The QRPer Board

After the latest post from Thomas on the X6100 I finally ordered a X6100. I got it a couple weeks back I believe and have had some time with it in the shack. Certainly a fully featured rig, battery built in, ATU built in, Pan adapter AND waterfall...what's not to like? I have been following the radio for the last couple months and have heard of the issues, the firmware updates to fix know issue etc. It seems this radio is in the customer development phase if there is such a thing. I really do like the radio and have not had any issues with it. I took the radio out for a POTA activation last week and brought the TX500 along as well. I had one of my younger kids with me who I need to keep an eye on as he is quite adventurous. I got the antenna setup and log ready to go and then pulled out my TX500, worked some digital, worked some SSB and then called it so I could do a some exploring with my kid. As I was packing up I realized I never even got the X6100 out. Again, I do like the X6100, but I really love my TX500 and get fantastic reception reports all the time with several activations in GA and at least one activation in several other states while I travel for work. Maybe I pulled out the TX500 out of habit, or maybe I wasn't as excited about the X6100 as I thought or maybe I was just too distracted while enjoying bringing my kid on this activation. I will have to get the X6100 out again, maybe leave the TX500 at home, hihi.

In the end, I probably don't need another QRP rig but I really wanted to give the X6100 a try. With the current state of the TX500 and my experience with it I know that I never get rid of it. I was excited to see the possibility of running WSJTX on the x6100 natively to reduce some hardware in the field but I am not sure that is ready for primetime nor do I want to load different or edit the current firmware on the X6100 knowing I may not keep it around. I also have an eye on the IC705 with an iPad and the SDR Control app from Marcus Roskosch...I suppose there are too many options out there.

Enough of my jabbering, I would love to hear your experiences on any of the 3 radios mentioned above, especially if you have or have tried them all.

Joshua

So I'll admit that I, too, haven't taken the X6100 out as much as I thought I would. I have taken the TX-500, IC-705, and KX2 out much more.

I, too, was asking myself the other day if the X6100 is truly a keeper. I have a lot of radios, but I don't keep ones I know I'm simply not going to use much.

Having spent a bit more time with it, I know some of the issues:
- The battery life could be better
- The receiver has now overloaded on two activations, so I need to build or buy a little BCI filter for it
- I simply don't like the audio compared with any of my other radios

That said, I have made a field kit for it and plan to keep it for the time being and even keep it at a family home for use when I'm there.

I am going to wait a bit to see what more might be added in firmware updates.

There is a bit of a fun factor with the X6100 and I'll admit that. That might be why it's still here, too.

Cheers,
Thomas
K4SWL

I’m keeping mine not for what it is now, but for what it can be. Love the shack-in-box aspect - just add a key and antenna. One thing that bothers me still are the CW memories. I can store code in them, but cannot play it back! I’m confident that this will eventually come, along with other improvements. Until then, I’ve only used this radio at home.

Mark
W8EWH

Hello Joshua,
I have the IC-705, X6100, G90, and TX-500. I like them all. For POTA, my hands down favorite is the IC-705. For SOTA, the TX-500 is hard to beat. The X6100 is fun to use. I am hanging on to mine to see where the updates take it. To me the X6100 has a lot of "almost" to it. The controls are easy and intuitive. The filters are excellent; however, the noise reduction needs a little work. The receiver is sensitive and I think the RF gain knob needs more twist than we are used to. Audio is a little harsh. The ATU is very good.

I think it's worth hanging on to for a while. If I were going to sell one of my QRP radios, it would probably be the G90. I am going out on a couple of weeks to a different park which is more rural. I will probably bring the X6100 along with the IC-705 and see how it does in a quieter environment.

Yes, It is definitely a keeper. I don't have the problems that you guys have as it is currently my only QRP rig so if I go then it goes.

I have been following this rif since it became available and while it has some problems I don't think they are a big deal. Xiegu is a small company and I think they released the X6100 a little too early. They may have needed to do that in order to keep a cash flow so that they have the finances to finish and enhance the 6100. I don't know.

