Tom M7MCQ recently posted some interesting info on an aftermarket mic for Elecraft KX-series radios.The mic was initially offered by Dave M0JKS as a kit but they now are sold completely built.I ordered one the next day.Dave's mic is about 1/3rd the price of the Elecraft MH3 and is much smaller. Cost of the mic and shipping to my US address from the UK was $35. The mic comes with a TRRS cable,

A search of the mythical Ideal QRP Travel Rig For Vibration-Rich Environments has me, once again, pondering what's out there and coming to the same old conclusion:That the Elecraft KX2 - manyyears (yes, one word) after its introduction - still has no peer. Eight years old now - a virtual eternity.Like others, I watch the YouTube infomercials of the latest offerings, hoping to find my unicorn. But

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

 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.If that doesn't pan out, there is the group.io and a guru in W1-land who has brought various

I was minding my own business this morning, drinking coffee and up to my knees in the pleasant (cough) task of toroid-winding, when what to my wondering eyes did appear - news of a new kit. More radio gear!The messenger is Thomas K4SWL and the kit is from Jonathan KM4CFT - the CFT1.The kit currently under construction is the QMX+. I'm 80% of the way through the build. As if the radio gods know

I am amazed at the stunning scenery of Iceland - the trip was bucket-list incredible.The video below is about 2/3 drone video (followed by 1/3 radio) of the places we saw as we drove around the country.In all, we put 950 miles (1500km) on the car and I activated 4 parks. Each park was a first-activation for that park. I had no trouble making contacts but my time at each park was limited. The KX2

I've activated two parks in Iceland since arriving 4 days ago - both times were first activations for those parks. It's been tough to put the camera down. Iceland is an amazing country and I'll have more to say about it later.Today's activation of IS-0092 Blábjörg Natural Monument was a lesson in Exceeded Expectations 101. Just when you think you can predict certain aspects of this radio stuff,

A few weeks ago I bought a cheap mini-PC as a way to learn Linux. I liked it so much that I bought another mini-PC, this one with "the works" - an AMD Ryzen 7840 processor, 2 TB SSD and 32GB of RAM.The power supply is a 30W wall-wart. The small-footprint shack computerI'm impressed with them both. 4k video editing with the new mini-PC: smooth as silk.Naturally, I've been looking for a radio to

Click for largerIn a package significantly heavier than I would have thought, the QMX+ kit arrived today, shipped from a US address.I'm very anxious to get this kit together and on the air but all I'll be able to do for now is winding the many coils and transformers before leaving town for a while.I've built a lot of kits over the decades but few have made me as excited as this one, in terms of

As I wait for mine, I enjoy the rig vicariously thanks to Hannes and (soon) others:One interesting comment on the QRPLabs group: "Once SSB is implemented in the QMX+, will that make it a QSX?"The QSX description (5 years ago) was for a 10-160m, all-mode rig so it seems like the 6-160m QMX+ may fit the description - if firmware-driven SSB is a possibility with these rigs. Like the QMX, the QMX+

On 1 May, Hans G0UPL released new firmware for the QMX.The primary goal of the update was to suppress the thump on CW that many users experienced on several bands.In my case, 80m was the most affected band.I'm happy to report that the new firmware does what it was written to do. Even before enabling the thump suppression feature, the new firmware seems to have fixed 80% of the thump generated

A new set of paddles and an inductive helper for my 17-ft whip both rode shotgun with me for about an hour on a beautiful Florida morning.Everything about the kit made for a quick and easy set-up...and that is my goal: 2 minutes till "On The Air" and 2 minutes to "Back on the road".The KX2 is probably the 2nd fastest rig to put on the air, second only to the KH1. But its effectiveness (due to

 A recent get-together of Central Florida POTA ops, led, of course, by Bill N4NYM, allowed me the opportunity of meeting a dozen or so kindred spirits at Lake Louisa State Park where I very much enjoyed seeing their set-ups and eating their food.One of those in attendance was a newbie CW op, Glenn KO4NTA, and somehow Glenn and I got to talking about QRP. He had several rigs with him but the

I spent about an hour and a half today with the mcHF clone on the bench undergoing a full alignment. The radio, not me.Alignment of this radio is simple and the instructions are menu-driven & easy to follow - but there are a lot of optional settings that go a long way toward configuring the radio to operate in a manner that makes ergonomic and operational sense.If I had not owned a mcHF

A thread currently running on the QRP Labs group discusses the "thumping" issue on CW.I received my pre-built QMX yesterday and was able to hear for myself how this it sounds on the 5 bands, 20 to 80 meters. As noted on the group, the issue is more pronounced on 80 meters and is present to a smaller degree on higher bands, although 40m seems the least affected.The sound is the same whether using

Ordered 7 months ago, my pre-built QRP Labs QMX arrived today.There is a much shorter waiting time for those who order the kit version of this rig. It's a 20-80m version and I will be putting it through its paces on CW over the next few days and will eventually configure it for FT8.I was happy to see that a test sheet was included, indicating the results of various parameters obtained before it

Packed up and ready to roll Two-score and seven years ago, the Texas Department of Public Safety conveyed forth upon my person a new motorcycle license, conceived in Smith County and dedicated to the proposition that even a 15 year-old kid could roam about freely on two wheels, powered by an internal combustion engine.I am now engaged in a great reminiscence to determine whether that freedom

My original - genuine! - mcHF has gone to that great playground in the sky, where all radios emanate honest 599 signals on all bands. After so many years of performance-enhancing (and corrective) surgery, the poor radio was ready to be put to pasture.To replace it, I ordered one of the many clones and received it yesterday.I will need to do a full alignment on the radio - the displayed frequency

I received my Radio-Kits Explorer kit (20 meters) in the mail today and my first impression is, "Man, that's a lot of parts!"Everything is very well-packed with all parts separated into 8 bags, each with a label that describes the contents.The circuit board is high quality and has 4 pre-installed parts, three of which are surface-mount devices. There are no SMD's for the builder to install.