Sticky
#qmx #Firmware release 1_02_000
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#qmx
#firmware
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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QMX+ Diagnostic Sweeps of 160m Band
Hi, When running the various diagnostic sweeps I find all bands except 160m seem reasonable similarities to those shown in the manual. But the 160m seems way off. Any ideas what may be causing this and what I should be checking? I'll include screenshots of the sweeps. Many thanks Ian
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At Dayton Hamvention we are seeing a revolution in amateur radio before our eyes
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(Right: Gerald Youngblood, Flex Founder) They launched their new product "Aurora", 160-6m, 500W transceiver that uses polar modulation just like QMX Hans: "So they visited me to admire QMX and I visited them to admire Aurora" https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Brw3LK9zY/ 73 DE muhsin TA1MHS
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T507 Continuity across all legs
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#qmx
#troubleshooting
Need a sanity check here: Just built and installed T507 and as I was checking continuity between A-A, B-B, etc. I noticed that every pin would show continuity between each other (A shorts to BCD, B shorts to ACD, etc). Looking at the traces in the instructions and my limited understanding of the schematic, this is nominal and all 4 wires should connect to ground either directly or indirectly. is that correct?
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QMX 40-10 Follow up
I posted here before about building a 40-10 qmx. I did a little more looking and thinking. Looking at AI6XG's mod: https://www.ai6xg.com/post/a-40-10-meter-qmx#viewer-cl0z424097, it seems to preform well and has motivated me to go out and buy a QMX. However there are some questions that I have that I want to confirm/ask. In the blog, he mentions: "According to simulation, adding 100pF to the already installed C402 56pF should lower the peak frequency to about 11MHz. I found that adding 150pF instead, for a total of 206pF, provides good results" In the conclusions, he says to use a 210pF capacitor in C402. However, such a capacitor does not seem to exist. There are plenty of 200pF and 220pF capacitors on the likes of digikey and mouser, however I can't find a 210pF capacitor. Since he says adding 100pF should work, would a 150pF, 180pF, or 200pF capacitor work in the place of a 210pF one?
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Introducing QMX CARROT
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When Elecraft introduced the KH1 a year ago, I was immediately enthusiastic about the concept. A small and lightweight shortwave radio with an integrated telescopic antenna. This means that, weighing less than 400g, it can be used in any suitable location on shortwave. So I wanted to build something myself. I immediately began my own experiments with telescopic antennas for 7-30 MHz. This confirmed that a counterweight is absolutely necessary. This wire, which is a quarter of the wavelength long, contributes significantly to the radiated energy. So the idea arose to forgo the telescopic antenna and experiment with end-fed wires twice the length. Of course, it makes sense to stretch the wire as high as possible. But I also got respectable reports with EFHW lying on the ground or in bushes. In this place the antenna may detunes itself, so a tuner is necessary, as well as the standard 1:64 transformer (Unun). The tried-and-tested resonance circuit (Fuchs Kreis) performs both tasks. Once the antenna issue was resolved, QRP Labs brought out the QMX. The ideal TRX for my projects, and now even capable of SSB. Now all that was missing was a suitable housing with an integrated battery and a speaker with an amplifier. Then a paddle for CW as a contactless touch key directly on the device. And the QMX Carrot was finished. But it wasn¡¯t that simple, because everything had to be as small and light as possible. It now weighs 340g and measures 15x8.5x3.0 cm. I¡¯m happy with that. 73 Chris https://youtu.be/0kksiWVOtnQ
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AGC
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I am just having some fun in the King of Spain contest . AGC is giving me some trouble. apart from vy strong stns overpowering the Rx the AGC is too slow to recover. Can anyone direct me what settings to change to ge a quick AGC ? - Martin DK3UW
