Hi all,
Me too…
QSX announced 2 years ago, no more news but new QCX versions… Probably marketing reasons…
Being bored wating, i bought a small SW-3B in the meantime.
Nice little rig and 3 bands smaller than the QCX. Not as many features, but who cares on a summit ?
I think there is one available from QRP Labs. Mine was made by a German (don’t ask me who) and is absoutely fine - it included extenders to compensate for the short pushbuttons and varying lengths of other controls.
I want to buy one, but I can’t decide which band? 20m is the obvious choice, but I really like 40m as well…I wish Hans made the QCX with switchable bands, at least two!!
Split the difference between 20 and 40meters! I love 30m but around these parts an op can grow old and gray (like me) waiting for someone to work…except FT8
Cash-rich and time-poor Luc, if I had time to make a case I would do but I don’t. It’s the same reason why I paid £5 for parking yesterday so that it would save about 30-40mins walking each way from the free car park to the paid car park. I’d rather spend the cash whilst I don’t have to query it and have more time on the summit that walking up a long private road.
@MM9FMF
I know Andy, I"m such a cheapskate!
I have the money to buy any case I would like, but I just like to make it myself (see the case for my ATU-100 in another thread).
My second QCX was a 40m model, and that one is in a D-Link box, it was a lot less work.
@K6SDW
Just a hint : I have used both my QCX rigs on the “one lower” band without much degradation in reception or transmission. The RX input filter is quite wide, and it is still sensitive enough, and the output power will typically drop to abt. 80%, but what difference does 4W or 5W make, right?
I made QSO’s on 30m with the QCX20, and worked EA8 with my QCX40, but using it on 60m !
Harmonic filtering is still OK with the original LPF’s.
If you’re looking for “thrilling” QRP DX contacts, 20m is probably the better choice, but if you want a chance for a QSO day and night, 40m may be a better choice.
Various issues with component suppliers delayed the production by more than I had expected. Several items (other than the PCBs) needed custom manufacture, in particular the 5K gain pot and the 1602 yellow/green LCD were a bit slow.
Anyway… good news at last…
Photographs received this morning from the PCB Assembly factory show the assembled top and bottom QCX-mini PCBs. 500 of the QCX+ TCXO modules are also completed see http://shop.qrp-labs.com/qcxptcxo - these are also compatible with the QCX-mini. Yellow/Green LCD modules were custom-manufactured in the QY-brand factory for the QCX-mini. This is the same high quality brand we have used for all QRP Labs kits for the last 7 years dating back to the Ultimate3/3S.
These boards should ship from the Far East assembly facility on Monday 16-Nov-2020.
" The QCX-mini shipment from China has had a bit of a slower-than-hoped ride… FedEx implemented a 100kg limit on shipments because of the peak season and Covid19 situation. So I had to break the 172kg shipment into two halves. Which is not great for me because a lot of the costs (insurance, priority shipment, clearance broker fees, certain port storage fees, etc) are fixed-per-shipment and not related to value as a percentage, as the tax part of the costs is. The first package was picked up, and the second was booked, but the next day local Far East FedEx dropped the package limit to 50kg and refused to pick up the second shipment because it was 83kg. I was spitting furious and had some heated discussion with our account rep. In the end I had to split the shipment AGAIN to 41kg + 42kg, sent on successive days. Tripling my fixed costs. To be fair, our account rep was also very upset about this situation, and promised to provide a discount when the invoice was prepared, and yesterday I received the invoice and it did indeed have a substantial discount which goes some way to cover my tripled fixed costs.
Then the three shipments got to Hong Kong Airport and sat there… if ONE shipment would arrive here then I could do my final kit validation assembly and photos for the manual… and so on the morning of the 6th day I phoned customer service, PLEASE can you kick that first shipment, take your time on the second two but just kick the first one for me… the nice lady said she’d see what she could do. Then on the afternoon of the 6th day I checked the tracking and saw it was already in the Belgium hub!
As of yesterday evening 2 of the 3 shipments have reached the city of Izmir, the third is still camping in Chek Lap Kok island (Hong Kong airport). Our customs clearance broker is safely installed in new office premises after their former office building was condemned following the recent Izmir earthquake, which left it standing but not at an entirely perpendicular angle; so the QCX-mini kits are expected to clear customs today and then I might get them here next Tuesday or so!
I’m currently HOPING to start the sales somewhere in the second half of next week. With three weeks before Christmas, as long as people choose FedEx shipment and if we work here flat out to ship out as many as we can as fast as we can, then quite a lot of people should be able to receive their QCX-mini in time for Christmas, though I can’t guarantee it.
Very interesting to read. I’ve just taken delivery of the very same washing machine I returned a month ago because it was damaged, making it the 3rd washing machine I have sent back in so many months due to damage. So, to a certain extent, I understand Hans’ frustration. Let’s hope lady luck smiles on us.
73 Matt
The QCX Mini components, PCBs, and enclosures have all arrived at Hans’ QTH. The kits are being prepared now. After a QA build, he is going to put them live on his website. He is hoping to take orders later this week.
I hope he has plenty of help with packaging and shipping! He is going to be inundated!
QCX Mini on Sale from 19:00h Tomorrow Night (03/12)
Christmas is not cancelled!
Latest communication from Hans:
Hi all
I’m pleased to announce that QCX-mini will be available in the QRP Labs shop tomorrow Thursday 03-Dec-2020 at 1900Z (timed to provide reasonably equal chronological opportunity for QRP Labbers on both sides of the Atlantic, and with all due apologies to our friends in APAC).
The first kits will be shipped on Friday. We recommend the FedEx shipment option which on average takes around 4 business days. In the event of high demand we will do our best but inevitably there may be some delay.
I have built several QCX-mini successfully since they arrived on Monday. There were some last minute troubles, I had made a few errors in the BOM so we had an incorrect part and a few missing ones… but I have been able to obtain these swiftly locally here. Luckily my XYL’s cousin owns a hardware store in town so was able to help us get the needed nuts and screws quickly.
QCX-mini is a real beauty, I think you’re going to love it!
The QCX-mini kit will be priced US$55 the same as the QCX+; the optional enclosure will be $20. The QCX-mini is also compatible with the QCX+ TCXO module $8.25 and has a PTT output for the 50W PA kit.
Attached shows the QCX-mini 40m I built; I built a 20m one too and both produce 5.0W at 12V supply after adjustment. Attached photos also show the chaotic scene here in QRP Labs Towers right now.