The G1M is a low cost, Hencho en China, 4 band QRP (5 watt) radio. "This is the new SDR version of the popular Xiegu G1M QRP transceiver with general receive 0.5-30 MHz and transmit capabilities on four popular amateur radio bands. Its highly portable and has a clear OLED screen with S-meter and spectrum display." These sell new for around $250 to $300, depending on the vendor. I wrote an operators manual because the documentation that comes with is just so much crap. I actually had a ham in the L48 ship his radio up to me to play with/write manual. That manual has since been posted to the related IO group. I spent 3 weeks running this thing thru the mill, so this is not just an opinion based on other's web reports - it is based on observed performance. In the manual I stated if gifted one of these, I'd give to someone else who wanted it I don't. Why? - All SMT technology with wave soldering. Normally not an issue. In this case the jacks for headphones, key and other break off the board with little to no force. -The interface is small and clunky -The software works, but....gets zero factory support. In fact, all of the Xeigu ham rigs are supported by the 'user base' and a single dealer. -Loading or reloading the software package in well past clunky, to the point of being bizarre... - the display is tiny and can be hard to read in daylight. This is actually worse than the much maligned FT-817 display.... **** Requires 12 to 15 VDC to operate per the Vendor manual That's not a typo. 12 VDC min input voltage. NOTE this radio set IS NOT reverse polarity protected. Hook it up "backwards" and the Magic Smoke will escape. This is specifically **not** covered under warranty,. Current consumption on RX is 450Ma. Tx runs a couple of amps. By comparison, the SW3B uses 35mA on RX. This thing run warm on RX, really hot on TX digimodes.. Then again - On the plus side, looking at this as a wide-band RX - not so bad. AM/CW/SSB and the last load provides a slightly narrower B/W for CW. So that now barely works. This is not a CW rig. It is small. An ATS909 RX fro Sangean - a quality rig - sells for around $250 to $300. It does AM/FM/SSB and cover .5 to 30Mhz. The sound quality is 'better' for for communications, the -909 will work, I've used mine to monitor SSB nets while chasing around after DX. So, the G1M is at the same price point, covers the same bands and offers low power TX. I see the FT8 crowd loves these, so there is a market niche. I've attached the manual, should you be interested. The SW3B @$188 is the better deal for CW ops. Bottom line, Poor quality build Zero factory support Funky interface/crummybutton software IOW, this acts and works like a engineering prototype with the customer base being used as the Beta testers.
I'm a complete radio noob. I just bought my first shortwave radio, a Tecsun PL660 and now I have to figure out how to use it.
the Xiegu ( and lot's of other Chinese made transceivers ) are crap, if they work, they work, but repairing when damaged pfff i've seen some inside what a mess .. And they aren't good bush radio's too, to weak for their job as bush radio. Look at internet and at flew markets for that money you will have a good working Icom ic7200 as well, and they are extremely good bush radio's, but Icom doesn't make them any more and that's a shame.
I have the X6100 and it is remarkable both for the price and function. I had a G90 but sold it to buy the 6100. It was a great radio too, and my buddy that bought it loves it.
If you look inside look at the components and wire's how they are placed look at the solderings and look it at a spectrum analyzer.... but maybe i've seen too much...
The X6100 is pretty tight on SSB but 2khz wide on CW. Deviation is spec and tones clear at -113db. about .27uv sensitivity. My only gripe is birdies on 20. Some spurious emissions on all bands, but not the worst ham gear I have worked on by far.
