I'm trying to remember all of the problems folks identified with the FT817. Other than operator abuse blowing out the finals, I came up blank...what have I forgotten? ETA I did add a 300Hz, Collins filter for CW. Makes a world of difference for the better...
Start with the Cortex-M0 or your brain will explode if you're over 50 years old. I know this firsthand. My first read-through of the programming of the M0 NVIC (nested vectored interrupt controller) left me figuratively hiding in a dark basement corner pissing myself and crying for mommy. It was like 50-70 dense pages just on the NVIC. And the M0 is dirt-simple compared to the higher level Cortex lines. Times have certainly changed since the 8051 and 68HC11 days.
I really like the FT-817ND but will admit it does have several gotcha quirks like the front and rear antenna relay thing, as well as the oddball rear DC power connector. Not going off-topic and list them here. But it's a solid, tested and true rig for QRP field work for 25% more cost than this Chinese-PCB-slid-in-a-generic-aluminum-enclosure thing. (Though will immediately trade it for an IC-705 if anyone wants to do an even trade. )
1.) Thanks for doing the unofficial manual. It was very helpful. 2.) Ran HOT even in just RX mode. Yep, want to modify the heat sinking in mine so it at least idles at a sustainable temp before I sell it. Don't feel good about simply reselling a radio with that many critical faults. It's a catastrophic failure just waiting to happen. 3.) Zero factory support. The Xiegu factory site still has the beta English manual version, whereas Radiooddity (where I bought mine) has v3. 4.) Well known problem with the key and mike jacks separating for the board. They're surface mounted connectors with very little solder on the pads. Using low-profile, right-angle plugs is recommended. Even better to use a 6" sacrificial patch cable so the connectors won't break off the PCB from repeated connection forces. Is the Q900 any different? Let's see a front and back shot of the PCB. 5.) Flashing new software is a crapshoot on bricking the rig. Got mine flashed without drama, but it wan't straightforward or without risk. I knew I could have bricked the radio with no chance of recovery through a fail-safe bootloader. I'm at firmware v1.07 and Xiegu abandoned it not long before the G1M was discontinued. 6.) I find it amusing that the OP shows V3 now has problems fixed. How many hams were the unpaid beta testers? Exactly what I thought. I read: "It's OK now, we fixed the slew of problems that were in v1, and then in v2 hardware. Oh really? That's nice. Need to swap out the SMT electrolytic caps for quality leaded units because I know they used the absolute cheapest caps and don't want them leaking onto the PCB in the next few years. Also figure out some mounting method for the keyboard that doesn't involve hot glue. Lesson learned: Yes, they're lower cost than the big names. Yes, they have pretty, colorful dancing graphical displays, but most are noisy, and of inferior quality. (Though people seem to be rather pleased with the G90 performance for the price now that they're at a higher hardware and firmware revision.) In the few videos I've seen for the Q900 online, I can clearly hear CPU board hash through the speaker. Not birdies, just broad spectrum digital hash.
They worked out ALL the bugs? Really? Do I have enough room here to list them all? And no, it does not transmit on 222 MHz, no matter what they say. It's a hardware limitation. Spectrum scope limited to 24 kHz, at 48 kHz you get a weird half screen. The QR20 would lock up powered on, requiring almost complete disassembly and unsoldering power to reset. Buttons were intermittent and it would randomly change stored modes and frequencies. Computer control was severely limited to receive only, and memory upload/download unavailable. Batteries would not charge while on DC power. Microphone had bad audio which required modification. RX audio had very limited range. TX was fully biased into class A on some bands with absolutely no alignment information available. TX IMD was awful. And I also bricked mine flashing new firmware, but managed to recover it. I finally returned mine for a refund, and went with the IC-705. Absolutely no comparison.
But other than those minor issues, was it a good radio? At least Radiooddity took it back. I assume that was the seller here in the States. But what I want to know is: Was there hot glue in it? Because radio communication gear may not be exported out of the People's Republic of China without at least half a stick of hot glue on the PCB. That's the rule. Customs will check for it. But seriously, the only Chinese radio I currently respect is the $30 BaoFeng HT. Have had one for years and love it.
"the only Chinese radio I currently respect is the $30 BaoFeng HT. Have had one for years and love it." I agree with this! I have sure got my money's worth out of my Baofeng. Costs less than replacement batteries for most other HTs.
First I have to say, that I will never buy a transceiver to a price of 8000,-- EUR. Its far away from my relationship to this hobby and my wallet. But the transceivers to a high price, are mostly that what is the state of art to that moment. So I am not the classical trendsetter but I am intrested in the latest technology. I wait and take my time, to find a solution which fits my needs and got a good price to that time. And when the own needs are checked, there is to see which transceiver will do the best job. So to have it all in one device is mostly without sense.
When you read in the entry of this discussion the lines of KB1UYS, what the processor really is, then you understand my opnion. And the lifetime of processors are really fast. So I can say, that a processor which was introduced in 2011 and got a performance kick in 2017 on a 32-bit level, it stays so yesterday. And when someone saw in 2017 the future in 32-bit, this is not understandable. And at the momet other processors are mostly lightyears ahead. In that case of the new transceiver, its all about the money. And maybe there was no use for more performance. So this is the technology from for about 5 years, which explains maybe the price too. The components and the software seems to be not at the actual level of nower days. And Android software for smartphones, which is older than five years, is mostly not suitable for new smartphones. This is just an example to show how fast the software and processor development is. Mostly new processors are just an answer to the actual software needs. And hamradio can do more, than things from 2017. So DMR from 2017 was in the modulation not the best too. It changed a bit, but there are much better solutions today.
I absolutely agree! In the past i had also some Chinese TRX, i don´t buy it anymore. The price is always attractive, but those things has its faults (Software, Hardware) every time. Save the money, buy something from the good known vendors. 73!
Thanks for the warning, I'm 58... I was actually planning to use an M3 or M4 because the current code base to be ported is already over 180kB. The Atmel/Microchip M0's I laid my eyes on are limited to 128kB iirc.
Yes, I recommend the Yaesu FT-817/818 for any and all serious QRP operation. I have had a blast and zero problems with the Yaesu. The Xiegu is a different story. I too bought the Xiegu G-90 and it worked great out of the box. The month it was out of warranty, the encoder knob froze up and would no longer move. Then a month after that, the RX portion went completely dead. There are no US service centers for these, so you are stuck replacing them rather than repairing them. $500 for another paperweight in 18 months? No thanks! You can buy a Yaesu for not much more and pretty much use it for life.
At one time Japanese goods were seen as unreliable junk for people that could not afford a real radio/car/camera/whatever. These radios might be questionable NOW, but I would not advise the traditional manufacturers not to worry about them.
Don't be so quick to judge all Chinese products - For example, the Xiegu G90 is a very good high quality radio with a good user base. And I've seen a few USA made products which were very sub-quality i.e. cutting corners to increase profits because yes they do do that here too.....
