New QRP RADIO: X1M QRP Transceiver $299

[W4KYR]

New QRP RADIO: X1M QRP SSB/CW Transceiver $299

http://www.wouxun.us/item.php?item_id=302&category_id=65

I saw this selling on Ebay for $350 now as well as $299 at the Wouxun website. This is a 5 watt SSB/CW radio that promises all the ham bands however it lists only 5 bands with something about 'configured separately with additional filtering'.

(I did a search here on eham for X1M QRP Transceiver and yielded no results, so I guess this radio has not been mentioned yet.) This is an fully assembled radio according to the site.

The website says they are talking orders and it will be shipping in early May, but some Ebay seller from North Carolina has it now for $350.  The price seems great and for the price of a Youkits 4 band CW only rig, this radio appears to offer even more. Seems Wouxun is going to be importing these in to sell in the U.S.. The manufacturer seems to be  "Xiegu Technology"

The site goes on to mention that Wouxun.us is now "Import Communications" and that they will be at the Dayton Hamfest North Hall 175-176.  I have no connections to these guys whatsoever and just passing on the information that I found.

Specs from the website
Modes: USB & LSB & CW
Power output: 5 Watts
Operating voltage: 9.6 ~ 14.5 vdc
Operating current: 0.35 ~ 1.2 amp
Receiver Preamplifier:  Yes
Memory Channels:  100
RIT Function:  Yes
Automatic Internal CW Keyer:  Yes
Backlight On/Off:  Yes
Keyboard  lock:  Yes
Dimensions:   3-13/16 x 1-9/16 x 6-1/8 inches
Weight:   0.65 kg  ~  1.43 lbs
PTT Microphone:  Included

 
* Transmits on ALL Ham Bands,
   Plus 5 Ham Bands are configured separately with additional filtering

Band 1:   3.5 ~ 3.9 MHz
Band 2:    7.0 ~ 7.15 MHz
Band 3: 14.0 ~ 14.5 MHz
Band 4:   21.0 ~ 21.45 MHz
Band 5:   28.0 ~ 29.7  MHz

 
Receiving sensitivity: better than 0.45uV,
RF output power: ≥ 4.5W
Frequency stability: better than 0.5ppm
Frequency accuracy: better than 0.5ppm
Operating voltage: 12.0 ~ 14.0V DC
Receiver Standby Current: 0.5A
Emission current: 1.5A Max

[WA2ONH]

And the Shipping costs are ...

Choose Radio*
 X1M QRP Transceiver - Wired & Tested  $299.00

You Must Also Choose Shipping*
 US Shipping (free)
 Canadian Shipping  $25.00
 UK Shipping  $30.00
 Turkey Shipping  $30.00
 Israel Shipping   $50.00
 Other Countries by Request  $500.00 <<--- WHAT?

At bottom of page ...
All radios are FCC Type 90 Certified

See KB6NU Blog comments on...
Are Wouxoun Radios Illegal?
LINK: http://www.kb6nu.com/are-wouxoun-radios-illegal/#comments

[ZL3BJ]

Yep, just looking for a QRP rig for a friend and come across this interesting little snippet. Interesting I say to myself, till I see that they want $500 U.S. dollars to send it to me. Now where I am that equates to NZ$592.85. Hmmm I say to myself, maybe they give me a discount if I chartered the 747 to bring it to me. I think I will pass on this and wait till my wife and I go to China, (pretty soon I might say) and I am sure I will get one for just a little less. Honestly the world is getting smaller but the price to move small articles is just prohibitive.

Cheers de zl3bj 

[GILGSN]

Interesting, but for one thing... 500mA receive current draw. Half an Amp! Better carry  big battery for that one.

Gil.

[WD8KTQ]

I just ordered one from Import Communications in N. Carolina last week. According to Ed there, I should have it in a week or two. I have had email correspondence with a ham I Malaysia that I found a link to QRZ.com. He told me he has had one since last year and he loves it. There is another place supposedly selling it, Kight Radio. They do not return emails and have a non working phone number. I will report on the unit when I get it.
73....Mark

[VE5EIS]

Interesting I say to myself, till I see that they want $500 U.S. dollars to send it to me.

