The QRP Labs’ QSX transceiver was announced with much fanfare a couple of years ago, and there’s been a lot of disappointment that it’s still not yet available. Well, as it turns out, the QRP Labs’ folks are human after all, and it’s taking them longer than anticipated to release this product. Below, is their latest announcement, taken from the July 2020 QRP Labs newsletter:
QSX project update
The QSX project is an all-mode, all-band HF transceiver providing CW, SSB, AM, FM and Digimodes for all bands from 160m to 10m inclusive, with 10W output power. It is an embedded SDR transceiver providing extremely high performance and packed full of features, yet at a very low price. The project is described here.
To my shame, embarrassment and regret, this product development has taken me very much longer than originally anticipated and the anticipated availability date has been and long gone. I frequently receive emails asking about the status of the project, and some people ask has it been dropped entirely? Will it ever be available?
Well the answer is no, it certainly has not been dropped, canceled, given up on, etc. The project is still very high priority. But at the same time, this is a very complex and ambitious project to be undertaken by a small business such as QRP Labs. The Research and Development is a large undertaking, requiring a considerable time investment. At the same time, all the other demands of running a small but growing family business have not gone away, and are far from negligible.
Many people who have not tried running a business, will find this hard to understand. I myself did not understand either, at the beginning. Basically, it is hard enough to design a circuit that works and is reproducible by others, often involving complex hardware and firmware bound together in harmony. But then producing it hundreds or thousands of times over, at a price that makes it attractive to hobbyists – and all the challenges of component supply, manufacturing, logistics, imports, administration that go with it… then all the after-sales support, both technical and mundane (lost packages, slow packages, missing components, etc)… let’s just say you have to be crazy to even contemplate taking on such a thing! To say that it is time consuming is a chronic understatement.
QSX is a large scale project requiring a long development program. However at the same time, QRP Labs is a business enterprise that has to feed the family as our primary source of income. This makes it essential to continue to develop and offer other more minor new products or firmware versions to enhance existing products, in parallel with the QSX development program, to sustain our income. On the other hand, work on these other things in most cases also overlaps with tasks in the QSX program so in many ways the work is not lost.
I do feel very thankful that at least I was never so optimistic about development schedules that I took any pre-orders for the QSX!
Then to conclude this topic: I am as determined as ever, to finish the project and make it available to you all in large quantities. The project is definitely not canceled and is definitely not on hold, either. I have often said, I’m not rich, I’m not smart, I’m not educated in electronics hardware or software – but the one thing I really am is too dumb to know when to quit. So never fear, it will be done. And it will be worth the wait. I will be updating the QRP Lads discussion group and the QSX page as soon as I can be more definite about dates. Until then, I do not want to tempt fate with any promises about dates that I can’t be sure of keeping.
So the bad news is that it still isn’t available, but the good news is that they are still working on it. Let’s hang in there and hope that good things will come to those who wait.
Dave New, N8SBE says
I find it typical that anyone that has mainly an electrical or mechanical background has a very difficult time assessing the amount of effort required to produce a software-centric project.
Even those that have a lot of experience in software development will tend to miss the estimate by a large factor more often than not, especially if there are one or more major changes in the product from a previous version. There is a rule of thumb in the software industry that one major change means a 25% worse estimate, and two changes likely a 50% miss. Any more changes than that, and the project should not be attempted, because when it will be completed will be a wild-ass guess.
Case in point, Elecraft and their K4. The software content is at least an order of magnitude greater than any of their earlier rigs, and they seemed to have missed the boat on figuring out when they could ship it.
I understand COVID-19 delays figure into this, but software/firmware development is still happening, for those that are working from home.
At least Hans didn’t make the mistake that Elecraft did, by taking pre-orders. That just ratchets up the expectations and demands from customers to ship, before the product is ready.
I’ve made it a rule to wait at least a year after something new comes out, unless I’m willing to put up with beta features and bugs. I’ve broken that rule on ‘chump change’ items (typically under $100) so if it turns out to be a dud, I’m not too mad over the money I spent.
Michael Kirk says
I am new to QRP
Given the ongoing delays in QSX release, are there other low-cost all-mode HF transceivers (SSB, CW, WSPR, PSK31) to consider?
A simple SDR using a PC ( USB or sound card) is OK for my interest.
73,
Mike
AB9AZ