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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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I really appreciate this idea. I'm addicted to panadapter/waterfall displays when using CW. That said, I must be missing something. When I enable I/Q output to USB and use CW mode, I seem to totally lose front panel earphone audio, except keyer sidetone. I was hoping it would still be CW audio, as when I/Q is disabled. Is this the expected behavior? -- Brent DeWitt, AB1LF Milford, MA
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QMX+ WSPR
29
Hi Wei, yes it might well be from the WSPRnet database, the full locator is in there under my registration. That still doesn¡¯t explain why JD38 is being decoded by some and IO91 by others! it does seem to end up as JD38, I take this from the WSPR rocks website which shares WSPRnet and it¡¯s there to behold if you search the last 24hrs with my call sign as the tx. I¡¯m running it into a 40M resonant 1/4wave with a return loss of >20db, 12V supply (real 12V!) and the output is circa 3.6W according to both my test set and vector power meter. At this time I can¡¯t really put my finger on anything outside of the QMX+ box as a suspect. 73 Clive, G4KCM
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Michigan QRP Club Weekly Zoom Chat
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 The topic for Thursday, 15 May will be TBD. The agenda for the 15 Mayl QRP Chat: Pete 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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Thanks to W1NC!
As I described in this post, what started as a harmless part exchange resulted in a dead QMX, so I sent it off to Jeff, W1NC. He not only fixed it, he sent me a detailed explanation of what he had to do to repair the radio. Total turn around was 11 days door-to-door. I spent several minutes looking over the PCB before I could positively recognize it as the one I had sent him - he cleaned up all of my poor soldering and even removed all of the scorch marks! I would definitely recommend contacting Jeff if you get to a point where you can't fix it yourself. While damaging my radio wasn't a good thing, working with Jeff was definitely a great experience! 73, Mike, KL7MJ
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Rev 1 vs. Rev 3 QMX Kit?
8
I have an unbuilt Rev 1 QMX kit, that I am finally seeing time ahead to build it. But am wondering, would I be better off getting a Rev 3 kit. Are there significant upgrades or differences in the current version that would make it worth getting the new kit revision? Tnx Paul w2eck
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Internal battery for QMX+
3
Has anyone installed a rechargeable battery in the QMX+? If so, would you share the details, such as what brand of battery and how you wired it inside the QMX+ case? Thanks. Hiroki AH6CY
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Unable to buy a QMX+ on QRP Labs site
22
I have tried for two days to buy a QMX+ but forgot my password and could not log on. So I clicked the "forgot password" thing and the system asked for my email address, saying a link to change the password would be sent, but it was never sent (it was not in trash otSPAM folders!). Because it forgot my password I cannot complete my order!! What do I do now? EuGene Smith KA5NLY
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Feature Request
4
Hans: A couple of items for your feature request list: 1. (Probably already listed) Use an added USB port to allow PC to access internal QMX+ GPS receiver for time synchronization. 2. In CW mode, add zero-beat command to tune radio to exact frequency of chosen CW sidetone. This could, if enabled, perhaps replace the RIT function. 73, Bill, K2HRT
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QMX receiver went deaf
Last night while playing with my qmx the receiver went deaf. This happened after txing on ssb with IQ mode on and panadapter open. I was using a mic connected to the radio. The S meter with antenna dropped to nearly nothing and I can only hear white noise now. The radio will still put out 5w. I ran my little signal generator into qmx and on receive I hear nothing at -33dbm. At 0dbm (I know quite strong) the signal will get through. Any thoughts? Thank you Ryan KK6DZB
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Running Hardware Tests Menu From Windows 11
3
I built a version 1 QMX+ transceiver which I really like. It seems to work well on the channels I use which is 40-20-15-10M. I recently updated the firmware to version 1_02_000 and I am impressed with the SSB reception. At this time I took the opportunity to connect the transceiver to the Ham Radio Deluxe software which definitely helps me to scan the bands. But I have a reoccurring problem in that my computer does not always recognize the QMX+ and I will get a Device Malfunction when I connect up the patch cord? I have rectified the problem by rebooting both the computer and QMX+ which seems to work. I have a new HP 64 bit laptop running Windows 11 Home software. I was hoping someone could tell me if this is normal? I would like to run the Hardware Tests Menu and I was hoping someone could walk me through using the Windows 11 PC Terminal Emulator. I understand that I should use the Windows PowerShell Terminal App? I opened the Terminal App and realized it is DOS based with which I am very rusty. It has been 20 years since I have interfaced with DOS and I don¡¯t want to jump down the proverbial rabbit hole. What commands do I use and is it fairly straightforward? The QMX+ is my third QRP Labs kit as I previously built a 20 M QCX-mini and an upper band QMX transceiver. Also have a lower band QMX kit coming so I have something to build this summer. Always amazed at how well these kits perform without adjustment. I built a Heathkit HW-16 in High School which was a blast but I had to get a friend who worked at the local TV station to tune it for me.
