Xiegu G90

[ThaDood]

I haven't, but I believe that some of these Reviewers have,       https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=14255

[Elf36]

I haven't had much time lately for radio, but I'm doing an experiment. I am going to set my HF rig to 20 watts out for a couple of weeks and see how well I do. I'm certain I'll be able to work some DX, but I want to see what 20 watts will do in a pileup. CW shouldn't be much issue.

[Elf36]

Finally had a few mins to play radio. Worked my first 20 watt QSO with TI2BSH (Costa Rico) on 14.070 (PSK31) @ 0:09. 599 both ways at 1303 miles from my QTH. Hopefully, I'll have some time tomorrow to try CW and SSB. We'll see

[RobRich]

Around 5w to 20w into basic or even compromise antennas is rather common for fans of the modern highly-efficient digital modes.

Just QRP power into an indoor tuned loop often can work digital mode contacts at many hundred to several thousands of miles.

[ThaDood]

Not having an EXT Speaker Jack option really bugs me about this rig, so I did one. Using leftover ribbon cable, I used 3 strands to work that through the top side of the back ACC Port and tapped from the INT Speaker that way and ran the EXT OPEN / CLOSED circuit 1/8" connector. Works pretty well. There's only a 1/2W of audio, but it's enough to drive EXT speakers for better audio, than the 1 1/4" top-side INT speaker. And, a weird feature showed-up in Memory Mode. Now, I've known that this rig has Split VFO A/B, and in theory, you can work non-PL'ed 10M FM repeaters that way. But, I didn't know that the Splits also seem to work in Memory Mode. So, when it seems that I'm not being heard by anyone, I am still TX'ing, but not where the Main FREQ Display shows. I can't even find that feature in the manuals, and want to disable that. Yeah, I can easily match RX / TX but hitting the A/B VFO button, but I never came across a rig that did that in Memory channels. Huh... So, I'm apparently still learning this rig. Weird....

[ThaDood]

Listening to the 40M AM'ers on 7290kHz, I heard one station talk about the Xiegu G90, where he commented on that for AM Mode, it was the best low powered, near QRP, rig out there to sound nice on AM that he's stumbled on. Now, I have listened to mine on another rig, in headphones, and for what I have, the 'sweet-spot' settings there seem to be to set te MIC Gain on "5", (From the scale of 1 - 20.), and to have the COMP "ON". I've yet to try a QSO with just the rig's 5W carrier, but I know that it can be done, if the Bob Heil Pine-Board Projects proved anything. And, 10M 29.00000AM should be had at 5W. Most amps will take 5W nicely and bump that from 30W - 50W. Worth a try? Why not???

[Josh]

G90 Firmware 1.78
https://xiegu.eu/downloads/

I tried this fw and it made rx sigs crackle no matter agc, nb, rf gaon or any other setting, even tried overwriting it, still crackles. I noted only one other user had this issue, others love it. Went back to 1.77b and all is bliss.

[Elf36]

This update was brought up this morning on Reddit.com (Ham radio)

https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/s06k7j/xiegu_g90_updating/

[ThaDood]

Huh... Whereas, I hacked in to the radio's internal speaker connections, and ran a flat cable, and jack, out of the back of the rig external, this dude went to the Speaker / Headphones relay.              https://yo3hjv.blogspot.com/2020/12/xiegu-g90-external-speaker-modification.html

I'll bet that it looks better, than my EXT Jack MOD. Hey... If it works.

[Polar Bear]

I'm getting a bit tempted to buy a Xiegu G90. I really like the look and features of it. However, I would have to sell my Yaesu HF rig. I've always told my wife, If I buy something new, I will finance it without spending more money. I was a QRP guy for many years and I sometimes miss it. I love the waterfall display and portability. The weather is getting nice and it would be great to have a smaller rig to take camping. With the money, I could also purchase an antenna analyzer and a kit radio to build. I feel like the radio has been around long enough to have solid reviews and I know a couple of people that own them. I just worked a guy the other day on 10M on Curacao Island operating one and it sounded great. I'm torn though. I love the FT-950 and enjoy being able to change my CW speed with a quick turn of a knob to accommodate for slower stations or speed it up for DX op's without going through a menu. I've owned a lot of radios over the years and always say if I don't like the rig, I'll sell it and go back. I owned 2 FT-817's and an FT-818 among many others, usually switching it up every couple of years. It would also free up some space on my desk. I am worried about buyer's remorse though. With the bands not being great again, I worry I'll miss having 100 watts and even though 6M has been crap for quite some time, once I don't have it I'll wonder what's going on there?

Would be like selling a Porsche to buy a 1980 Yugo

Those things are junk, and you are just wasting your time even looking at them..

[outhouse radio]

Those things are junk, and you are just wasting your time even looking at them..

  LMMFAO

[Josh]

New fw out for g90, fixes many ills;
http://www.cqxiegu.com/filedownload/91358