Yesterday I had my 3th Activation using the QMX. This time on 30 m and all worked fine.
73 Ludwig
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Hi Hans, All around 4 watts now, I had to take a turn off L510 to get the 10Mhz in. I am happy with that and look forward to the High band version.
73 Alan
Great job Alan!
One of my team build me a 20-10m QMX on Friday. I would have tested it already. But came down with a monster cold. It’s way worse than the 2x I had COVID-19! At least I don’t feel worse today than yesterday so optimistically I might be back in the lab tomorrow for some testing.
73 Hans G0UPL
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Hi Hans, sorry to hear about the cold, I do think that colds seem to be a lot worse after the isolation we had during covid. Good luck with the testing and look forward to the High band QMX.
73 Alan G3TZA
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Hello, Hans
Firstfull, I am sorry for disturbing knowing your workload.
May I ask a question about upper HF bands QMX.
Did you have a chance to test 20-10 version of QMX?
And what is the preliminary date when we can expect QMX 20-10 to order?
The main reason why I am asking is my impatient =) and preparation for long dark evening with soldering station =)
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Took my QMX for a walk round Dartmoor over the weekend. Had planned to activate High Willhays again but the weather was awful and had to make the decision to take an alternative route back to the car on the second day. Still drying out the gear from possible the rainiest Dartmoor trip to date.
QMX was great in the tent on FT8.
Oh and I need new boots and waterproof trousers!
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I don’t wear gaiters often but with the heavy rain recently and long undergrowth I wore them this Saturday. Mine are Goretex XCR ISTR. Even so the bottom 4cms of my walking trousers were damp and my feet in my Goretex boots were slightly damp. Not from water ingress but from sweat condensation. Normally the sweat wicks up your socks and is vented above the boot to outside. But the gaiters limit this especially when working hard in a very wet environment. So don’t confuse something like this with real leaks. Real leaks feel cold and my feet were not cold.
The leather on my boots took a few days to dry naturally and the insides remained slightly damp too.
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The reason I don’t use waterproof ‘fashion-tex’ gaiters. Canvas gaiters sweat far less & and cost 1/3 the price. Look around bushwork crews & I challenge you to spot a single set of goretex gaiters!
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I think the “sweaty feet” issue is why I normally let the trouser cuffs get wet and don’t wear the gaiters. With modern high wicking fabrics they dry out quickly if there is any wind. And wind free days in GM are seriously rare! I tend to wear them in snow mainly.
Anyway, can I bring this back on topic, Chris @m0kka, how are you finding your QMX? I have 3 QCXs but probably will punt for a QMX next year. (When I have moved on a few excess HF transcievers!)
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Early days but seems good. Nothing not to like so far, 5 bands, cw and digi modes in a tiney 4/5w package. I built mine and all went together well and worked first time with no messing about. Only downer so far is that it refuses to work with FT8CN app but does with the FT8 app. looks not to be getting enough audio on tx from the FT8CN app on the old smart phone I use. Minor issue especially for cw ops and I am still investigating. Also works fine with WSJTX on Pi or PC, but they are a bit to big to drag about the hills.
Boots and gators. My current boots are Gortex and fabric and so are my gators but the boots are worn out and leak baddley. Not just sweaty feet. Also had a large thorn go right through the boot and into my toe! back to leather I think for my next pair.
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Very happy with my QMX so far, I had a problem with a shorted FET pad on the regulator board which caused some grief, but it’s running now. Sensitivity and power out is good. I’ve packaged it up and it’s powered from 3 x LiFePO4 AA size cells to keep the voltage safe. It fits nicely with a key and 3 cell pack in a mini waterproof case from Jaycar. Hope to test it out in the field soon.
Cheers, Glenn VK3YY
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I got my ready built QMX a few days ago.
At first I was excited about the little device, everything worked fine and a few QSOs succeeded.
But the next day the receiver did not work anymore. Only noise, with or without antenna. The volume control jumps up and down when turning the knob. TX still seems to work.
Unfortunately I have no idea how to locate and fix the problem.
Factory reset? Install FW again? On off?
The thing with the volume control is known. I had it also , fortunately not on a summit. I’m not sure how I made it work.
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^^^^^This.
Interesting subject. I have gotten hikers rash previously, but on reflection, I think I can put it down to heat from gaiter use. For long, boggy ascents in summer - the gaiters make sense but the heat is definitely a factor. Even with merino socks. I’ll try a canvas pair and see how it goes.
However I suspect the bushwork crews wear canvas due to the strength. I don’t think goretex ones would survive too many, if any, barbed wire fences. Canvas ones might.
Colm.
Got my QMX running a few weeks ago. I have taken it out on a couple SOTA activations. Tx power is fine. It seemed to be a bit deaf on Rx so I took it to a friend of mine that has an old HP Service Monitor. It is in fact kind of deaf. Takes almost .7uV for good signal. Also took my 3 QCX mini’s and they all work very well on Rx. Around .2uV or less. No problems. Any Ideas why? What to check? I did also noted the volume control bug.
Thanks,
Tim - K5DEZ
How did the filters look on the sweep via a putty terminal? My QMX has similar sensitivity to the QCX mini on 40m. By ear, the QMX is around 0.2uV MDS on all bands.
Same here with the volume control bug. Sometimes the volume is very erratic or won’t turn up so it has to be power cycled and then its better.
Gaiters, needed here now as the snakes are coming out of hibernation.
Glenn VK3YY.
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Can I add my vote for Paramo gaiters. Also highly breathable, but soft and warm in winter.
73 de OE6FEG
Matt
This topic was automatically closed after reaching the maximum limit of 100 replies. Continue discussion at QMX - New 5 Band TRX from QRPlabs (Part 2).
I read someplace that the ready-built QMX is way behind in fulfillment, so I ordered a kit two days ago. It shipped today.
Elliott, K6EL
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