Welcome Xiegu X6100 Kevin McKeown, 07/11/202608/11/2026 A tiny radio, two alternative firmwares, a fresh Raspberry Pi installation and three contacts on five watts. The X6100 has made itself at home rather quickly. I bought a Xiegu X6100 because the idea of running FT8 on a beach without taking a separate computer was irresistible. A few days later, I have a working Wavelog installation, an Ethernet connection, two alternative firmwares to explore and a personalised boot screen. So that escalated nicely. But the moment that really sold me on this little radio was much simpler: walking into the garden, connecting an antenna and making three contacts at five watts. Tiny You can read dimensions and look at photographs, but picking something up tells you rather more. The X6100 is tiny, feels well built and looks surprisingly robust. There is something very appealing about having a proper little radio that takes up so little room. I can fit it, my Ultramax LI18-12G battery and the cables into a moderately sized bum bag. That changes what “taking the radio out” can mean. Less preparation, less luggage and more opportunity to have a go. The G90 is staying. This gives me another way to operate, especially when radio isn’t necessarily the entire purpose of going out. Although, knowing me, it probably will become the entire purpose once I arrive. The X6100 and ECO-WORTHY 6 Ah battery. The desk is considerably less portable than the radio. Power The first small puzzle was the supplied power cable: white and black wires. Apparently red was unavailable that day. Having established the polarity, I fitted Anderson Powerpoles and got it working. Alongside the Ultramax, I now have an ECO-WORTHY ECO-LFP1206, a 12.8 V 6 Ah LiFePO4 battery. It is a wonderfully small thing, just right for the bum bag and an appealing partner for running the X6100 at ten watts. It arrived without a charger, which briefly threatened to become another shopping expedition. Then I remembered the motorcycle charger I already owned had a LiFePO4 mode. One less box to buy. I have also been eyeing up my Micro PA50+ amplifier and wondering whether that could squeeze into the bag. After looking at its power requirements, the Ultramax is the battery I’ll use for that experiment. Apparently my response to buying a tiny radio is immediately to work out what else I can carry beside it. Five For the first garden outing, I took the bare radio and a BNC patch lead, connected it to my existing EFHW80 and ran it from the internal battery. Five watts. Three contacts in Eastern Europe and Russia, straight away. The EFHW80 is a familiar antenna here, so this wasn’t a trial of a complete portable station. But it was a very satisfying demonstration of what the little radio could do. After all the antenna experiments, comparisons and tinkering, there is something lovely about simply connecting a radio and making contacts. The internal battery earned its place immediately. Firmware A confession: I haven’t used the stock firmware once. Before the radio even arrived, I had downloaded the Italian firmware by IU1WXY from x6100-link.it. Since then, I’ve been switching between that and OpenX6X00, exploring what each offers and enjoying having two different approaches to the same hardware. This is already a substantial part of the attraction. A new radio provides plenty to learn; alternative firmware adds another whole set of things to investigate. I’ve been playing with the OpenX6X00 web interface, getting to grips with logging and generally finding excuses to press more buttons. The prospect of standalone FT8 on the beach remains a major draw. That outing is still ahead of me, but the garden contacts have done nothing to reduce my enthusiasm. Wavelog Wavelog is now installed on a new Raspberry Pi 5 and working fine. Getting there meant doing a fresh installation rather than simply using my existing setup, which was sitting on another Pi in a drawer. A small radio project had therefore become a radio-and-server project. Entirely predictable, really. The important result is that the X6100 can now log directly to my Wavelog installation. I’ve tried the logging, and it works a treat. What started as another item on the setup list is now a working part of the station. There is something particularly satisfying about this arrangement: the little radio on the desk, the logbook running on a Pi and the two talking to each other. My former IT life was never going to let that opportunity pass. For now, this is the local setup at home. How I want to handle the logbook when I take the radio out is another part of the portable experiment, but the fresh installation is done and the connection is working. Connected One accessory I can confirm from actual use is the