X108G Review October
2015
By: Fred Lesnick VE3FAL
Note: All firmware updates are done at your own
risk and caution should be used when installing or updating any firmware into
this radio. The removal of any covers or mods will void your warranty. Never hit
the RST button while in the engineering menu. All settings should be
written down and stored in a safe place in the event that RST is hit or
if a firmware update makes any changes as all radios
are aligned individually. To find these setting do the following then take a
picture or write them down:
|
“Hold the F1 button
while powering up the radio, a list of 14 items will appear. If any changes are
made you hit the SAV button, if no changes are made you can power the radio off
and then back on without any changes made.” Sometimes Menu 11 will set itself to
1, it needs to be at 0 or you will not hear anything on the
radio.
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I placed an order for the Xiegu
X108G and it was shipped from China via D.H.L. on Sept 25 and arrived here on
Sept 29 2015 at 12:30 PM. The unit was well packaged and no damage to the box at
all after the trip from China. Inside the box was the X108G, Xiegu sticker, power cable (much longer then first models,
but still no in-line fuse), microphone and microphone cable, as well as USB
cable for firmware updates. Manual for
radio was in the box and a warranty card with serial number of radio attached.
The radio is equipped with front and back handles.
Unboxing the unit
after its arrival:
Powering The Radio Up
An inline fuse should be installed on either one or both of
the power cables before the radio is powered up to avoid any damage to the
radio. I finally got the chance to power the radio up and see how this unit
plays after all the updates and fixes that Xiegu made
to make this radio a seller. First thing I did was to put my call-sign into the
radio, this is undocumented but was found by a fellow X108G owner while playing
with the radio.
This is how it is
done:
Press F3 on powering
up. Use the VFO to select letters/numbers then to move onto the next letter
press INS button for each letter or number, when finished hit save. The radio
will power back up. Switch it off and on again and you will see your call sign
where the word Xiegu used to be.
Powering the radio
up (continued)
After going through the supplied Operating Manual and getting
familiar with what each button does (many changes to these buttons since
versions 1 and 2) I was ready to hook my windom
antenna to the SO239 connector and listen on 20 meters SSB for a bit. Tuning
across the band with the 2.3k filter on signals were clear and clean, I was in
AGC-S and pre-amp was in off position. Signals on 14.300 were an S5 with the
pre-amp off and came up to a solid S8-9 with the PRE on, no distortion or overmod was heard or encountered
nor was any splatter from adjacent signals heard. A move to 40 meters and LSB I
was able to pick up a station on 7.188, and just like USB signals were right on
where they should be, I was listening on my VX1700 with windom as well and noted the similarities in signal and
quality. Once I was happy there I went to 20 meters and tuned to CW and went to
14.020 and monitored a station in the UK working an N3 station stateside, both
signals were S5 and I had .5k filter on and no stations nearby were heard
breaking through. A quick tune by the PSK frequency on 14.070 yielded a bunch of
PSK signals. Next will be to hook up a key and attempt some contacts using a
straight key and testing the waters that way. I will also hook the microphone up
and try make a few SSB contact and get reports on both
USB and LSB to compare. Videos of the radio in use and contact’s will be
recorded so others can see and hear how well this unit works.
So what are some of the features this radio offers? First off
is the display on the outdoor version, this display is bigger and brighter and
designed for use outside where it is brighter, of course a video and pictures to
show this will follow. Next is low current operation, with my power supply set
at 13.1v on receive my meter shows 600ma of current draw, the stated current
draw on transmit at 20 watts is rated at 7.5A, but again I will test this later.
2.3k and .5k filters for SSB and CW choices. The radio offers SSB,CW and AM modes and can be tuned from .5-30mHz and includes
all shortwave bands in between the filtered amateur bands. Multi-function microphone. Variable power output from .5 to
20 watts. Adjustable microphone compression, Dual VFO’s, Split feature,
accessory port for digital modes as well as jack for morse code key and external speaker. Many other
options to list but will talk about those in a later review.
So this is a start and looking forward to playing with this
radio and putting it to the test. I should add there is a 1 Year Warranty on
this unit from date of purchase.
Communication's with Xiegu as well
are fast. Xiegu also monitors
the X108G Yahoo Group which can be found here if you are looking for more
information as well about this radio and what other radio owners think of it,
the group can be found here:
I look forward to taking this radio out portable and testing
it and bringing more information out there for potential radio buyers.
73
Fred
VE3FAL
Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada
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