First SSB using QRP-Labs QMX

Posted on November 3, 2025 by robert

After building a QMX and QMX+, I decided to order another QMX for 20/17/15/12/10 meters, factory assembled.  Given high demand, it took about 6 months to build, and recently arrived.  I was a bit surprised since it arrived after all the tariff ping-pong.

I hit a few snags getting it on the air – the first being that it appears to have been configured from the wrong bands (80-20).  It took a bit of looking to find out how to change that (factory reset, then select the proper band configuration).  After that it appeared to work fine, but I need to verify internally that it was actually BUILT for the 20-10 configuration.

My next issue had to do with the microphone I had ordered a year ago from the UK.  It was supposed to be compatible with the QMX, but I discovered that tip and ring had been reversed internally (you can see a Rube Goldberg contraption on the left side of the radio to reverse tip/ring).  The mic came from G7ufo.radio, and costs $57 shipped to the US including shipping and tariffs.

Oddly enough, while testing the radio, I saw a “S” appear next to the battery display (which by default is OFF).  That meant the radio was shutting down transmit due to high SWR, which was odd given it was transmitting into a 50 ohm dummy load.  But sure enough, I discovered that the dummy load was indeed defective – I could wiggle the center conductor and get either 50 ohms or infinity).  So I switched to a dummy load that actually worked.

As a bit more margin, I hooked up a 9.6 volt battery (the unit was built for 12.0 volts), and fired it up on the 10-meter band.  Sure enough, a USB signal came out.  I discovered the mic was somewhat hot and if I spoke loudly a “G” appeared on the display (indicating the audio input was too high).

The audio appeared clear and of the appropriate bandwidth.  Pretty cool to have a 5-watt QRP SSB radio for a $140 kit (including shipping and enclosure).

QPRLabs QMX transceiver operating USB into a dummy load (right side), running off a 9.6 volt battery (upper left), with a kludged adapter to reverse Tip & Ring (left middle). The G7UFO mic can be seen on the bottom

Posted in From the OM | Leave a comment

Maybe not so slow?

Posted on October 19, 2025 by robert

On Sept 27, I hit 1700 parks.  Today, 3 weeks later, I have 1,750, so maybe hitting 2000 might take less time than I though. (I have been trying to hunt every day).

Posted in Hunter, POTA | Leave a comment

Speaking of Slow POTA Crawl

Posted on October 3, 2025 by robert

POTA is a global program and there are thousands of parks at DX locations.  My experience with this has been limited.  I believe that many of the DX activators are using QPR rigs and compromised antennas (not unlike their North American counterparts).

I do see DX parks on the spotting network frequently, but it is rare that I can hear them.  Nevertheless, a day ago I received confirmation of my 30th DX Entity, IS-0010, from TF/F8CRH, for a park in Iceland, made on Sept. 11th.  Thank you Franck!

Posted in Hunter, POTA | Leave a comment

The Slow Crawl to 2000 Unique POTA Parks

Posted on September 29, 2025 by robert

Just a bit over a year ago, I had reached the 1,500 unique POTA Park mark.  I figured perhaps another year might be required to get to 2,000, the next milestone.

Award for 1,500 Unique Parks

Boy was I wrong.  It took me a bit over a year to get another 200 unique parks.

Finally hit 1,700 on Sept 27, 2025

Clearly I need to hunt more!

Posted in Hunter, POTA | Leave a comment

Blue Sky Preparations

Posted on September 26, 2025 by robert

The song might say “Nothing but blue skies from now own”, but we can’t depend on that in New England.  Our peak hurricane season still has a few weeks left, and storms like Hurricane Sandy (October 29th) remind us to always be prepared.

Today being the first blue sky day in a bit, I decided to make sure my Honda EU2000i would start.  I purchased it in 2011 (Hurricane Irene took our power down for several days after the generator arrived – whew!) and it still runs perfectly.  However, “running” doesn’t include starting, and it has been difficult to start the past half dozen years or so.  Even a trip to the Honda Service Center didn’t fix things.

I always suspected it was a fuel issue, and was preparing to shoot some starter fluid into the carburetor.  But I found the generator covered in dirt and grime (it sits next to the leaf blower and lawn mower).  So I turned the fuel on and went about cleaning the outside for 20 minutes or so (it really was a sticky mess).  In tilting the generator from side to side to get to the spots on the bottom, I notice a bit of fuel leaked out of the overflow pipe.  I cleaned that up, started to give it a big pull, and about half-way through it, it sprang to life!  This is the first time in years I haven’t pulled my arm out of the socket trying to start it.

My assumption is it simply takes quite a long time to fill the carb via gravity feed.  So from now on, I’m going to turn on the fuel knob and let it sit for 15 minutes before trying to start it up.

