Well Julian, 

The plot thickens.   I got back to things and when I turned on the QCX-mini, it did the transmit thing for about 30 seconds.  I checked IC3 and it was slightly warm but so were the three BS170's and Q6 so difficult to say if IC3 was getting warm on its own or from the PA MOSFET's.  

I decided to pull the audio and paddle jacks one at a time.  As I removed each one, I inspected for solder bridges but as it turns out, the solder had not capillarated to the top side of the board through the solder holes.  I checked the operation of each 3.5mm jack and they both rang out the same.  All of my work was performed on a silicone soldering mat and I did not find any tiny pieces of wire strand or solder on the mat.  Plugging in the radio without the display or control boards did not exhibit the constant transmit problem.  I reinstalled both 3.5mm jacks and all seemed well at the time.  So, I reassembled the radio and it seemed fine.  I left the radio turned on for the evening and transmitted into a dummy load from time to time from a memory.  Three hours later, all was going well, so I put it back in the enclosure making sure nothing on the bottom side of the board could touch the case.  I even put Kapton tape on the bottom cover.  Checking the radio before I went to bed, all was fine and I listened to the W1AW CW bulletin on 14.057.5.  

Here is where things went awry.  When I turned the mini on last night, the S-meter was jumping all over the place and it sounded like constant lightning static in the headphones.  I tapped every component on the board to no avail.  I tried some freeze spray and could not find anything.  After 10 or so minutes, the static in the headphones started to settle down until it was completely gone.  The mini was now working as it should although I don't believe the alignment process was able to find dips in IQ Bal, Low and High settings. I hear faint voices on receive below the CW signals.  The BPF peaks between 7 and 8.   

This morning, I turned on the radio again to be greeted with the heavy static crashing sound on the headphones and the S-meter jumping full scale.  After being powered on for about 10 mins, the static crashing settled down and the rig is working (with the voices).  I called CQ a few times and had three RBN hits from Texas, Alberta and Arizona.

The head scratching continues.  
--
Dave - VA3CP

Wayne
You are describing it displaying ONE row of blanks. Only both when the control is excessively advanced.
Here http://www.qrp-labs.com/qcxmini/trouble.html#blocks it says that the processor is not talking to the display.
Check out the processor.

73 Alan G4ZFQ

Thank you; clear now.

So, the gnds and voltages check out yet the LCD is still blank or shows 1 or 2 rows of rectangles, depending on contrast setting of R47.  Anyone have any other ideas, or should I reach out to Hans?

Thanks Julian and Mont.

73, Wayne  

Check that all the connections on C1, C16, D3, D5 and associated components are good - reflow the solder connections. Using a DVM check the PCB traces between those components (I had problem with a broken trace on my 50W build).

With the unit powered up and on receive, Q5 drain (connected to R12) should be near supply voltage and junction on D3 and D5 should be near ground (zero V). At the same time, the anodes of D3 and D5 should read about plus 0.6 Volts.  If these conditions, aren't met, you have a problem somewhere in that circuit area.
--
Peter Lee
G3SPL

Hi Mont,
Was wondering the same thing myself. I also find 0.47 hard to find at a reasonable cost. Lets hope someone can help us !
73 Roger G4IUP.

Well, the good news is it seems the 1 pulse per second is working as  you are able to calibrate the crystal oscillators (8.11 and 8.12).  Those serial data traces look a tad noisy, but as you say, that could be due to things like earth loops on the scope input.  But I would concentrate on looking at the serial data - does it look clean directly on the output of the GPS, for example?  You may have a grounding issue with your lead or perhaps the serial data is not the full 5 volt swing?

Check that a good 5V swing of serial data is available on pin 19 of the microcontroller (IC2).  If the keying paddle works OK it would pretty much rule out any poor connections from the keying jack to the controller.

Interestingn one, this.  Hope you find out what's going on!
--
Peter Lee
G3SPL

I still don’t get it.  Do you glue the card stock to another thicker piece of cardboard?  The whole panel is cardboard?  If so how do you get it strong enough to hold meters, speaker, etc? Or just crude holes cut into pc board and the card stock glued on to make it look nice?

On 01/09/2021 02:36, Mont Pierce KM6WT wrote:

I got the Clock running great now with the QLG2-SE.  Sent the following command:
$PGKC115,1,0,0,0*2B

That's some progress!
NaviTrack has that command built in but most of the other commands need it to be used like a terminal program.
It's far from being a good program but it does show Glonass and Beidou.
On my setups I am asked when I start the program which, I suppose, is the same as running as Administrator.
I have seen no way of saving settings. I do not think a supercap will help, it loses baud rate settings if it is powered on and another seemingly unrelated command is sent.

