Some Initial Thoughts on the Xiegu x6100 Transceiver

As sunspot cycle 25 continues its upward trajectory, I'm more and more intrigued with QRP and operating portable. Xiegu released the x6100 transceiver recently, and I asked, "Why not try it?".

Many have produced in depth information about this transceiver; noteworthy are the YouTube series by KM9G and M0FXB, and of course the field experiences of K4SWL. Such resources were significant factors in my decision to purchase the radio. When it arrived, the first thing I did was update the firmware to the latest available from the Radioddity site (version v1.1.4). Following the example shown by M0FXB, the process was easy and fast.

What follows is a preliminary look, as I've had it for a little over one week. My experience thus far is mostly with the receive portion of the radio -- I listen far more than I transmit -- in the shack using a 113 ft EFLW antenna.

Spoiler alert: So far, I like the x6100. A lot. Xiegu has packed many features into a small, lightweight package, making for both a fun operating experience and, in my time with it so far, an effective radio. 

The x6100 is a "shack in a box": it includes both a battery and an ATU, the latter of which is impressive in terms of speed and matching range. The display is easy to see, at least indoors where I've spent many hours exercising the receiver. 

The DSP filtering and noise reduction are effective and helpful. I've found no issues with the keyer, though I hope to have a follow-up report focusing on QSO experiences in the future. I haven't tried the CW or RTTY decoding capabilities, as those aren't of interest to me.

Audio is clear and strong using earphones or an external speaker but, as others have noted, audio quality from the internal speaker is lacking. Many have identified birdies throughout the HF and 6m spectrum. They are there, but I detect far fewer than others and they have not proven to be problematic, at least while listening to the CW portions of HF. Maybe I got lucky with this particular unit, or maybe the recent firmware improved the issue.

More serious for me has been the front end overload from nearby AM broadcast band stations. During daytime hours, when some of these stations operate at elevated power levels, 80m and 160m reception is difficult or impossible. Nighttime reception, when these stations reduce their power, is much less problematic. More to follow on this issue after a highpass filter is delivered and tested.  

Is the receiver sensitivity as good as a $1500+ transceiver? No. Is it adequate? Yes, entirely so! When I find a very weak, down-in-the-noise signal on my FTDX10, many times I cannot hear a trace of it on the x6100. However, I can pick out slightly stronger signals, and strong signals are of course no problem. As with any radio, you have to experiment with the right combination of RF gain, filter width, and NR settings to dig weaker signals out.

Overall, I find the sensitivity and selectivity to be fine for a field radio. However, the x6100 is not miserly in terms of power consumption. The radio draws roughly 1/3 of an amp on receive, depending on screen brightness and volume. I haven't done careful measurements, but with the internal battery alone, I get a few (~4) hours of continuous reception. With an external 12 Ah LiFePO4 battery, that extends to roughly 16 hours.

All in all, I like the radio an awful lot so far. It performs well and I find it reasonably intuitive to operate. Moreover, I find the radio fun: it's got serious features but is still a little scrappy, too, which makes it enjoyable. I'm looking forward to test driving it with CW QSOs, my main interest with this radio, in the coming weeks.

Amateur Radio in 2021

COVID-19 has affected us all in different ways this year. Many people have gotten sick or lost colleagues or loved ones. Others have lost jobs or have lingering symptoms of the disease. As an infectious disease epidemiologist, 2020-2021 has been crushingly stressful and tiring for me. 

Amateur Radio has been a godsend, though. Using FT-8 to chase DX or pursue WAS has provided much solace, and copying a few minutes of CW has Zen-like qualities for clearing the mind. Listening to POTA operators while working on the weekends has expanded my world beyond the confines of four walls and a keyboard.  

I don't know what 2022 will bring, but I do know that our hobby will continue to provide rest and escape from the stressful times. And for that I am grateful.

73, friends.

Field Day 2021

This was the second year of Field Day in the Age of COVID-19. I planned to operate as 1D outside, but the threatening skies convinced me to participate instead as 1E inside. It was a new experience.

