X6100 activation of K-5220

I took the X6100 on its maiden voyage today. Prior to that, I worked several stations on both phone and CW from the home station, all with an external battery so as to provide a 10W output.

More than anything else, the X6100 makes me appreciate the IC-705 and the Elecraft KX2.

If you have one of those two radios (or, perhaps, others) and you begin to take them for granted, buy an X6100.

My one-sentence impression of the X6100 is: It has a lot of features, many of which are poorly implemented.

Yes, I did get BCB interference on 40m but I expected that. What bothered me was the fact that RIT is nonfunctional when CW message playback is enabled.

RIT is important to me on POTA activations - not just when someone calls me slightly off-frequency but also when numerous stations call at once. RIT allows me to adjust, centering (hopefully) one or two stations from the rest by centering them within the passband of the narrowest filter.

When the X6100 was first released, there was no CW message playback. You could record them in, but not play them out over the air. Somewhere between then and now, a newer version of firmware allows CW message playback.

This requires implementation of what Xiegu calls a 'CW Modem'. Enabling the modem, to enable message playback, causes RIT to cease operation. If you want memories, you can't have RIT. One or the other - not both.

And about the memories: there are 5 programmable memories available. Typically, for POTA operations, one would be used to call CQ, another for the report, etc.

Every now and then, an op will hit the wrong button and send 'CQ' when he should be sending "599 TX". On Icoms, Yaesus, Elecrafts, Kenwoods, PennTeks and dozens of other rigs, this is no problem - just hit the paddles to cancel the erroneous transmission. With the X6100, this has no effect - the erroneous memory is sent in its entirety.

I also found the 10Hz tuning resolution to be too coarse when the narrowest filter is selected. 10Hz gradations are fine when the bandwidth is set to 200Hz or wider - narrower than that, resolution should really be 1 Hz to get the full benefit of the filter without the clunkiness that comes from such a big jump in frequency compared to the bandwidth.

This is an issue that mostly manifests itself only with weak signals.

Yes, I know what some are thinking: all this from a single POTA activation and a few hours at home?

Here's the good: the radio only costs $600 new (cheaper used, cheaper still if it's a loaner).

For $600, it seems to offer decent performance if you can overlook details that might not even be an issue to many users, especially if they don't use CW. As I've said before, for all its implied simplicity, CW is a demanding mode in terms of transceiver design. Elecraft rigs are awesome because they are designed by a CW op. The X6100 wasn't, and it shows, glaringly.

If you've ever been tempted to buy an X6100, you may be inclined, like many, to compare it with an IC-705. Don't. They share the same form factor and that's it.

The rig that compares most favorably with the X6100 is the mcHF or its clones (RS-918, etc).

There are work-arounds for the X6100's issues. Instead of RIT, use A/B Split. Or instead of memory dis-functionality when RIT is needed, use an external memory keyer (I do that with my FT-891).

The internal ATU works very well, and is quick to find a match. The display is beautiful and presents a wealth of info. The CW decode function also requires the 'CW Modem' to be enabled - other than disabling RIT, it works about as well as that function in my mcHF (which is able to retain RIT functionality when in use).

50 stations were worked in short order this morning, with 10 watts and an EFHW for 10-40m.

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