 

 

Posted in EU2000i, From the OM, Weather | Leave a comment

My 2nd POTA Activation in Maine

Posted on September 23, 2025 by robert

My family planned on being in SE Maine for several days, and I figured I would attempt to activate a park near where we were staying (not many to be found, actually).  I wound up going to Ferry Beach State Park (US-2388) on Sunday.  I had checked out the park online prior to going and saw only 32 activations at the time.  When I got there, I suspect the reason might be the $6 fee to enter the park, which was delightful.

Because my family was with me, it had to be a quick on-and-gone activation.  I was on the air about 2:45PM local time and 14 minutes later had a dozen contacts.

Posted in Activation, POTA | Leave a comment

Burned by an Old Plugin

Posted on September 9, 2025 by Bob Beatty

WB4SON.COM (this website) runs under WordPress.  I have been receiving a warning for months that my PHP version was out of date (PHP is a scripting language used for web development).  I figured I would go ahead and update it to the latest version.  Unfortunately, when I did, my website crashed and gave me a critical error message.

I had recent backups so I wasn’t entirely panicked, and had always had good luck with the Customer Service folks at my hosting provider.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able fix things myself, but customer service was able to do it for me.  Essentially they disabled all the plug-ins my website was using – the usual reason for a critical error is a plug-in that hasn’t been updated and won’t support a newer PHP version.

Sure enough, when I checked the error log, one plug-in, called Sunrise_Sunset, was failing and was the source of my problem.  Needless to say, I deleted it.  I also deleted two other plug-ins that I was no longer using.  Thankfully my website is back up and running the latest version of PHP with no errors now.

Moral of the story: Get rid of old plug-ins that might no longer be maintained.

Incidentally, disabling the plug-ins, a critical step in getting my site back up and running, meant that Akismet Anti-Spam was no longer protecting my website.  In the 15 minutes or so that it took me to get rid of the bad plug-in and enable the good ones, my website had been pounded with spam comments, the vast majority coming from Russia.

Posted in WordPress | Leave a comment

Beware Puffed LiPo Batteries

Posted on September 8, 2025 by robert

Back in 2021, I was working with a young ham looking to learn Morse code.  As he was blind, many of the tools commonly used, were not as useful.  I stumbled upon the Morserino-32, a wonderful device from Willi OE1WKL, I bought a pair of them in kit form, and soon had my young fella sending and receiving Morse.

Recently a somewhat older ham (about 70 years older than my young student) mentioned he was having issues transitioning from CW skills learned on a bug decades ago to modern paddles/keyers.  I immediately though of the “Echo Trainer” mode in the Morserino-32, which had been boxed up for the past 5 years.  Upon examining one of them, I discovered that the 3.7v LiPo battery had “puffed”.  This is a sign of a failed battery.

Since many ham devices use LiPo batteries, I thought I would remind folks to beware puffed batteries.  It is quite dangerous to attempt to charge and use them.  The photo below shows the puffed battery on the left (leads cut off since it can’t be used) and a “normal” battery on the right.  If it looks like a pillow, it is time to dispose of it safely & properly.  Both Best Buy and Staples offer battery recycling for free.

Posted in Battery, From the OM | Leave a comment

IC-7300 Stuck in USB-D?

Posted on September 1, 2025 by robert

Yesterday, I headed out to activate a couple of RI parks.  I hadn’t used my IC-7300 in a few months, and the last time I was running FT8 at a POTA demonstration.

I intended to run SSB, which tends to have more potential hunters, but when I set my rig up at the first park, I could only select LSB or USB-D on 20-meters.  I tried all sorts of combinations of button/screen presses with no luck.  So I changed things over to CW, and completed my two activations. (Yet another story trying to find a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter for the paddle).

Today I fired the rig up again, and discovered the “magic” button combination.

  • On the main screen, pressed the Mode button (which was showing CW) – that opened the screen below
  • Pressed the SSB button (which toggled between LSB and USB-D, leaving it on USB_D
  • Pressed the DATA button, which changed USB-D to USB

 

Posted in IC-7300 | 1 Comment

Gold Medal for CWops CWT Participation

Posted on August 24, 2025 by robert

Ever since I joined CWops in late 2021, I’ve been participating in their weekly CWT (CW Contest).  There are 4 potential ones on Wednesday and Thursday UTC (9AM, 3PM, 11PM, and 3AM local time).  I usually do 3 a week and it is rare for me to miss one unless I’m traveling or dealing with medial stuff.  I just received my third Gold Medal, which recognizes at least 120 CWTs during a year.  My first medal was Silver as I joined so late in the year it wasn’t possible to get to the 120 minimum.

My thanks go out to Rob Brownstein K6RB who has to coordinate obtaining and shipping out all the medals, and of course to everyone who makes CWops such a wonderful organization.

Posted in Awards, CWops, CWT | Leave a comment