The New Xiegu X6200: Real-World POTA Test on the Blue Ridge Parkway

[@ThomasK4SWL]

qrper.com/2024/06/the-new-xiegu-x6200-first-pota-activation-in-cw-with-a-production-unit/?swcfpc=1 Click the link above to read full details about this activation, including all equipment links, and field notes at QRPer.com.

[@JonathanKayne]

The advantage of unedited videos is that there are certain details that you lose when editing a video. Those details can be educational in their own right. Like in cooking, I like Kenji Lopez-Alt's videos because they show how to use a chef knife or how to stir the pan properly. When you do fancy editing that gets removed! In your case, those details include how you toss your throw line, how you set up your station etc, etc. You are one of the few who do this unedited style of videos on a regular basis. If we want to watch edited videos there is Red Summit RF, K6ARK and the bigger KZbin channels who specialize in that. Having the choice is great!

[@w2aew]

Thanks again for the contact, the doggie greetings, and the shout-out for my channel!

[@TridentMissileTech]

Just said yesterday I was not going to even look at the 6200 until Thomas shows it. And there you go.

[@mmlanger55]

Nice activation and excellent review for such a new rig. Appreciate your CW op perspective. See you on POTA, Tom.

[@alvinnorris6523]

I received my 6200 today. I have enjoyed all my Xiegu radios.

[@shanejackson1973]

Thomas, I thoroughly enjoy your videos exclamation point point point thank you for this one. Much appreciated 7:04 sorry for typos!!

[@stevet7522]

Read your write up on QRPer today while i was at work. Good stuff. I might have to look into something like an x6200 since my current pota radio is a g90 and its heavy. Good video. 73s.

[@potatoslim2332]

Another great way to start the morning. Glad to see you're still having a ton of fun.

[@floydteter4323]

Thanks for this Thomas. The X6200 could turn out to be an interesting little radio, but it's probably not enough to get me to switch from my IC-705 even with the lower price.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

The 705 could receive circles around the X6200.

[@vu3mes]

Exactly xeigu is quirky, had the G90 upgrading the OS was a big pain along with the unresponsive knobs at times. I will go along with my ic705 for hf.

[@haiduc32]

don't worry, that's what happened to all the other radios.. :D that is the exact thing that would worry me, that they can't learn from previous mistakes.

[@eriphoor]

OK, So the x6200 performs. Lets see how it fairs in the long run....Thanks for the field trip!

[@qrplife]

What I really like about these Xiegu radios is that I feel not even a slight temptation to purchase them.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

😆

[@DM1DF]

Interesting tranceiver, excited about your experience. 😊

[@ai5dd]

You should get that radio on a Spectrum Analyzer and see how the harmonics look.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

I plan to if I can just get the time to meet my buddy at his workbench!

[@3dntheli]

Thanks for another frank and honest review Thomas…👍

[@oe6kyg]

tnx for vid, the tx/rx relais would drive me crazzy

[@N4GW]

I hope you will do a SSB test on this radio as well

[@robertallbright]

The receiver sounds good👍 thanks Thomas 73 Rob G3RCE

[@scryan10]

I guess the details will come in the SSB video, but very curious to hear if they added a speech compressor on this model. It seemed like one of the bigger short comings of the 6100 for voice users was the omission. QRP SSB with no compressor is pretty rough as 5w can quickly turn into only getting 1 or 2 w out.

[@ericharvieux]

I feel like this seals my fate of never getting another firmware update for my X6100 😮‍💨

[@tomjay6771]

There will be new firmware released for X6100.

[@frasermderry]

My X6200 is on the way and should be here by June 17. YEE-HA! 73, Marc (N1QGM)

[@alvinnorris6523]

Hope you got it today. I was surprised when I received mine on the seventeenth just like they promised.

[@frasermderry]

@@alvinnorris6523 Yup, it got here today and I'm getting familiar with the controls. I like it so far!

[@stephenkramme7063]

You mentioned the screen could be OLED but maybe it is a TFT type? It does appears to be exceptionally clear compared to a IC-705. I'm very curious on how clean the transmitter is.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Me too. I haven't hooked it up to a service monitor yet.

[@jacksonclark3581]

Is that an instinct garmin watch? Looks like my 2x! Great field watch.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

It is! It's a gen 1 Instinct. I love it! :)

[@davidryeburn6446]

If I remember correctly, some time ago you had trouble with AM broadcast station interference on a 6100. Could you check the 6200 out at the same location and with the same antenna? Since the tuner on the 6200 is inside it and a high pass filter (which might cure the problem) has to be installed at the 50 ohm level, you couldn't solve the problem (if it exists with the 6200) that way unless you used an additional external tuner. David VE7EZM and AF7BZ

[@ThomasK4SWL]

So far, so good. I remember AM overloading at the Folk Art enter once and this didn't happen tot he X6200. There's another spot I need to check, but haven't had the time to go there yet. I will, though!

[@markkazdad381]

I think I saw a “SPACE” virtual key on the screen you passed on the way to entering the 4 in your call sign. At 22:35 is the virtual key above the virtual “BACKSPACE” key labeled “SPACE”? If so, while not ideal, it is probably easier to navigate to.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Yes, you're correct. In the end, though, it's actually less accessible than the Space key you find when you simply close the keyboard (as I do in the video). Just like the other Space button, it requires 3 button pushes: Number Button => Space => Letter Buttons. In addition, though, you have to use the encoder to scroll through the numbers to get to the Space button and then select it. I've encouraged Xiegu to put a space on the letter keys as they did (if I'm not mistaken) on the X6100.