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New QMX+ Calibration victim
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Hi, I¡¯ve had my QMX+ for a number of months and had tested the then beta now regular SSB firmware with good results except pretty low output power in SSB. As I had never gotten around to fine tune the LPFs when building it I decided this was the logical next thing. So I fiddled with spreading and compressing turns on the toroids and managed to get all bands to between 4 and 5w output for CW except 160m that was already at 6w. Running 12.0v input and build for 12v Being happy with results I then first tested resetting to factory defaults, and then tested SSB output power. Still max 2-2.5w according to the Bird. I then decided to run the SSB calibration again. Worked fine til perhaps 12m or 10m phase. I then heard some terrible noise from the speaker and saw the QMX crashing with all blocks in the display and turning itself off. I tried powering on again, but won¡¯t start now. Just blank display and current protection on PSU kicks in due to over current. I suspect maybe finals are fried with internal short as result? Jonas 7 maj 2025 kl. 23:12 skrev Stan Dye via groups.io <standye@...>: ? On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 01:38 PM, Wiggle Pig wrote: It¡¯s D503 and D504 These are placeholders for diodes that could be placed across the BS170 outputs, as was commonly done with QDX. Hans included them in the design, but has not encouraged installing the diodes, which he believes are unnecessary for QMX. They may suppress spikes, but they also add additional capacitance to the PA, which may affect it adversely in other ways. There were many posts on this list regarding this topic a year or so ago. Stan KC7XE
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How to enable the internal mic on QMX+ 1.00.02
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There are three menu choices for enabling mic input, 1-ext mic on paddle jack, 2-internal sound card audio (digi modes) and 3-two tone test audio. How do I enable the internal mic on the front panel? I'm new to this, just built the radio yesterday, I apologize if I'm not following protocol here. THANKS! -- Larry N2AJX
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Lu7AA Tracking website question
I have a question about the LU7AA picoballoon tracking website. In both the first and second transmission there is a header listing for: Rgrid, Km, Az. In the first transmission I assume they relate to the reporter of that spot My confusion is what do they refer to in the 2nd transmission. I posted in the "picoballoon" website with no response. Is there a guide to LU7AA website by any chance? Thank you for any help Tom K1FQY
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QRPLabs kits Ultimate relay-switched LPF
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Pleading ignorance, please tell me where to find how to use one of these things. What does it fit in what other device? Is tthis part of a WSPR beacon? -- 73 Karl KI4ZUQ
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CW offset & sidetone in 1_02_00 (QMX)
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Installed the latest firmware. I prefer a lower sidetone, so tried setting both offset and sidetone freq to 600. Normally run 580Hz, but it looks like 600 is the minimum value. This does not seem to persist, when I go back into the menu, I see it has changed back to 700... On my QCXs I just set sidetone freq to 580 and all is good. Any ideas pls ?
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SSB Audio/Mic Issues
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I built the K6ARK mic per the specs listed for the QMX/(tr)uSDX etc including using the recommended high sensitivity (-24db) electret condenser and the mic works fine when transmitting on my (tr)uSDX however when transmitting on the QMX I'm getting an unintelligible signal. I have ran the mic gain utility via terminal which shows the correct levels, however upon transmit on my factory assembled QMX I still can't seem to get satisfactory transmit audio. I've also tried a factory reset. Any ideas? TIA de W?YEM
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What Pc software for QMX
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Hi what is the PC software that I need to use to get into the QMX settings etc. I can access on the QMX screen but I see other people's screen shots of a PC Version. Many thanks ? ?