I also thing too many people mess things up on the radio by connecting amps and hacking into the firmware or just changing menu options that they don't understand. I love to influx of new hams but some seem to like just pushing buttons without understanding their impact or how their settings interact.

I think the real benefit of this radio is the open architecture and its potential for future enhancements outside of Xiegu. I also thing that when it hs matured a little that it will open up the QRP world for hams with a limited budget. even if I had the finances I'm not sure if I would buy a 795 as it is too bulky and the lack of a tuner turns me off. The Discovery 500 is a possibility but the lack of onbaord batter and non standard connectors along with no tuner turned me off on that radio,

I also think that some of the Youtube influencers have gone overboard with bad mouthing the X6100. We didn't see this with the IC-705 because they were afraid to bad mouth Icom. Too many of them get free stuff to test and I think it influences their judgement. They also don't understand the space that the X6100 fits for some of us. Thankfully Thomas is one of the good ones.

Well, so much for my views on this. But remember you asked.

I have the SW-3C (the newer version), IC 705, X6100 and as of Saturday afternoon the (tr)uSDX. Each have a different reason why I purchased. The IC 705 was purchased in Nov. 2020 right after my knee replacement and used a lot in the shack while recovering. By the time I was ready to activate, I knew the radio inside and out. I used it throughout 2021 doing POTA and SOTA activations. I used to have an FT 891 and even though it was a nice radio, I had too many wires for automatic CW keying or if I wanted to do digital at activations. I had seen the Venus SW-3B and people raving about it, and I decided to purchase one, however only the 3C was in stock. It is a very small 3 band QRP radio that will RX on SSB but not send, and it TX on CW. It's a 20, 30 and 40 meter radio. It works wonderful, however it must be used with a resonant antenna. (I generally use EFHW anyway but 30 meters is a fairly high SWR).

Then in December I got the Xiegu X6100 and admittedly, we were the beta testers, and most features are now enabled that I want. The only one I'm still waiting for is the bluetooth audio to work so I can listen with my same headset I use on the IC 705. I like the fact it does have the built in ATU for the times I use a random wire antenna. For those times the ATU works great. (Mark, W8EWH - contact me directly and I'll help you out so you can send the stored CW memories). Thankfully, the audio issues others report, I have not had an issue with. The radio is smaller overall and a little lighter compared to the IC 705. I took my new (tr)uSDX to activate POTA yesterday and brought along the x6100 that I ended up using after I got 10 contacts with the SDX. I hadn't used the X6100 for a couple of weeks and felt great to be using it. I also have great success with it with FT8 digital as well. There are a few YouTube videos that explain the steps to get it going. No external soundcard needed.

Hope to post my experience with the (tr)uSDX today sometime. Hopefully I can get some guidance to some of those questions.

So, yes the X6100 is a keeper for me.

Scott
KN3A

If anyone is having an issue getting CW messages to send, I did a 20 second video of how to do it with the x6100. Make sure you're on the latest firmware, as some previous ones did not work.

https://youtu.be/-MrgOXTPshI

73 Scott
KN3A

Sorry to say that I just went through two of them.
Radioddity was more than gracious as far as the first exchange and the the eventual refund.
I do not understand why anyone is willing to accept being an equipment tester for a company at their own expense .
The first unit lost the ability to use the main tuning knob.
The second unit lost the auto tune after a day and got hot just sitting there.
I operate out of a motor home for most of the year and loved the form factor. It looked to be an answer to all my space problems. Alas, it was not ready for the market.
I have owned Elecraft as follows, K2, KX2, KX3 and I own a 705 so please, no comment about any misuse on my part.
Ira KB2DJJ

I have had mine since December and have had no issues. I’ve done 22 park activations with a bit over 500 cw contacts, and not one problem. I activate only using CW so I have little experience with the other modes. It’s certainly not on the level of the rigs you mentioned, but fits my budget… and it’s a fun little radio. Hope it continues to function as well.

The brand new issue of QST has a review of the x6100 and it was a nice reivew.

Scott
KN3A