Long awaited firmware update for the QMX

Hans has been actively working behind the scenes to address some of the bugs in his QMX firmware. I'm sure that the amount of energy that this project has drained from him has been enormous.  Nonetheless, he keep plugging away, and with amazing results to show for it.

The latest update(version 1_02_006)  addresses the following (sourced from the QRPLabs groups.io site):-

 

The beautiful Swan River

Freshwater Bay, with the city of Perth in the distance.

A New Microphone for the QMX

With the advent of SSB on the QMX it was time for a better mic option. Hans, on his QRP-Labs website, refers to Adam K6ARK who has designed a nice miniature 3D printed microphone including PTT button.  I don't have a 3D printer (yet) so I put out a call to any club members with one, and Brian, VK8BDM, responded. I sent him the link to the design for said mic and within days he dropped one (actually four) off to me.   Brian did an excellent job with the printing as you can see in the images below.  Note, the printer used was a Bambu X1. 

The rest of the parts were sourced and two mics were constructed.

 

 

The QMX has a lot of test options built into it so it was easy to check that the mics were working as intended. All you need to do is connect your QMX to your PC via the USB-C connector, open PuTTY and entered the terminal application mode (8.2).  Go to 'Hardware Test' and scroll down to the 'Microphone Test' (8.6.9).  Press 'R' to run the test and you should see something resembling the video below, when you speak at a normal level into the Mic.  Gain can be adjusted using the + and - buttons on the PC keyboard and Ctrl-Q will quit the test.

The references in the (brackets) relate to the QMX operating manual (firmware 1_02_002).

CATSync for WebSDRs

 

As the website states, CATSync is a tool that allows you to synchronise public WebSDR receivers with your real rig connected via CAT control to your computer. It supports the classical WebSDR, Kiwi SDR as well as Open Web RX.

As I have reiterated, there are some great developers out there that have contributed to AR in many different way, and software is one of them. I haven't tried this program yet but I will, as I am still working on the CW and this would allow me to use a remote receiver to receive some of the signals that are down in the noise from my home QTH and even compare them.  Whilst I would also be able to send CW from the attached rig.  Synchronising the two receivers would provide an extra string to the bow.

I'll post an update, when I've given it a workout. 

 

Morsle - the daily Morse Code challenge

 

Yet one more CW practice tool. this one can be found at morsle.fun.  Yes, its a little like Wordle but helps with your CW receiving.