Running the FT-891 off a 20 Ah LiFePo4 battery at my usual operating position in the shack worked quite well, and led to a new and deeper appreciation of the '891's capabilities. It really is a remarkable radio. 

Working Field Day from the shack was enjoyable. Propagation was reasonable and I bettered my score from last year. The mosquitoes were not missed one bit. 

That said, I hope next year we can get back to a more traditional Field Day. Radio alone is fun, but radio together is great.

VUCC!

A little less than a year after first transmitting on the Magic Band, I qualified for VUCC. This was a goal of mine, just to see if it could be done on FT8 and using the same EFLW that I use for HF. If fact, it is possible!

Next, I want to try my hand at SSB on 6m, as FT8 is getting a little old. I've been brushing up on my Morse and hope to jump into that again soon. 

Field Day is just around the corner; this is such an awesome hobby!

Disappointment

For the first time in over a year, the local hamfest was held. It was 100% outdoors, in alignment with COVID-19 guidelines. Much of the event felt familiar and normal. It was nice to see tailgates and tables with used gear, parts, antennas, and cables. It was equally great to see other hams outdoors in pursuit of the hobby.

About 1/3 of the those in the crowd were wearing masks. There are many reasons why someone may want or need to wear a mask. Maybe they haven't been fully vaccinated. Maybe they cannot be vaccinated due to a health condition. Maybe they feel safer wearing one, until things calm down just a little more. 

I needed to get a few coax connectors and some other hardware, and found, promptly, deals. As I paid, the person selling the parts -- they were not wearing a mask -- mentioned my mask and launched into a rant about the "China virus", "what China did to us", how "the truth is all coming out now", and that "the US should cancel its debt with China." It was impossible to follow; there was more, but you get the idea. The words were said with anger and hatred, and it was pointless to engage.

Sadly, this hamfest exchange is similar to on-air arguments and tirades heard over the last year. Our hobby has a long tradition of respect -- of helping, not belittling, others pursuing their radio interests. Most of us find relaxation in our radio endeavors, and take pride in our accomplishments, our stations, and the service we provide to our communities. Regardless of your position and views on politics and world affairs, why bring it up?

It feels like the hobby has lost something when amateurs act in ways to purposefully disrupt the enjoyment of others. Can't we please concentrate on the positive things we have in common with one another and stick to the the topic at hand: Amateur Radio?

The Novice Days

Once upon a time we had magical sections of several HF bands. These were frequencies devoted to Novice Class licensees. Amateurs with higher license classes could and did work on the Novice bands, but Novice licensees couldn't transmit outside these select frequencies. 

I say "magical" only in hindsight. At the time, these bands seemed more like gorilla warfare than anything else. New hams who were learning Morse code and the basics of radio operation often had poor signals, caused QRM, and exhibited poor "fists". I remember 40 meters in the mid-evenings could be a real jungle!

And yet, learning took place efficiently on the Novice bands. Part of the learning was because you tended to realize when you or the person at the other end screwed up (sometimes by smelling smoke from your finals!). Other times, learning occurred when seasoned hams came down to the lowly Novice bands and modeled good operation. Mostly, learning took place out of necessity -- because nobody wanted to remain a Novice Class operator any longer than necessary!

Those were fun times. I remember the utter magic when my first QSO as a Novice took place one evening on 40 meters between Wyoming and New York state. Wow that was exhilarating.

Adventures in the Shack: Rookie Mistakes

I recently got a Yaesu FTDX-3000. It's an amazing radio. The DSP and filtering are extremely effective, and it almost makes the FT-991A feel like a toy, which is most definitely is not.When the radio arrived I carefully installed Anderson power poles to the factory DC cable and applied power. The radio came to life. 

A bit of background. For roughly the last year I've concentrated on FT8, with the exception of Field Day, which was done outdoors using SSB on the FT-891 (yes, I like Yaesu equipment). In the shack, which is on the second floor of my home, 98% of my operating has been on digital at powers not exceeding 30 watts. My radios are powered from one of two Astron RS-35 linear power supplies, using cables that I carefully made with eye hooks and power poles. Being on the second story raises the specter of effective grounding. I had strung a copper wire down to the grounding rod associated with a whole-house 30KW generator, which was itself bonded to the house entrance ground. It all seemed fine. 

