Tag Archives: Don (W7SSB)

Many thanks to Don (W7SSB) who shares the following two product images/teasers courtesy of Xiegu (click images to enlarge):

Thanks for sharing these, Don, as a follow-up to our previous post.

Xiegu fans will be happy to see that this new transceiver has a removable battery pack. If this pack is easy to source/obtain, that will indeed be a strong point.

It looks like Xiegu has also added fixed rails to protect the front panel along with reinforcement around the chassis.

It looks quite durable, although it also appears there are two knobs protruding on the top of the radio–?

On our previous post, there were a number of skeptical comments about the new Xiegu transceiver. Indeed, some of the comments were from X6100 owners who feel that Xiegu hasn’t fully completed all of the published features promised in the ‘6100 (which was released two years ago). A number of owners also commented that getting support or repair work done after the one year warranty has challenging. These are, for sure, some of the risks associated with price-competitive radios. Xiegu radios offer a lot of features for the price.

After this radio new is released, I will reach out to Xiegu or Radioddity and ask for a loaner to test in the field. I’ll be very interested to know if it has a few of these improvements over previous models:

Better front end with some built-in BCI filtering
Cleaner audio with balanced AGC
Lower noise floor
Longer battery life than the X6100
Published features which actually work in the first production run

I haven’t gotten a confirmation of the price or availability yet.

Stay tuned!

Accessories, News

Don adds an inexpensive clip-on LED lamp to his Icom IC-705

October 7, 2022 Thomas Witherspoon 3 Comments

Many thanks to Don (W7SSB) who shares the following notes about a small LED book lamp he’s added to his IC-705 and Peovi cage:

This is a book lamp from Amazon that uses 3 AAA’s and costs $8.99.

It has 3 brightness settings and clips onto the Peovi cage.

It really brightens up the radio in a dark room.

Click here to check it out on Amazon (affiliate link).

Thank you for sharing this, Don! That’s a clever use for that book lamp. I’ve often thought that all field radios ought to have a logging lamp on them like the KX1. This is a nice and inexpensive workaround!

News, Portable

Don recommends pop-up shade products for field radio use

February 2, 2021 Thomas Witherspoon 3 Comments

Many thanks to Don (W7SSB) who writes:

Thought you’d get a kick out of these products I used for ham radio in the field.

Out in the field you can protect not only your computer but your rig from the sun.

There are many models and they fold flat for easy handling.

Also you can get from a camping store a POTA party shelter for about $50 .

Great for a cheap portable ham shack . Keeps out of the sun and weather .

Room for a table, chair and cooler. What more do you need?

Have fun !

Don W7SSB

Thanks so much for the tip, Don!

It’s ironic you send this now as I’ve been looking at an inexpensive pop-up shade tent to protect my radios from the snow, sun and sand when doing portable operations. This $12 model (Amazon affiliate link) has been in my Amazon cart for about a week:

It’s made to protect a sun-bather’s head from the sun or protect a small pet. I think my gear could easily fit inside on a tabletop or ground and there’s even a small ceiling window (designed so people can look at their phones while sun bathing?!?) that I think would work brilliantly as a spot to place an LED light to illuminate the inside of the tent.

While I don’t think I’d use this a lot, it would be awfully handy when there’s no shelter from direct sunlight. It should keep a radio from over heating.

Also, recently I was operating outdoors with blowing snow–temps were well below freezing, but when snow landed on the transceiver, the chassis was warm enough to melt it. It started to get downright wet on top. A small pop-up like this would have come in handy.

Readers: Do you use pop-up shade products? Feel free to comment with your experience and share models you’ve used.