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QMX+: low RX sensitifity @ 6m / 22 dB noise floor / 1500 Hz wistle
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Hello, I recently build QMX+ and noticed a huge noise floor and wistling a 6 m. Therfore I measured sensitifity using a signal generator. Band [MHz] Sens [dBm]@Noise+10dB Noise [dB] 1,85 -100,0 0 3,65 -106,0 0 5,35 -107,0 6 7,07 -107,0 0 10,14 -110,0 2 14,23 -107,0 1 18,1 -103,0 4 21,04 -99,0 9 24,9 -97,0 7 28,1 -103,0 5 50,5 -79,0 20 Method: injection of signal Rx frequency + 1,1 kHz Mode: Digi Noise: signal detected by WSJT-X Sens: Noise floor + 10 dB Noise floor is increasing by frequency, but at 6 m wistling and digital noise make RX unusable. Output at 6m is about 2 W at 9V Vbat (12V Version) 1,5 kHz wistle starts at 20 m and is increasing by frequency Using wsjt-X i evalating waterfall diagram: (QMX+ at 50 Ohm) AVE:1, cumulative Noise [dB] : signal by WSJT-X signal in waterfall diagram AU QMX+ freq [Hz] freq [Hz] freq [Hz] freq [Hz] freq [Hz] freq [Hz] Frequency [MHz] Noise [db] Noisefloor 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 1,84 0 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,8 0,2 0,2 0,2 3,57 0 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,7 0,3 0,3 0,3 5,3 1 0,5 0,5 0,5 1 0,5 0,5 0,5 7,04 5 0,8 0,8 0,8 1,1 0,8 0,8 0,8 10,1 1 0,5 0,5 0,5 0,5 0,5 0,5 0,5 14,1 1 0,5 0,5 1,3 2,8 2,1 0,5 1,5 18,1 5 0,8 1 1,8 2,3 2,1 1,1 2 21,1 7 1 1 2,1 2,6 2,1 1,1 2,1 24,9 7 1 1,2 2,7 2,8 2,7 1,3 2,5 28,1 7 1 1,2 2 1,5 1,5 1,2 2,2 50,3 22 1,8 2,5 3,8 4,2 3,9 2,8 3,8 At higher bands 1,5kHz signal is constant and independent from RX freuqency. At 6m additional audio signals are appearing. 6m RF Filter seems to be ok. Any suggestions to detect cause? vy 73 Michael (DF6TV)
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Loading QMX+ Firmware
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I have not been able to see on the initial first power up any means of loading firmware on my QMX+ radio. I was able to see some evidence of 2 files on E drive which is the USB drive on my computer by shorting AUX2 to ground before power on. The two files in E drive are file 1_00_027.QMX and EEPROM. EEPROM is an empty file.. Have I missed something here or do I have a bigger problem that cannot be solved easily? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Ron W6ZQ
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QMX+ Info Required
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Can one of the QMX+ builders tell me: 1) the dimensions of the main PCB 2) the dimensions of the front panel PCB After building and using the terrific little QMX, I am considering building the QMX+ but using my own enclosure. Thanks! 73 Robert VE7ZN
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How to enable transmit for winlink
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Hi folks I have read most of the info on setting up with li k and the qmx...I seem to be able to control the radio and get a receive sig al shown in the vara waterfall. However, when I try to connect, you can see the pauses or bla k portio s on the waterfall, but the rig does not go I to tx mode. Appreciate hearing g what I might be missing. I have tried setting radio to flex and kenwood...same results Cheers Scott
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WSJTX Doesn't see QMX but Putty Does
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First question, are there issues running several different radios on WSJTX by switching configurations? I had WSJTX set up so I could switch to an IC-7100, IC-7300 or QMX+, it was working fine when for no reason the IC-7300 would only transmit at a few watts. I deleted WSJTX and reinstalled, the IC-7300 issue went away but now the QMX+ isn't seen by WSJTX. The laptop is very basic, I want to use this in remote locations, no internet and only for FT8 or WSPR. Laptop has 4 GB of ram and 64 GB of storage and two usb ports, one usb port is dedicated to a gps antenna and I run Nmeat for a time reference. I can see the QMX+ in device manager and even access it via Putty but WSJTX does not see it, the IC-7100 and IC-7300 work fine. WTF????? Any ideas??
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QMX+ CW Setup
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I'm trying to listen to CW on my QMX. 1.02 firmware installed. In CW mode I mostly get noise. If I switch to any of the other modes I can hear CW well, though sometimes more than one station at at time. I get that the CW filter is supposed to be narrower, but I hear a station in USB mode, switch to CW, then tune around in 100 Hz or even 10 Hz steps and can't find anything. I even tried enabling the 500 Hz filter, but still all I hear in CW mode is noise. It sounds like water rushing in a tunnel. If I set CW passband to NONE it's just like in USB mode, which is not a surprise, since that's turning all the narrow CW filtering off. Do I have some other config messed up ? +---Main menu------+ |+---Configuration------+ ||+---CW---------------------------+ ||| | ||| CW Keyer | ||| CW Decoder | ||| CW passband 500 | ||| CW center 750 | +|| Auto-offset/tone YES | || CW offset 750 | || Sidetone frq 750 | || Sidetone volume 50 | || Sidetone abs/rel Absolute | || CW-R OFF | || Choose filters | || | |+--------------------------------+
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