After spending some time marveling at the FTDX-3000 receiver, I tried transmitting at CW signal at 100 watts. I keyed down and WHAM -- the rig rebooted! Was this a bad unit? I tried again and WHAM -- the rig rebooted again. I tried a different band. WHAM -- reboot. I tried reducing the power to 50 watts. WHAM! Reboot! I shut down and went to bed, sorely disappointed. 

The next day I suspected grounding issues. Specifically, I wondered if I had a good DC ground but a poor RF ground. After putting in a much more respectable ground with a shorter path to a cold water pipe and bonding to the house entrance, I tried again. WHAM! Another reboot. 

Well, I thought, maybe RF from my end-fed long wire is dumping RF into the shack and affecting the sensitive electronics in the '3000. I lowered the power to 20 watts and was able to transmit. I increased the power to 30 watts and was able to transmit. At 40-50 watts, however, the radio rebooted. So I tried winding some feedline chokes, and it seemed to make a little difference in that now I could transmit a little over 50 watts before encountering problems. 

I ordered a common mode feedline choke from MyAntennas and that seemed to help a little -- and my noise floor decreased, which was nice -- but the radio still wouldn't get much above 50 watts before rebooting. 

I tried disconnecting everything from the radio and transmitting; the problem persisted. I tried cleaning oxidation off fuses; the problem persisted. I disconnected all other radios from the RIGrunner power distribution system I use; the problem persisted. I put ferrites on all the power and other cables; the problem persisted. 

A local amateur with whom I had been discussing the problem suggested shortening the power cables, which come from the factory very long. I didn't do that, but I did try a new power supply, figuring that the higher current drawn on the higher power might have uncovered some instability. When I went to remove the eye hook connections on the power supply, I saw that the positive power cable was brown and stiff -- charred, in fact -- around the eye connector. 

It turns out that the eye hook I had installed was not heavy enough to carry 20 amps. The rig was rebooting because it couldn't draw sufficient current to transmit. Because I had operated at lower power levels until now, the issue had never surfaced. 

I felt like such a rookie. 

There a many lessons here, but perhaps the most fundamental is that, when encountering such problems, always start with the power. If I had simply looked at the power cables at the power supply unit source, maybe it wouldn't have taken three weeks to identify the root problem, which was easily solvable.

Of course, my station is now much better for all the things learned and steps taken to harden my setup. This hobby is so great that teaching lessons.

The Next Adventure?

When I began to get back into amateur radio in the late fall of 2019, CW was the initial focus. I had enjoyed working code before becoming inactive and it was fun reawakening those neural pathways. Within a month or so of working on the code, my speed was in the 13-15 WPM range -- a far cry from my previous 22 WPM, but good enough to get back on the air. 

I think there were a small number of CW QSOs before I discovered FT8, which seemed pretty cool! True, FT8 isn't a conversational mode, but it makes a lot of sense in the nadir of the sunspot cycle. Also, when combined with tools like pskreporter.info, you rapidly gain an understanding of propagation, power, and antenna directivity. It's a lot of fun. 

This week I qualified for WAS and DXCC on FT8, and the shininess seems a little less now. Having proved to myself that these milestones are obtainable with a little discipline and thoughtfulness, there's a definite sense of "now what?".

Besides still aiming for VUCC on 6 meter FT8, on HF I'll probably head back to CW. I like dittybopping more than talking, although SSB on Field Day was a whale of a lot of fun. For sure FT8 will be a staple, because variety is the spice of life.

The Joy of the Hunt

When I was active in ham radio earlier in my life, I wasn't a hardcore contester or award seeker. I didn't keep track of states or countries for Worked All States or DXCC, and while I occasionally did participate in contests, the awards were never of interest.

Now, I find myself actively seeking a few more countries to complete DXCC, that elusive Alaska QSO to complete WAS, and various WPX endorsements. In doing so, my appreciation of different facets of radio has increased significantly. It's forcing me, for example, to understand propagation trends and patterns; how radios and computers interact with one another; and different practical antenna designs and why they work, among  many other things. 

