Category: Amateur Radio

QDX Revision 3 Build Begins in REAL TIME

Hey everyone- been a busy few months lately. Between bad health, travelling, and then working hard just take care of Live Stuff, I’ve hardly had time for the Ye Olde Blog! I’ll try to write more regularly. A lot of my attention has been going to YouTube and in this series, starting with the video …

Continue reading

QDX Down! Understanding and Preventing QDX Revision 1 Failure

The QRP Labs QDX is an incredible piece of radio engineering, but the first revision had a flaw that ultimately destroyed a some of the Revision 1 radios. To be clear: Unless you bought out of the first batch of 500, this does not apply to you. The second and upcoming third batches do not …

Continue reading

A New Prototyping PCB for QRP/Homebrew Radio

We’re still alive! November and December have been very busy months. In that short time I both decided to find a new job, found a new job, and started the new job. I’m back into doing what I love best: Fixing things, and writing things. I guess you could just say I’m wired that way. …

Continue reading

The QDX Arrives and The Actual Build Starts

That’s right- the QDX is at Ye Olde QTH, and it’s mid-build! We are documenting the entire build on YouTube so be sure to check out the video below and subscribe so you can follow along. Also: This thing is SMALL. I love it. What a great little tiny radio.

QDX Construction Begins, Despite One Minor Problem!

Yes that’s right, we’ve started on construction of the QRP Labs QDX- Despite one major challenge, that is. Check the video below for details, and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel for more updates, as I try not to duplicate content too much between the blog and YouTube. They serve different purposes. Thanks!

QDX: Sold Out in 14 Minutes! Will There Be More?

The QDX went on sale today for at 1800Z for a total of 14 minutes. In that 14 minutes, all 450 units sold- a record for QRP Labs for sure! When will there be more? And will we be able to use an amplifier? What about other bands than 80, 40, 30, and 20 meters? …

Continue reading

QRP Labs Goes Digital: The QDX Arrives!

We all know QRP Labs, purveyors of QRP kits, headed by QRP Hall of Fame member Hans Summers. They’re known primarily for the QCX and its variant, the QCX+ and QCX Mini. But today, Hans released a new product that’s sure to shake up the QRP Digital world: The QDX, a four band QRP digital …

Continue reading

A Custom VFO with a Custom PCB from PCBWay, and BITX Rebuild Update

As the BITX40 Rebuild gets closer to completion, I find myself wondering if I’ll ever be fully finished with it, or if it will continue as a years long project. I suspect the latter, but for the sake of completing other projects, I want to get it “finished” and leave it as-is for the time. …

Continue reading

JS8 Ragchew vs. Heartbeat

Post Updated 9/9/21 to address comments both here and on Facebook that had some great points! Updated again 12/28/21 so as to avoid quoting an on air QSO. While monitoring JS8 on 40 meters I saw a QSO in progress that seemed to be going nicely, a long “rag chew” in the works. You can …

Continue reading

Prototyping with Corrugated Plastic and Hot Glue

While taking a look at the latest Solder Smoke Blog posts, I ran into This Post where Bill mentions how much he loves using a wood board- so much so that he might not even put the radio in a case! This got me thinking: What do I have around my shack that I could …

Continue reading