73 Alan G4ZFQ

On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 06:24 PM, Mont Pierce KM6WT wrote:

NaviTrack is mentioned on the QRP-Labs G2 webpage near the bottom:

Note here https://www.ebyte.com/en/data-download.html?id=542&pid=485#load is the Navitrack software for the Ebyte module. The Navitrack software may be used to check it, see NMEA, satellites, send commands including the update command.

I downloaded and tried it, but the zip file seems to be incomplete.  I get an error pop-up stating:  "Call to DllRegisterServer failed".  It might be a missing file or a Win 10 issue...

Ok, I found my issue causing this failure...

On Win 10, you have to right click on the program name, and select "Run as Administrator".

So I now have NaviTrack talking to my QLG2-SE.  Now, I just need to investigate what it can do, as far as setting/saving custom configurations, like Baudrate, and, setting which satellites to look for.


73,
km6wt

I am trying to set the clock on the QCX-mini with the QLG1 gps unit. The GPS unit seems to work (all LEDS operate as expected) but the radio never sets the clock or the grid square. Calibration menu items 8.11 and 8.12 both seem to work without issue. 

When I scope the output of the QLG1 I see the 1pps on the tip and what appears to be serial data on the rig BUT it is not very clean. I am a noob with a scope, so I could very be at fault for the traces. I can't seem to get a reliable (or valid) decode with the RS232 decode function on the scope.

I've added photos. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
David W5CWT

Hi Luc, I noticed my error (66) immediately after submitting. Unfortunatly, the corrections on the site take some time - I resubmitted (6) just after the original fault. 

Apologies, Jens DG2FDD 

I'm saying that pin 1 of the connector on the circuit board is at 180 degrees from what the picture of the connector on the schematic suggests that it would be.

The schematic suggests that pin 1 is the "Northwest" position on the circuit board. It isn't: it's in the "Southeast" position on the circuit board, looking at the circuit board in the same orientation as if you were operating it, which is with the BNC on the top of the board, sticking out to the right..

So you cannot assume the orientation of the connector on the circuit board matches the orientation in the schematic.

I hope that's clearer.
--
Julian, N4JO.

On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 10:56 AM, Mont Pierce KM6WT wrote:

The clock works really well with the QLG1 gps unit.  However, seems to have a few issues when I try using the QLG2-SE with it.

• Many times a minute, several Heartbeats are skipped..
• The Seconds display is erratic, sometimes jumping forward and back, and sometimes advances by 2 seconds.

I got the Clock running great now with the QLG2-SE.  Sent the following command: 
 
From page 5 of the GK9501 document in the Group Files section (click here)


It works great BUT...  on power cycle, the setting reverts back to the default.   :(
Same problem Alan mentions when changing the baud rate.  It doesn't save it, and reverts back to 9600 on power cycle.


73
km6wt

On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 11:37 AM, Alan G4ZFQ wrote:

I have some notes here https://sites.google.com/site/g4zfqradio/incircuitprogramatmel168#h.tpm1l60t46z

Thanks for the link, interesting reading.

NaviTrack is the utility to command the module.

NaviTrack is mentioned on the QRP-Labs G2 webpage near the bottom:

I downloaded and tried it, but the zip file seems to be incomplete.  I get an error pop-up stating:  "Call to DllRegisterServer failed".  It might be a missing file or a Win 10 issue...

In spite of the error pop-up, NaviTrack opens it's dialog window, but then crashes when I try to connect to the serial port.

Maybe Hans will comment regarding the clock, otherwise it looks like experiments.

I did already mention to Hans the issues I'm having, and, he's got it on his looonnnngggg list of things to do.
Anyways, I thought I try a few things in the meantime.  :)


On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 11:41 AM, Alan G4ZFQ wrote:

Yes, but my tests seem to indicate the QLG2 will not remember a different baud rate, reverting to 9600.
Maybe I did something wrong and you will find otherwise although I tried a few times.

Yes, I'm seeing the same thing.  I wonder if this is one of the parameters that would be backed up if I had the SuperCap installed ?
Either that, or software like the NaviTrack may be needed to store the config settings into it's internal flash?



Thanks,
Mont - km6wt