The Xeigu G106 has been around for a little while. ML&S kindly supplied one to me for review. Is it any good? Views are my own and the video was not shared with sponsor before being published. 73 Jonathan
As you say Jonathan, it's important to understand who this radio is aimed at. Xiegu have gone out to make this radio as simple to use as possible. For the portable operator who when sat on top of a summit in -20°C or colder temps doesn't want to mess around with setting bandwidth settings and selecting data when he (or she) wants to run a data mode. For that reason several features are not present that we would normally expect to see - there is no power outoput or SWR meter, there is no supply voltage indication. There is no inbuilt ATU but the output transistor is over-specced and under-run, so that the first bad SWR it sees "shouldn't take out the radio. It has a MINIMUM output of 5 watts although in some examples - such as the one I have on some bands it's actually 10w PEP or even up to 14w in one case. With the latest firmware loaded, there is a low / medium / high power option but that is only a rough level. when selecting the data mode, the input and output is automatically switched to the ACC socket on the rear of the radio which avoid having to faff about in the menus. That feature has just been added to the big brother of this radio, the G90. The G90 is probably the biggest problem for the G106 as for just 100 $/€/£ more you get a fully featured radio with everything, higher power and a built-in ATU. Unless you are looking for what is effectively a HF HT, purely on features for the price the G90 is the better buy. Around 350 for the G106 or 450 for the G90, the G90 wins out. Now if the G106 was 50 or 70 $/€/£ cheaper, then the G-106 could be the better buy. Data Interface the DE-19 is cheaper and better than the digi-rig for this radio (there were some problems with the Digi-rig initially with this radio - they may have been fixed in the meantime). However - Firmware and CAT (CiV) control is possible via a USB - to 3.5mm USB cable. For data modes some audio connection would also be needed, you can make yourself. Overall in the basis of a simple solution - the DE-19 route fits that - load drivers on the PC plug in the DE-19 cables and you're away. YMMV - 73 Ed DD5LP/VK2JI/G8GLM.
Get your hands off! Other german videos at youtube showed bad problems with that device. Especially the port for to get digital with FT8. To be QRV with that wasnt possibel. The software of the device seems to be full with bugs. The price is amazing. But a new transceiver which works not properly is trash.
Maybe, maybe not! When you're first learning to homebrew equipment, almost everything is exclusively QRP!
I played with the thoughts, to give that thing (G106) a try. I am not a big player at the shortwave bands, so it seems to me in the beginning that this can be a good shot. I like to use QRP and for my own needs the not overloaded transceiver should be fine. But after I saw different reviews with the same bad results in different cases, it should stay there where it was produced. In one review the tester bought a new and defective one. That shows a really, really worse manufacturing. The only plus is, that the wheels on the panel are not in plastic.
Another rig with poor frequency stability. TCXOs cost pennies. Yet many rigs now don't include them as standard. If you find yourself getting very gammony and shouting "who wants TCXO?", well, I do, for one...
Silence, puny mortal! He is praying to the mighty Xeigu, that his signals may be guided by friendly ions in the f2 layer so that they are carried to the furthest reaches of our planet using nothing more than QRP power levels.
