Xiegu distributor, Radioddity, has now publicly announced a product page for the new Xiegu G106.
No pricing/availability mentioned, but we do learn a few more details from their page.
Features:
- The Xiegu G106 is a 5W SDR transceiver using 16bit-CODEC sampling
- SSB, CW, AM modes are supported along with wide FM reception (for the FM broadcast band)
- General coverage receiver
- Three selectable CW bandwidths
- Digital modes when connected to a computer with the Xiegu DE-19 interface
Specifications
- Receiver frequency range: 0.55~30MHz and 88~108MHz (WFM)
- Transmitting frequency:
- 3.5~3.9MHz
- 7.0~7.2MHz [I assume this is incorrect]
- 10.1~10.15MHz
- 14.0~14.35MHz
- 18.068~18.168MHz
- 21.0~21.45MHz
- 24.89~24.99MHz
- 28.0~29.7MHz
- Receiver sensitivity:
- CW: 0.25uV @10dB S/N
- SSB: 0.5uV @10dB S/N
- AM: 10uV @10dB S/N
- Frequency stability: ±1.5ppm within 30min after power on @25°C: 1ppm/hour
- Transmitting power: ≥5W @13.8V DC
- Transmitting spurious suppression: ≥50dB
- Audio output power: 0.3W
- Operating voltage: 9~15V DC
- Standby current: 0.37A @Max
- Transmitting current: 2.8A @Max
- Dimensions: 120*40*135 (mm)
- Weight: about 720g (only host)
Radioddity notes: “The shoulder strap [above] is for display only. Final equipped accessories not decided yet.”
My G106 takeaways?
Based on Xiegu’s previous offerings, I would have to assume the G106 could be in production within a few months (supply chains/C-19 pending). It’ll likely be released with basic firmware and updated with time. It’ll be price competitive for sure.
I would hope that perhaps they’ve worked on the audio characteristics and noise floor of the G106. Previous Xiegu products have mediocre audio characteristics and a higher noise floor than my other transceivers. Let’s also hope the front end is more robust than the X6100.
At 0.37 Amps, current drain in standby/receive is a tad on the high side for late model QRP portable radios. Still, quite respectable for a field radio.
It doesn’t appear the G106 has an internal tuner, nor an internal battery unless they’ve simply omitted this from the features list.
It also doesn’t mention CW and/or voice message memory keying which I consider to be so valuable for park and summit activators. If history is an indicator, I suppose they could add this later in firmware updates.
Also, the Radioddity announcement mentions that the G106 covers “[t]ransmission and reception of all amateur frequency bands within 3.8~29.7MHz.” Yet in the specifications, they fail to list the 60M band and the 40M band is noted as 7-7.2 MHz. I assume the 40M band range is simply a typo–I can’t imagine it would actually stop at 7.2 MHz. I also imagine they may have simply omitted the 60M band channels. RX seems to dip as low as 0.5 MHz, thus covering most of the mediumwave broadcast band.
Truth is, these are early days for the G106 and we may learn that it has more features than listed here on Radioddity’s page.
If it does indeed lack an internal ATU and/or internal battery, I assume the price point would be well below that of the X5105 and X6100; my (complete and total) guess would be somewhere between $300-400 US.
I’ll post more info about the G106 as we learn more. I’ll also try to update and correct this post if I learned some of these details are incorrect.
