Well, no, not really. Probably. Who knows? but we live in clickbait times, so Β―_(γ)_/Β―
Been following Hans’ G0UPL QCX projects for a while, but missed out on the first two batches of the QDX. WELL NOT THIS TIME! so I got one and started building it. The kit is great (not too easy, not too difficult) and took me about 5 hours total, going slow. The documentation is absolutely great, explained everything properly (beware, there’s an assembly manual and an operations manual).
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/01_capacitors.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/02_capacitors.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/04_diodes.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/03_capacitors.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/05_leads.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/06_soldering.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/07_finals.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/08_powersupply.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/09_big_toroid.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/10_big_toroid_in_the_house.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/12_filters_in_place.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/11_little_toroid.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/13_triple_big_boy.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/15_top_cleaned_up.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/14_back_cleaned_up.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/16_kapton_tape.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/18_fancy_front.jpg)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/17_baby_got_back.jpg)
The audio scan is not perfect unfortunately, manual says it’s supposed to top out at -60dB, and yet mine has a few peaks at -40dB. Asked on the groups.io, let’s see what turns out from the discussion (I have a feeling my toroid wrapping needs to be a bit better…)
wire
One more inspection for solder whiskers (this thing is tiny, easy to bridge pads with solder) and power it up (12V gang represent):
Jun 05 18:04:58 kernel: usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
Jun 05 18:04:58 kernel: usb 1-1: Product: QDX Transceiver
Jun 05 18:04:58 kernel: usb 1-1: Manufacturer: QRP Labs
Jun 05 18:04:59 systemd[1984]: Reached target Sound Card.
Jun 05 18:04:59 kernel: cdc_acm 1-1:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
Jun 05 18:04:59 kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_acm
Jun 05 18:04:59 kernel: cdc_acm: USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/soundcard-1024x163.png)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/receives02.png)
![](https://yo9eat.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/receives01.png)
This is with an EFHW scattered around the balcony, not even perked on a pole, not checked for SWR, nada. Tried to TX, but it drops the USB connection most likely due to a high VSWR – need to break out the fishing pole to improve things π