QMX+ repaired by W1NC

Jeff W1NC has brought my ailing QMX+ to life. Jeff is the go-to guy for any QRP Labs kit that doesn't perform properly and he's got a 100% success rate.

Since retiring a couple of years ago, I no longer have an oscope or anything else for signal tracing. And, ironically, I have less free time with too many irons in the fire - in short, it was easier to send the rig to Jeff and make use of his experience and expertise with these kits than to poke around blindly, hoping to find the problem and then having replacement parts available.

My particular QMX+ needed an IC and a cap replaced. I couldn't have replaced an IC, even with unlimited time. Jeff is equipped to replace any component on the kit including pre-installed surface-mount devices.

In addition, Jeff gave the circuit boards an alcohol scrub, removing all the tiny bits of flux left after kit construction, then adjusted the LP filter coil spacing for good RF out on all bands.

He then measured the MDS and harmonic output on all bands and sent me the results.

I now have excellent receive and transmit on all bands 6-160m, CW and digital. Turn around time was about 9 days with a few other rigs in front of mine.

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New amp from Mercury (KM3KM)

Three years ago I built a Mercury IIIs solid state amplifier and was impressed with everything about it, from the components, build instructions and operation.

I've been in the market lately for an amp specifically for use with my Hermes Lite 2 and had been considering one of these Chinese 150-watt amps...but today's informal announcement/leak has me excited about this latest product from Kenny KM3KM.

The Mercury Lite will be a 600w solid state amp with a selectable level of input attenuation, enabling it to provide its full output with 5-10 watts in or from a 40w input. And it has received FCC Acceptance.

Some particulars:

More photos of the Yaesu FTX-1F

 

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Left side

 

QMX+ completed...now the troubleshooting

 

I finished building my QMX+ earlier today and now have to figure out why it doesn't receive on any band.

Transmit is good on all bands, so I'm half of the way to being on the air with it...

A close look at the circuit boards and a study of the schematic will be the order of the day later this week.

SuperFox: Is it "all that"?

Several FT8 users on the WSJT group have reported difficulty in decoding K8R on American Samoa when the DXpedition was operating in the SuperFox mode, despite the fact that propagation favored that area for those stations.

I was able to copy 5W1SA (Samoa) with -11 to -15 levels on regular FT8 multiple times on a number of bands during the last half of K8R's operation but never once decoded K8R on SuperFox, even at times when they were on the same band, at the same time, as 5W1SA.

Prior to the N5J DXpedition to Jarvis Island (where SuperFox will be the dominant mode) starting 5 August, a "SuperFox test session" is likely to be held. One was scheduled for two days ago but had to be cancelled.

Hopefully, a reschedule is in the works.

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