That's their way of saying they only want to sell it to a handful of countries.  I'm not sure why New Zealand wouldn't be in the list; it's not that hard to ship stuff there . It just takes a little while to arrive.

I live in Canada and while most US vendors will sell here, some ship by carriers with high customs clearance charges and some simply won't ship here.  I respond by partaking of other companies.

Hopefully a New Zealand-friendly source for this radio will come soon.

[AF5CC]

Here is another place to get one:  http://www.kightradio.com/QRP-HF-Radios_c_87.html
Looks like they will have a 20 watt model out soon.

John AF5CC

[K0OD]

AF5CC said:

Here is another place to get one:  http://www.kightradio.com/QRP-HF-Radios_c_87.html Looks like they will have a 20 watt model out soon.

But WD8KTQ said:
"There is another place supposedly selling it, Kight Radio. They do not return emails and have a non working phone number."

[W1JKA]

  Is there a physical address for [ Import Communications] formerly Wouxon.us? I checked the Import Communications web site (as above) and couldn't find it,maybe I'm just getting to old.

[BA2BI]

I QRPer, I have a X1M
Accept low noise with good performance
Note amateur bands other than the frequency does not work
This is my friend BG8HT design
If you want to know? I'll try to answer
My English is very bad: (

73! Angkor Wu, BA2Bi

[ZENKI]

Produce a 25  watt PA  and LIPO battery pack for  the whole combination and you will have a winner. If  you also have a  MANPACK frame that includes the radio, amp and tuner you will  have winner.

If you wanted to take the radio to the next level. You can make a ready to go HF station by combining  2 X 25 watt PA's, antenna tuner, DC to DC converter 10 to 50 volts, AC power pack 90 to 260 volts as  portable radio setup.
50 watts is enough for portable/maritime/holiday/pedestrian mobile and casual operation. Pedestrian mobile is becoming very popular. The ham companies do very little market research and most of their designers dont actually use
the equipment that they design. The end result is you end up with useless equipment that is far from flexible.

5 watts output on SSB is almost close to useless with simple portable antennas. Portable SSB starts to wakeup at about 25 watts of power. On CW  5 watts is effective.

Bottom line is  that if you design  flexible equipment that can be configured for many styles of operation you will have  a sales winner. Your transceiver design looks like a winner for building a good portable HF station platform.
The military have been optimizing their HF portable radios for decades,  the result is the HF manpack the most practical portable radio you can find. All ham designers can come up with is useless cutesy radios that are not effective
at doing what they supposed to be doing, that is communicating because they so poorly designed or largely impractical for operating from any other place besides being a near a car or picnic table. The HF pedestrian mobile pioneers from the UK like G4AKC shows the kind of design expertise and lateral thinking thats needed.

New QRP RADIO: X1M QRP SSB/CW Transceiver $299

http://www.wouxun.us/item.php?item_id=302&category_id=65

I saw this selling on Ebay for $350 now as well as $299 at the Wouxun website. This is a 5 watt SSB/CW radio that promises all the ham bands however it lists only 5 bands with something about 'configured separately with additional filtering'.

(I did a search here on eham for X1M QRP Transceiver and yielded no results, so I guess this radio has not been mentioned yet.) This is an fully assembled radio according to the site.

The website says they are talking orders and it will be shipping in early May, but some Ebay seller from North Carolina has it now for $350.  The price seems great and for the price of a Youkits 4 band CW only rig, this radio appears to offer even more. Seems Wouxun is going to be importing these in to sell in the U.S.. The manufacturer seems to be  "Xiegu Technology"

The site goes on to mention that Wouxun.us is now "Import Communications" and that they will be at the Dayton Hamfest North Hall 175-176.  I have no connections to these guys whatsoever and just passing on the information that I found.