Other people may or may not be interested in such parts of the hobby, and that's okay; different things appeal to different people. That's part of the greatness of Amateur Radio: Others continuously develop things to discover and participate in at some point.

 

Birds and Antennas

A rapid de-tuning of an end fed long wire (EFLW) antenna mid-QSO is usually a sign that something bad has happened, especially when the rapid de-tuning is accompanied by a lot of squawking.

Birds and EFLWs don't always coexist peacefully.

In the middle of an FT8 the other night I noticed the SWR increase dramatically. Not catastrophically, but very significantly. In the morning the cause was clear -- the far end was no longer tied to the tree as it had been. It was on the ground.

I think birds had landed either on the antenna or on the branch where the nylon line had been tied off. They clearly didn't appreciate it when the line snapped.

Neither did I!

Six Meters: The Magic Band

While I've never dipped a toe into VHF beyond 2m or 70cm FM, the weak signal modes above HF have always intrigued me. A tweet this afternoon alerted me to a 6m opening, so I decided, just for giggles, to see if I could hear any FT8 signals. I've only got an end fed long wire (EFLW) antenna, a 117 foot long wire with a 9:1 unun (the MyAntennas EFLW-1K), which I love but had limited expectations for on 6m.

In fact, I heard signals. Six meters was alive!

Well then, I just had to try transmitting. The antenna tuned up just fine, and on my first day ever on 6m, I managed to work 11 grids in 7 states -- using a 117 foot EFLW antenna.

That's why they call it the Magic Band. I'll be putting up a dedicated antenna soon.

Field Day 2020

This year was a strange reintroduction to Field Day, being the first FD event I've participated in since roughly 1985. COVID-19 prevented a group outing so I went it alone with a Yaesu FT-891, Wolf River Coils telescoping vertical (Sunday I used a MyAntennas EFLW), and 20Ah LiFePo4 battery.

Despite the sub-optimal band conditions, challenging weather, and lack of company, it was still a blast. I operated SSB to keep it simple this year. After giving up on 20m QRP Saturday afternoon and switching to 40m and 100 watts, I racked up a mediocre 50+ QSOs while marveling at the performance of the FT-891. The digital noise reduction and variable bandwidth filters made the difference between QSO and no-QSO many times. It's a nice rig.

Other random thoughts on FD-2020:  

• Very few on air spats or snarky comments heard.
• There were lots of polite "thank you" and "good luck in the contest" comments peppered into exchanges. 
• I heard a goodly amount of slow and medium speed code, helpful for people building (and rebuilding) their CW skills.
  

Other than limited propagation and the usual poorly tuned amplifiers producing QRM on nearby frequencies, the event was enjoyable. Hopefully next year we can deploy in groups.

Back in the Hobby

I've been an Amateur Radio licensee since the mid-1980s, and an Extra Class licensee since the mid-to-late 1980s. It was a huge amount of fun then: There were sunspots, I was young and it was all new, and the used equipment -- which was what we could afford -- was still relatively simple to understand.

As happens with so many people, however, school and life intervened. The hobby fell by the wayside as other things took priority. I never let my license lapse, though, and late last year was finally able to reenter the hobby, 30 years later.

What a time it is to be a ham! The commercial radios nowadays are technological masterpieces, and there is much innovation and experimentation with home brew, which now includes SDR and DSP. The Internet, which didn't exist when I was previously active, provides a tremendous amount of information to anyone who cares to learn and connectivity to communities of common interest.

As I was becoming inactive there was a lot of talk by gadflies about how the hobby was in decline and how young people didn't care about code or the technical dimensions of radio. None of that concern turned out to be true. Look at publications such as QEX and the QRP Quarterly; those and others reveal a group of highly technical hams. There's even a resurgence of CW operation as new and innovative digital modes emerge.

The hobby is, at its core, alive and well.

I'll blog from time to time whenever something crosses my mind that seems relevant. Hope to meet you on the air soon.