Mort, another excellent video on the QCX mini. I've got two 40 & 20 meter which I call Bada Bing and Bada Boom. I do quite a bit of Parks on the Air activations in the states via bicycle and find these little rigs with an EFHW are idea for my portable operations. QRP RULES!
Nice video going on from the previous one. All QRP here, FT817ND, h/b h.f. ssb/cw rig, Wireless 19 Set 2 Watts cw on low h.t., one valve xtal cw 40/60m tx, Pye Bantam a.m. on 4m. My Pixie, 350 mW out on 60m got me 180 miles QSO and a SWL report from 220 miles. G4GHB
This is a good follow up and very interesting, thanks! Would I be correct in thinking that during your lunch break, the battery was able to recover enough for a final fling?
At the end of the QCX-mini instructions is a section on tuning the rig. Hans also has an excellent 45 min video on how to tune the QCX/QCX+/QCX-mini. As an example he used a 30M QCX+ and said that it is not at all unusual for the 20 & 30M radios to begin with low output power. The 30M radio he used in the video started with output power of 0.7W. After removing windings on one toroid and spreading wires on a couple of other toroids he managed to improve the output to about 4.3 W. At the conclusion of the video he was able to supply 13.8V and had RF power reading of 6.4W. After you tune your radio try the batteries again. I would like to see the result. We did our smoke test last night on our QCX-mini and NO SMOKE. In the middle of tuning it now. Search for this and you will get his video on RU-vid.“How to optimize your QCX/QCX+/QCX-mini for best performance.” Thanks Joy
Hi Joy I have linked to this video in the description and mention it in this video. In my other videos I show the tuning up process & make suggestions about preparing for it during the build. My three QCX txcvrs normally run at 5w or a bit more & are fully optimised. This video is just a fun experiment about low power and unsuitable batteries😀😀😀 I hope your build goes well & that you have a lot of fun with your QCX !
I use 18650s too Michael, most of the time - really great batteries! (and Panasonic Eneloop on less power hungry devices). Glad you enjoyed the video, 73 Mort/G4BSK
Try a rechargeable 9 V the battery your using has high internal resistance and limits output to about 1 watt, rechargeables will allow higher output at least for a while, find the highest capacity you can find are usually good for several quicker contacts like Pota, Sota, and contest exchanges, they can last longer than you may think good luck and lots of fun experimenting, 73 -J
Excellent video. I liked your one battery experiment very much. Now, there is a polarity protecting diode in QCX Mini. That drops the incoming voltages by 0.6V approx. What if you shortcut that? Then your power could be bigger also the battery would last longer...Do not you want to try this? 73 de Béla HA4BM from Hungary.
Try an eveready lithium 9volt. They really put out! It’s what I use in my 4state qrp crickets. And they last a long time. Don’t bother with those 9volt lipo rechargeables. de n5vwn