Specs from the website
Modes: USB & LSB & CW
Power output: 5 Watts
Operating voltage: 9.6 ~ 14.5 vdc
Operating current: 0.35 ~ 1.2 amp
Receiver Preamplifier:  Yes
Memory Channels:  100
RIT Function:  Yes
Automatic Internal CW Keyer:  Yes
Backlight On/Off:  Yes
Keyboard  lock:  Yes
Dimensions:   3-13/16 x 1-9/16 x 6-1/8 inches
Weight:   0.65 kg  ~  1.43 lbs
PTT Microphone:  Included

 
* Transmits on ALL Ham Bands,
   Plus 5 Ham Bands are configured separately with additional filtering

Band 1:   3.5 ~ 3.9 MHz
Band 2:    7.0 ~ 7.15 MHz
Band 3: 14.0 ~ 14.5 MHz
Band 4:   21.0 ~ 21.45 MHz
Band 5:   28.0 ~ 29.7  MHz

 
Receiving sensitivity: better than 0.45uV,
RF output power: ≥ 4.5W
Frequency stability: better than 0.5ppm
Frequency accuracy: better than 0.5ppm
Operating voltage: 12.0 ~ 14.0V DC
Receiver Standby Current: 0.5A
Emission current: 1.5A Max

[AD6KA]

If you wanted to take the radio to the next level. You can make a ready to go HF station by combining  2 X 25 watt PA's, antenna tuner, DC to DC converter 10 to 50 volts, AC power pack 90 to 260 volts as  portable radio setup.

What do you figure that configuration would add
to the cost of the rig? No being argumentative, just askin'
73, Ken  AD6KA

[W7ASA]

I've done decades of QRP comms, often over long paths and for personal as well as professional 'occasions'.  I'm quite familiar with military manpacks, though unlike Mr Z,  I virtually always used efficient antennas, such as the dipole for NVIS through medium range and -yes- a wire halfsquare for long range.

For this transceiver, the math of system gain -v- power show that an increase from this rig's designed output of 5 watts to 20 Watts is only one s-unit at the receiving station, but would significantly change it's size, weight and power consumption for only one s-unit - at best.  That's basically nada for all that increased consumption, size and weight. Personally, I can't see a reason to complain that this is not a 20 Watt rig. If they DO indeed build a different rig at 20 Watts, well then that's GREAT! What's not to like about more cool rigs to choose from?

Small, lite & portable are great attributes for a rig like this. The niche market needs more - this I agree with.  I do DISagree with Z in his recurring idea that 20-25 Watts is necessary for fieldable ham QRP rigs such as this one and the KX-3, which he also has strange issues with. I would highly recommend re-reading his posts re: the KX-3 and then compare that with his statements here, to see the same feelings at work. Interestingly, the math remains constant and still DISagrees with his feelings.

Let's do a little math here:

For a rise from 5 to 20 Watts, we can expect at least the following increase:

 
+Size of the rig due to slightly more circuitry, larger batteries and especially a larger heat sink.
+Weight (see above)
+Power consumption (4 times more power consumed & DISSIPATED on transmit)
+Likely also a change of battery type, due to the need for much higher instantaneous current for voice peaks and etc.
+A much larger heat sink to dissipate the 4x power.
+Higher cost
+Larger recharging system, or 4x longer recharging time.

And reduce the:

Portability
Length of transmit time using batteries.

- and much more.

All this to gain just one S-unit on the receiving end: basically nada.

We had similar discussions on the KX-3 postings.  The math never changed. dB are still dB and four times higher power output in the same class of amplifier operation requires at least 4x more heat sink and battery, as a rule of thumb.  


As for manpack radios - they're FUN for hams, heavy as a box of lead for soldiers and I like them! Carrying one along with a normal backpacking load of shelter, food, water and spare knickers on a camping trip as a civilian is not my idea of fun.  Been there & done that back when I was younger, stronger and thought that a mil rig was the coolest thing since sliced bread.


Feelings vary.  Math does not.


My 2 cents worth. Please adjust for hyper-inflation.


73 de Ray
W7ASA ..._ ._

[AC4RD]

If you want to know? I'll try to answer
My English is very bad: (

Angkor Wu, my friend, your English is MUCH MUCH better than most American hams' Chinese!    And we are glad to have hams from all around the world taking part in the discussions on eham.net!  73!  --ken ac4rd

[LU6AGV]

And the Shipping costs are ...

Choose Radio*
 X1M QRP Transceiver - Wired & Tested  $299.00

You Must Also Choose Shipping*
 Other Countries by Request  $500.00 <<--- WHAT?

And the best:

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS
We will be happy to ship to other countries however we can not accept "Credit Cards" Payment must be made via Bank transfer or Western Union Only

yes of course, sound trust.


if you want a good QRP transceiver just go for elecraft K1 or K2.