KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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QSX: Better late than never

Posted: 13 Jul 2020 06:28 AM PDT
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QSX prototype.

The QRP Labs QSX transceiver was announced with much fanfare a couple of
years ago, and theres been a lot of disappointment that its still not yet
available. Well, as it turns out, the QRP Labs folks are human after all,
and its taking them longer than anticipated to release this product. Below,
is their latest announcement, taken from the July 2020 QRP Labs newsletter:

QSX project update

The QSX project is an all-mode, all-band HF transceiver providing CW, SSB,
AM, FM and Digimodes for all bands from 160m to 10m inclusive, with 10W
output power. It is an embedded SDR transceiver providing extremely high
performance and packed full of features, yet at a very low price. The
project is described here.

To my shame, embarrassment and regret, this product development has taken
me very much longer than originally anticipated and the anticipated
availability date has been and long gone. I frequently receive emails
asking about the status of the project, and some people ask has it been
dropped entirely? Will it ever be available?

Well the answer is no, it certainly has not been dropped, canceled, given
up on, etc. The project is still very high priority. But at the same time,
this is a very complex and ambitious project to be undertaken by a small
business such as QRP Labs. The Research and Development is a large
undertaking, requiring a considerable time investment. At the same time,
all the other demands of running a small but growing family business have
not gone away, and are far from negligible.

Many people who have not tried running a business, will find this hard to
understand. I myself did not understand either, at the beginning.
Basically, it is hard enough to design a circuit that works and is
reproducible by others, often involving complex hardware and firmware bound
together in harmony. But then producing it hundreds or thousands of times
over, at a price that makes it attractive to hobbyists and all the
challenges of component supply, manufacturing, logistics, imports,
administration that go with it then all the after-sales support, both
technical and mundane (lost packages, slow packages, missing components,
etc) lets just say you have to be crazy to even contemplate taking on such
a thing! To say that it is time consuming is a chronic understatement.

QSX is a large scale project requiring a long development program. However
at the same time, QRP Labs is a business enterprise that has to feed the
family as our primary source of income. This makes it essential to continue
to develop and offer other more minor new products or firmware versions to
enhance existing products, in parallel with the QSX development program, to
sustain our income. On the other hand, work on these other things in most
cases also overlaps with tasks in the QSX program so in many ways the work
is not lost.

I do feel very thankful that at least I was never so optimistic about
development schedules that I took any pre-orders for the QSX!

Then to conclude this topic: I am as determined as ever, to finish the
project and make it available to you all in large quantities. The project
is definitely not canceled and is definitely not on hold, either. IÂ*have
often said, Im not rich, Im not smart, Im not educated in electronics
hardware or software but the one thing I really am is too dumb to know
when to quit. So never fear, it will be done. And it will be worth the
wait. I will be updating the QRP Lads discussion group and the QSX page as
soon as I can be more definite about dates. Until then, I do not want to
tempt fate with any promises about dates that I cant be sure of keeping.

So the bad news is that it still isnt available, but the good news is that
they are still working on it. Lets hang in there and hope that good things
will come to those who wait.

The post QSX: Better late than never appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio
Blog.


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Learn more than just copying characters

Posted: 12 Jul 2020 11:25 AM PDT
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Morse Runner is a contest simulator that many operators use to improve
their CW skills.

Recently, I had a QSO with Gary, W0ITT. Even though there was a fair amount
of fading, we managed to have a nice chat. The next day, he sent me the
following email:

Nice to talk with you again.

I had a typical QSO recently using my home brew regenerative RX.Â* The other
station wasnt very strong, we had QSB, we had QRM at times, but I was still
able to copy and had a good QSO.

In a significant number of my QSOs, the person on the other end just says
“well, QSB, so QRT.â€�Â* When I have QSB, I adjust my radio, sharpen my
listening skills and wait to see if the other fellow’s signal comes back up
(it often does).

A lot of successful copy isnt just knowing the code, but more about
listening skills. For example, how do you mentally pick out the signal you
want to hear in various situations?

For instance, when I first got back on the air, I was using a QRP
transceiver where the offset frequency was set quite low (maybe less than
200 Hz).Â* Accordingly, I got very good at copying low-pitched signals
because that is what I had to listen to.Â* So today, if someone comes back
to me close to zero beat, I just focus and copy it.Â* Copying low pitched
signals is a learned skill.

I could envision training people to copy stations at different volumes, at
various pitches, with different kinds of interference, with heterodynes,
with QRN, with zero beat QRM or close to it, with chirp or drift, with
different equipment problems.

In my opinion, just working QRP is great weak signal training.Â* It
certainly helped me, but I could see benefit in training to deal with the
copying problems people will encounter in advance.

So I see lots of information about the best ways to learn the code.Â* I
don’t see much about how to develop CW operating / copying skills.Â* Have
you run into any classes or information on that?

I am very happy to have the copying skills and experiences I had.Â*Â* But it
took me 50 years. Â*Is anyone working with that kind of training, or do
people just (hopefully) pick it up on the air?

73/72 de Gary W0ITT

I think Gary makes some really great points. I also hate it when I get
theWell, QSB here, so QRT message. While there are times that the fading is
so bad that it makes carrying on the contact nearly impossible, this says
to me that the other operator just isnt very good or that he or she just
doesnt want to talk to me any more. If the latter, Id rather they just come
out and say it instead of making some kind of lame excuse.

As far as classes or information on developing CW skills, the CWops CW
Academy is perhaps the closest that we have to that. Its a series of three
classes that take someone from newbie to 25 wpm. Along the way, students
are encouraged to take part in a number of different operating experiences
including ragchews and contesting.

Another resource is Morse Runner. This program simulates contest operation
including pileups, other guys grabbing your frequency, QRM, and QRN. I keep
meaning to try it myself, but just havent gotten around to it yet. A lot of
guys enjoy using it, though.

The post Learn more than just copying characters appeared first on KB6NUs
Ham Radio Blog.