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Thank You Hans
Hans Just finished the QMX 15-60m Kit build successfully and I just wanted to say thank you. Your documentation is excellent and your videos are very helpful as well. 73 John N?IB
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Hello All, In an unfortunate accident, I dropped my QMX+ pcb that I was working on and broke few of the toroids. Visually, other toroid looks ok. Can these broken toroids be salvaged? I Is there any website/ store in US that I can buy the new ones in small quantities( like 2-3 ) instead of buying 25 pcs? What other alternatives can I try to substitute these components? Your help is appreciated. 73 Subash KE2BKS
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Bug report: Band limits on 60m triggered with mode switch
Good evening all, I wanted to report a minor bug I noticed on the new 1.02.00 firmware for my QMX. When I am on the 60m band I can tune between the 5 60m channels which is very handy. However, if I change mode to LSB it triggers the band limit error (B on the screen) and presumably transmit is disabled, and I can no longer change frequency. This would not be a problem (LSB is out of band for 60m) but changing back to CW, Digi, or USB does not clear the error, I have to exit the band entirely and re-enter the band with the mode I want to clear the B lockout. I have not tested if transmit is actually blocked, but changing the frequency is locked out until I exit and re-enter the 60m band. I'd suggest disabling LSB on 60m and automatically shifting freuqency between USB/DIGI and CW mode. A minor bug and easily circumvented, but I wanted to pass it along for a later patch. Side note - I have upgraded and SSB calibrated my 2X QMX transceivers and have not had the PA failure issue others have seen. Not sure if I am just lucky or it's rare, but FWIW it didn't harm my radio and power out was unaffected. Thanks, N1EDC
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QMX for sale
3
High band factory built, works perfectly with build 027. I have too many QRP radios! You can have this one in a week. Contact me at sfab43@ho**ail.com for a great deal. JS6TMW
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QMX+ CW Setup
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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QMX+ SSB not keying from Mic/Paddle Port
9
Hello Bill here it is probably just a defective operator. My QMX works no problem Digital, CW and SSB (using digital). The Mic/Paddle port has no issue with CW but when the Microphone is used it does not key the QMX+. I insert the microphone and using the PTT button on the microphone I can get it to key and send very slow CW. Is there a setting that I am missing. I tried to key the QMX+ with just the Tip Sleeve to get the rig to key ( bare wire on the jack ) with no luck. When I run microphone diagnostics I see modulation. From what I am reading that when you insert the microphone it should sense that it is not a Paddle and use the microphone. Yes I am in USB and or LSB mode into a dummy load. The microphone I have is the Electret Mic from QRP Kits wired and tested as per instruction manual ( qrp-labs ) . https://qrpkits.com/microphone.html I have also tried to repurpose a microphone from a Baofeng with no joy. Any help would be appreciated Thanks in Advance Bill N3GTY
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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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microphone wiring.
16
When SSB is implemented on the QMX I want to be ready. I have a vintage in new condition RadioShack electric condenser microphone element. on the illustration for the mic I believe the middle wire which is number 2 would need a momentary switch for PTT, or would it be better to put it on #3 ground? I imagine as per the schematic that came with the microphone it will need a capacitor in the range specified. Any help here would be appreciated because I don¡¯t want to take a chance at wiring something wrong and damaging anything. Feel free to draw a full schematic just to confirm everything. thank you everyone.
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Updated Wiki Page: QMX QMX_plus Block Diagram
#wiki-notice
The wiki page QMX QMX_plus Block Diagram has been updated by @Ludwig_DH8WN <DH8WN@...>. Compare Revisions
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