared to 4W from my QMX but that doesn't make much difference. One feature would be handy... I find that the QMX goes into SWR protection before my ATU10 has a chance to tune. I have to manually turn off protection when I want to tune a new antenna and/or band. How about when turning keyer speed to zero, in addition to going to straight key, set power to 50% and turn off SWR protection. 73, Glen W6GJB
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QMX+ goes into safe mode with antenna tuned to 1.5 SWR
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Just finished my QMX+ and I have noticed 2 things: First the radio is deaf, I can here the standard background noise, but I can not hear any CW even though I am tuned to a frequency that I know has someone transmitting CW (I can hear them on my main radio.) Second issue ( I think they are related) is that as soon as I try to key up, the radio goes into safe mode. Everything else seems to be working good. Any thoughts on where to look or things to check. I do show an open between the center conductor of the BNC connector and ground. That is a far as I have gotten.
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40-10 qmx
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Hi all! I want to build a qmx with at least 40, 20, and 10m bands. This is not currently an official build and I was wondering if it is recommended or indorse by Hans. I know that it is possible and I am willing to give up other bands to have all three. Thanks!
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QMX CW issue, omits dits
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Meanwhile having some QCX mini, now also own a QMX. Unfortunately I experienced a mysterious issue while keying CW that I don't know from the QCX. Every once in a while the QMX keyer omits a dit or a dah. At first I thought of a contact problem of my morse key (BaMaTech) but on my WinKeyer it worked flawlessly. I tried several speeds but even at low speeds this issue was present. After some futher experimenting with some alternative configurations and with other morse keys I think this is a problem of the QMX. I have firmware 1_00_027. Any ideas? 73 de Michael, DF9TZ
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WSJT-X Download
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2.6 on my Win 10 machine receives great with new QMX Plus but can’t get it past a hamlib error. Tried it with QDX that worked fine some months ago and it does the same error. Tried to download but link to Princeton.edu is broke. Looks as though only site is SourceForge. That requires some registration and other manipulation. That safe place for download or is there other programs for FT-8? Think I still have WSJT-X on a Linux machine but I’m not so good Linux. Just an old guy who started life with tubes but love this new fangled stuff! 72/73 Jim w0nkn
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On the WSJT-X I have birdies or whatever they are, which I don't have in CW mode I do have this continuous tone over the whole band as reported before. What can that be? -- Martin DK3UW
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My QMX+ is awesome!
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I’ve had my QCX+ up and running for a couple of weeks now at home, and have made many QRP qso’s on it and a OCFD. I find the hobby so rewarding using a new language I learned recently, and using a rig that I built! Thanks goes out to QRP Labs for great kits! Anyone can build these kits with patience and a hot iron…if I can, you can! Can’t wait to get outside here in Northern Minnesota with the QMX, Spring is just springing up here. Thanks Hans! 72/73 -- Trevor (N0YMA)
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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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QMX 1_00_027 firmware WSJT-X would not work with the choice of the QMX as the transceiver. Kenwood 480 did work. CAT button works. I did select the QMX sound input and output in Ubuntu on my Dell. WSJT-X was set to full power as was the Ubuntu sound output. On TX there was a full bar under the A in the QMX display. The QMX was set to digital mode. I called CQ on 20 m, which was active at the time and also tried to answer CQs to no avail. I was using my EFHW in my shack. I have worked 131 countries with it and a Icom 7300. I thought maybe I might have blown my finals in some way. I connected to the QMX with Putty and went to the Hardware Test section. With supply voltage of 11.3V I tested every band by pressing the T key on my keyboard for TX and have the following results. A dummy load was attached. 15m 5.2w 17m 4.2w 20m 4.7w 30m 4.1w 40m 4.4w 60m 5.1w Since I have output on all bands with this test, I assume I didn't blow the finals. The QMX seems okay and I should just keep trying with WSJT-X. I do have a question about the display above. The status of the 3.3v SMPS says "SMPS" while the status of the 5v SMPS says "OK." Should the 3.3v status also say "OK?"
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QMX repair and diagnosis by W1NC
3
Shout out to Jeffrey Moore W1NC for the excellent service and quick turnaround on my problematic QMX build. He has it up and running and fixed all my build problems. Lessons learned. I can't say enough about how delighted I am. I didn't want to have to attempt to build a second kit to correct my mistakes. He had found my soldering issues plus replaced the blown CPU. I am looking forward to my first CW contact with 5W on this machine. Bill Buck, KJ5IVB
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QMX pre-build 97775 has arrived
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Hooked up power, speaker, paddles and antenna. Powered it up, looked for and found the VOX and turned that on, looked for and found how to change from straight key to paddle, changed speed to 17 wpm, and we’re off to the races. 4.5 watts out on 40 meters with the 9V Bioenneo (9V build). What a blast. Worked N2TTL in Florida and was spotted by Germany from one of my CQ’s. I have not even opened the PDF for the manual, although I have downloaded it. So far, everything I have needed to change has been discovered by scrolling through the menus. Hans, you’re a genius. The user interface is fabulous and intuitive. I’m no rocket scientist…I am an engineer. And if I can get the hang of this without opening the manual, then you did it right! THANK YOU!! Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg@... http://wd4elg.blogspot.com SKCC #16439 FISTS #17972 QRP ARCI #16497
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Hey everyone, I recently bought a ready-assembled QMX after my DIY attempt didn’t quite work out (let’s call it a “successful failure” ?). Funny enough, I had no issues building the QMX+, QDX, or even the QCX Mini before. With the assembled QMX, I’m getting a continuous tone every 700Hz on the 40M, 17M, and 15M bands. All the other bands are working fine. Here’s what I’ve tried so far: Factory reset Upgraded to the latest beta firmware Tested with different batteries and power supplies Swapped USB cables Connected to both a laptop and an iPad running iFTX One key observation: these unwanted tones only appear when an antenna or dummy load is connected. Without any load, the issue disappears. That makes me lean toward a hardware issue—maybe something in the PA section or related to RF feedback. I’m attaching some test results in case anyone spots something I may have missed. The timeslots on the JTDX without noise is when I disconnected the dummy load. Any thoughts, suggestions, or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance! DL7EDU - LU5VQV
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QM
Stan, Thanks for the tip on using the QMX at 1/4 power to set the tuner after a band change. That works and now I don't get the dreaded "S" after the frequency. I don't intend to use the QMX in the shack but I wanted to do something to see if it worked before I introduce more variables in the field. Probably use a Wolf River Coil in the field. I also have an EFHW to try. I am learning more each day. Jim W0RLD
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QMX and power bank PD
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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+ with 100 amp/hour lithium iron battery
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Just about to finish my QMX+ build and I have a voltage question. The kit was built for 12 volts. I have a 100 amp/hour lithium iron battery for vhf base station emmcom backup. At full charge, its just north of 14 volts. Would it be wise to install a buck converter in the battery box to limit voltage out to 12 volts for the QMX+? Thanks in advance - I really don't want to fry this little gem. -- Jim, W7EZN 73!
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Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am