HF on the cheap

Xiegu G106 QRP Review & Quick Setup Guide

Not going to lie here, after having quite a lot of fun with the USDR+ I decided a second QRP rig would be a good thing to have. And with my budget, a $500 or $1,000 radio was well out of reach. I ordered, and quickly returned, a 5-watt usDX 3-band transceiver because the output audio was so horrible it made The Underachievers List on the left-hand menu. That being said, I still made a few long-distance contacts with it so I wanted to give 5-watt QRP rigs another chance. And I'm quite glad I did!

The Xiegu G106 is probably the ultimate no-frills QRP rig out there. No, there's no attenuator. No, there's no noise reduction. No, it does not have an internal battery. Nor does it have an internal microphone. But is does have a preamp, it does have a mic gain setting, and the reception sensitivity is a lot better than I would have thought. And most importantly, it works! Out of the box, I was immediately making contacts on 20 meters SSB voice on a night where my USDR+ would have been struggling to pull out stations. There was a ton of QSB and QRN (really lousy band conditions), but the G106 pulled through. Think about it -- I'm talking about an evening when hams running 1,400 watts and quad beams are saying the conditions are horrible, I still managed this in less than an hour on 5 watts SSB voice:

So no, I'm definitely not sending this unit back. 

My antenna setup is exactly what I use with the USDR+. Literally nothing changed but the radio. Fifteen feet of coax, and a telescopic antenna with ground spike and computer ribbon cable for radials. The only thing I added was a LiFePO4 battery for the power source ($15-$30). The G106 comes with battery power leads (white is positive, black is negative), so no need to worry about that. Same, exact setup as the USDR+, but with far better results. Even without the attenuator and noise reduction features, the G106 performed far better with weak stations than my USDR+ ever could. And I like my USDR+!

Plus, the G106 has a scope. As much as I like using my ears to find stations -- that scope works wonders!

Now for the build quality: The radio itself is sturdy as hell. It has a little weight to it, but the knobs and buttons are solid. No, I would not throw it off a roof. But it's rugged enough for field operations. The microphone... Could be a little better. But it does work well. And I happen to have a better mic I can adapt to the G106's 4-pin microphone jack. But even if I didn't, the stock microphone works fine. It does double as a speaker, so press the volume button on the rig to switch between the internal speaker or the microphone speaker. 

A quirk I did notice before and after upgrading the firmware to version 1.4 (which can be done using the supplied USB cable)  -- the preamp is defaulted to "on" when you power up the transceiver. The LCD screen won't tell you it's on (the "P" indicator will NOT be illuminated), but you'll notice a high level of noise. Long pressing the preamp button on top ("P") will turn the preamp "on" (it's already on, just now the big "P" is shown on the screen). Long pressing the preamp button again will turn the preamp off, make the "P" indicator disappear, and reduce the noise significantly. Not a deal-breaker for me, and I wish the 1.4 firmware version addressed the issue, but I have seen worse quirks on more expensive radios. So just remember, if you're hearing a bunch of noise when you first turn on the rig, just long-press that preamp button twice!

Quick Setup

With this rig, setup is pretty easy. Unlike the USDR+ and other clones, there's really not too many settings to worry about. Best bet is to leave the TX power on high (factory setting), Mic Gain on 20 (also factory setting), and just tun off the preamp (next to the power button) when you're getting too much noise or you're overloaded with someone else's signal. That's really about it. Easy, peasy. It's essentially plug-and-play!

For me - I just land the ground spike, lay the radials out in a star configuration, connect the coax (which in this case acts like a radial) from the transceiver to the antenna, raise the telescopic all *BUT* 3/4 of a length, turn on the transceiver, and start working 20 meters. 

The menu is simple enough, and unless you're into CW about the only menu items you'll ever need to access is on Menu Page 5. First is WFM which turns on/off commercial FM radio (88 MHz to 108 MHz, nice to have music!) and the BSM setting which is labeled as "Band Selection" in the manual. But don't be fooled about the label, this menu item toggles the transceiver from HAM BAND (amateur bands only) to FULL BAND, which essentially opens up everything from 550 kHz to 30 MHz and turns your transceiver into a nice little shortwave and AM band receiver. Very nice to have! 

If you're wondering how to switch bands, there's two buttons at the top. You can quick-press to switch bands, or just hold down to change frequency steps. Easy!

So there you have it - the Xiegu G106 may not be the Cadillac of QRP rigs, but it does work well even during poor band conditions with less-than-ideal antenna setups. Five watts took me coast-to-coast with 5-6 to 5-9 signal reports, and it excelled at tuning in weak stations compared to my USDR+. Setup is a breeze, no complicated menus to worry about, it's just an all-around decent little QRP rig that works out of the box and gets your signal out. Plus it doubles as an FM, AM and shortwave receiver. For the price (we're talking around $300 for everything), you'd be hard-pressed to do better.

Please feel free to send me a comment or ask a question. I'm happy to share what I know, and am always looking to improve my own setup. 73 and happy hamming!

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Here are the links for each item needed for this setup. Yes, I did enroll as an Amazon Associate so I will make a small commission on qualified purchases via these links (at no extra charge to the purchaser). That being said, you are not obligated to purchase from my links to use the information I've given in this blog. 73 de KI5ONA and enjoy the hobby!

Xiegu G106 HF QRP Transceiver:

https://www.amazon.com/4lv7rMh

LiFePO4 12v 8Ah Battery:

https://www.amazon.com/4mLenWI

16.4-foot QRP Telescopic Antenna with ground spike -- (handles 20 meters and up):

https://www.amazon.com/3IBzFr8 

15 Feet Coax:

https://www.amazon.com/40Yx5Se 

SO-239 to BNC connector:

https://www.amazon.com/40rLzdh