[@aramb]

Text entry on the X6100/6200 is beyond tedious.

[@JoeKrone]

Really like your videos but I will never buy a Chinese radio. There are just to many the great American and European manufacturers out there cranking out superior radios. I'm waiting for my KX2 that's due here in northern Vermont in a couple another couple of months (12-14 weeks back ordered). Next spring I plan to put an IC-7100 on my car for mobile activations. 72 Joe WA2SPL NW VT

[@geoffeg]

Did you intend to upload this in 480p or is KZbin still processing it three hours later?

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Huh...no, I uploaded a (very large) 1080P video. I'll look into this. Thanks!

[@ThomasK4SWL]

I've checked and I uploaded 1080P. I assume it's just taking KZbin time to process, although it's been nearly 15 hours since I uploaded it.

[@TyeMorrisVlog]

I've had some of my longer videos take up to 48 hours to process up to 4k. I've been told that occasionally processing for larger videos is throttled during times of heavy uploads but I don't know how true that is. If I have a longer video planned (or something that needs 8k delivery) I'll usually plan a release for two days after upload and schedule the release accordingly

[@geoffeg]

@@TyeMorrisVlog That's wild. Maybe Google is diverting some of it's KZbin processing compute to Gemini or other AI stuff. 😆

[@TyeMorrisVlog]

@@geoffeg wouldn’t surprise me 🤣😂

[@JonathanKayne]

I guess it handles broadcast AM better than the x6100? Or is that not an issue at the folk arts center?

[@ThomasK4SWL]

It seems to so far.

[@woo1517]

do you have more info on your feed line choices? rg316 with the choke. how long is it? do you use it for arp and 100 if you were to do 100 watts?

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Each video actually has an accompanying field report on QRPer where I detail and link to each bit of gear I use. I always link to it in the description of the video. Check it out here: qrper.com/2024/06/the-new-xiegu-x6200-first-pota-activation-in-cw-with-a-production-unit/?swcfpc=1 I know RG-316 can easily handle 100W, but I almost never run more than 5 watts because I'm pretty much QRP 99% of the time.

[@aramb]

Your pronunciation of the company name is closest to what my Chinese friends would say. The prevalent pronunciations I hear on YT are not even trying 😞

[@Sparkletron]

It's pronounced: shyeah goo.

[@johnmknox]

How do you like the X6200 compared with the Icom IC-705? The Xiegu products now seem to be getting quite expensive to me.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Personally? I much prefer the IC-705. I prefer the audio, the receiver, and the GUI. It does cost much more, but I simply prefer it for the type of operating I do.

[@TridentMissileTech]

Love 5105, 6100 and G90. The G90 was my first radio. I bought 2 of them I loved them so much. G90, Ft991a and Icom 7300 would be my keepers if I had to make a choice. I like the KX2 but would pick G90 over it every time. You can buy 3 g90’s for price of KX2 with atu and mic

[@larrytaylor7753]

I’m still not impressed with any of the Xiegu radios. I’ll stay with my Elecraft, Icom, and Yaesu rigs. My opinion only…they are worth the extra money.

[@starnavigator6665]

I agree with you. I almost went this route, but after hours of video watching it was a hard pass for me.

[@alannorthdevonuk763]

@@starnavigator6665 Hi, interesting comments. I had the FT817 for 7 years but because I used the MP1 Superantenna for coast portable and more recently Ham Sticks for mobile I needed a few extra watts. I sold my 817 and tuner and was able to purchase a G90. I also had some money left over, so I invested in a spare battery. It has been almost a year now and I cannot fault the radio, either on SSB or CW (rubbish CW but it's the operator, not the radio). It is a fairly basic radio but lives in a camera bag in my car with everything I need for portable radio. It is a personal thing but I enjoy operating the G90.

[@pablod6872]

I like my Xiegu G90 in terms of "bang for the buck" as a portable rig, but I also own higher quality Japanese radios.

[@nine7295]

At about 20', did you say change "modem"? And what's "modem" in this set of references?

[@markkazdad381]

MOdulator-DEModulator. Apparently Xiegu structures their software as having a different “app” for each modulation scheme.

[@BennyCFD]

He meant to say MODE not modem...................

[@ThomasK4SWL]

I'm not sure what section he's referring to, but I did mentiont he MODEM "app" portion of the X6200 because that's where you set up memory keying.

[@BennyCFD]

Is it really more bang for the buck.......Just because it has a lot of setting doesn't make it a better radio. Is it really that much better than the other Xiegu radios.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

I'm not seeing a major improvement--in terms of performance--over the X6100. Not yet, at least. It does have new features.

[@johnorrells3797]

Must be like Microsoft, beta test on public😊

[@CheekyMiner]

I have never seen this low of quality of your videos, only 480p.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

It's full HD now. I think the video was so long, KZbin took nearly two days to process it.

[@MadGoat]

Not convinced.. It is a cheap, chinese, SDR radio, period... I noticed that you seem to sugar coat every radio you review (I'm not sure if it's fear of not being looked over for more reviews or what). I have a G90, but I just ordered an FT-891 as it seems so much to be a much more capable radio at a similar price point (sans ATU), even on QRP.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Actually, I try to tell it like it is and review by doing live, on camera, in real time. Radios like Xiegus are low-cost leaders so have many inherent compromises. For some, the lower price point is key. I'm actually more partial to my other radios which is why I don't currently own a Xiegu product. This one is on loan from Radioddity and, I must say, I've given Xiegu products harsh criticism in the past (read my GSOC reviews, for example) and they keep on working with me and even thank me for being frank in my reviews. So there you go!