A few of you have sent me a tip about an exceptional Black Friday Week price for the Xiegu G106:
$199 shipped via Amazon.com (yes, that’s a QRPer affiliate link).
The timing is ironic for me since just three days ago, I performed a POTA activation with the G106 at Lake James State Park. I’ll hopefully have that field report posted within a week—possibly by Friday, if I can carve out the time.
Long story short: I purchased this G106 via Radioddity in late September, before Hurricane Helene hit WNC. I bought it because I’ve received so many questions about this radio over the past few months—no doubt because it’s the most affordable 80-10 meter multimode (CW, SSB, AM, and FM) radio on the market.
I posted a thorough review of the Xiegu G106 last summer, and I stand by that review. This radio isn’t for everyone—it’s super basic—but its performance is decent.
While using it Wednesday, I noticed a bit of AGC surge when a strong signal was present; the AGC takes a second to handle the incoming CW signal, making it feel slightly sluggish. I don’t recall this being an issue with the loaner unit I reviewed last year, but it’s there now. I’ll reach out to Xiegu to see if a firmware update might address this.
If you’re looking for a super-affordable HF radio that does SSB right out of the box (the QMX should as well, once Hans implements that in firmware), the G106 is a solid option. It’s a capable SSB QRP radio and decent at CW as well—again, especially for the price.
When I purchased my G106 in September, I bought directly through Radioddity’s site, taking advantage of a flash bundle deal that included the G106 and the DE17 digital interface for $239 or $249.
Had this Amazon deal been available, I would’ve jumped on it instead since I hadn’t planned on buying the DE17.
Before purchasing, I recommend reading my full review. This isn’t a “slam dunk” radio, but it’s a capable little machine and a great option to keep tucked away in a vehicle for impromptu activations.
Click here to check it out on Amazon.com.
As a reminder, the link above is an affiliate link. QRPer.com earns a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. If you’d prefer not to use the affiliate link, you can use this one instead.
I really like mine, but I have not used it on an activation yet.
I really enjoy mine. Super simple and easy to use, which is great for sota/pota. If you want something that just works, this is it. I even had a qso the other day where the contact was so impressed by the audio he said he was going to go buy himself a g106.
Always appreciate your reviews. I had one within the last year and after a week or two decided to return it. As noted, it does work, but it just wasn’t fun to use. There were several issues with it that I can’t fully recall at the moment, but I seem to remember low audio and filtering issues. I did make some CW contacts with it and oddly…ha, it would power up with a regular 9v battery – not sure how long it would run on that but it did for a few minutes at least. The form factor was cool but, yeah, just didn’t do it for me.
The listing says that this deal is exclusively for Amazon Prime members. Some of us really don’t want to sign up for Prime membership. Yes, I know that you can sign up for the trial membership and then cancel after you’ve received your order. I don’t want to do that either.
Hi, Dennis, I didn’t realize that. In that case, you might want to check at Radioddity. Late last night, I noticed that they were offering the G106 for the same price (though shipping might have been additional, I didn’t confirm). I just checked now, though, and couldn’t find that pricing on their website. Perhaps they sold out?
Cheers,
Thomas
You have to click on the G106 at the listed price and a bundled special with an ebook appears for $199. Last checked that on 9/27.
Morning all,
Radioddity has flash sales on the G106 from time to time (it seems like there is a deal every few weeks), so don’t despair if you don’t want to support Amazon.
I find the G106 fits my specific use case nicely. I was looking for a radio that I can set up at my desk at home or carry around in the outdoors, is ssb and digital capable, not so expensive that I would be crushed if it was damaged or lost. Flexible on input voltage. Until the QMX has ssb, the G106 is the least expensive rig in that meets those criteria AND has a warranty.
For reference, I’ve had my General for 5 years, but have not had a rig to get on the air. I picked up a G106 at the end of this summer. I have not had it outdoors yet, but have been playing with it a bit around the house. I made my first 3 contacts with this rig on FT8. There very first was a POTA activator is SOCAL. Woohoo!
Using the G106 with an Amazon auto tuned (prime sale) and 17′ telescoping vertical being the house, my <5 watt FT8 signals are making it as far as Greece, according to PSKreporter. Cool.
My observations mirror K4SWL's. The audio is a bit rough, and I have noticed some audio pumping on 10m, but it is otherwise ok. I am no audiophile, but I think the FM broadcast reception is surprisingly good. I would note that the noise floor at my QTH is quite high, and I have not yet tried the broadcast filter Thomas recommended. Of course, YMMV.
Thomas' comments on usability (particularly changing frequency) are all spot on. I think a firmware upgrade (with maybe another page of settings) would allow the rig to live up to its potential.
The G106 scratches my itch for a sturdy portable rig. For what it is, I don't really have many complaints. I'd recommend giving Thomas' detailed review here and the review and supporting tables on QST a close read before you buy.
Have to say that pound for pound (I’m in the UK!) the G106 represents significant return on investment. It’s a robust little radio with, as a CW Op, all the features you need. For SSB it’s streets ahead of the tr(u)sdx and USDX radios.
No this is not a main radio, it’s not as versatile as the G90, but neither is it as big or power hungry. Your use case may be different to mine, but as a robust and cheap radio for use in a vehicle and portable, it works, is easy to use and so much fun. My first contact (from Scotland) on an EFHW was with a Brazilian station. No complaints here, whatsoever.
I’m looking forward to a few activations with this rig, it won’t replace any of my high end portable rigs, but it will complement them.
Richard MM0RGM
I was very tempted to buy G106 but (so far) have decided against it. I bought a G90 back in 2020 and I have not seen another Xiegu that would be a significantly better value to price option. The 6100 would be tempting, but I have a 705. The last radio that I succumbed to was the (tr)uSDX, for $138 and it is different and fun. Lust for radios may be the 8th deadly sin!