StarTech US1GC30B2 USB-C-to-Ethernet adapter. It worked perfectly with the X6100. I’d looked at a Delock adapter, but finding one at a sensible UK price proved difficult. The StarTech has an ASIX chipset and turned out to be a successful choice. There was a pleasing bit of familiarity there: I’d previously used a StarTech USB audio device in my G90 panadapter setup. Another small box earning its place in the collection. Mine Of course, it needed a personalised boot screen. The first one worked wonderfully. There is now another: a warm, geometric radio shack inspired by Paul Klee, with M7XOM across the top. An 800 × 480 patchwork of antennas, screens and colour to greet me when I switch it on. Entirely unnecessary. Very satisfying. A little radio shack inside the little radio. The personalised M7XOM boot screen in use. Next The next question is what antenna to take beyond the garden. A magnetic loop is tempting. I’ve never really explored them, and we’ve been discussing commercial options and a possible homebrew version using a traditional air-spaced variable capacitor. ATU-100 clones have also entered the conversation. There is plenty to investigate before I settle on the travelling antenna arrangement. For now, the radio has made its first contacts, Wavelog is working on the new Pi, and I have two alternative firmwares to keep me occupied. The Flex remains at the heart of the home station, the G90 is staying, and the X6100 is making a very good case for being the one I pick up on the way out. Five watts in the garden was a very good start. Equipment
A tiny radio, two alternative firmwares, a fresh Raspberry Pi installation and three contacts on five watts. The X6100 has made itself at home rather quickly. I bought a Xiegu X6100 because the idea of running FT8 on a beach without taking a separate computer was irresistible. A few days later, I have a working Wavelog installation, an Ethernet connection, two alternative firmwares to explore and a personalised boot screen. So that escalated nicely. But the moment that really sold me on this little radio was much simpler: walking into the garden, connecting an antenna and making three contacts at five watts. Tiny You can read dimensions and look at photographs, but picking something up tells you rather more. The X6100 is tiny, feels well built and looks surprisingly robust. There is something very appealing about having a proper little radio that takes up so little room. I can fit it, my Ultramax LI18-12G battery and the cables into a moderately sized bum bag. That changes what “taking the radio out” can mean. Less preparation, less luggage and more opportunity to have a go. The G90 is staying. This gives me another way to operate, especially when radio isn’t necessarily the entire purpose of going out. Although, knowing me, it probably will become the entire purpose once I arrive. The X6100 and ECO-WORTHY 6 Ah battery. The desk is considerably less portable than the radio. Power The first small puzzle was the supplied power cable: white and black wires. Apparently red was unavailable that day. Having established the polarity, I fitted Anderson Powerpoles and got it working. Alongside the Ultramax, I now have an ECO-WORTHY ECO-LFP1206, a 12.8 V 6 Ah LiFePO4 battery. It is a wonderfully small thing, just right for the bum bag and an appealing partner for running the X6100 at ten watts. It arrived without a charger, which briefly threatened to become another shopping expedition. Then I remembered the motorcycle charger I already owned had a LiFePO4 mode. One less box to buy. I have also been eyeing up my Micro PA50+ amplifier and wondering whether that could squeeze into the bag. After looking at its power requirements, the Ultramax is the battery I’ll use for that experiment. Apparently my response to buying a tiny radio is immediately to work out what else I can carry beside it. Five For the first garden outing, I took the bare radio and a BNC patch lead, connected it to my existing EFHW80 and ran it from the internal battery. Five watts. Three contacts in Eastern Europe and Russia, straight away. The EFHW80 is a familiar antenna here, so this wasn’t a trial of a complete portable station. But it was a very satisfying demonstration of what the little radio could do. After all the antenna experiments, comparisons and tinkering, there is something lovely about simply connecting a radio and making contacts. The internal battery earned its place immediately. Firmware A confession: I haven’t used the stock firmware once. Before the radio even arrived, I had downloaded the Italian firmware by IU1WXY from x6100-link.it. Since then, I’ve been switching between that and OpenX6X00, exploring what each offers and enjoying having two different approaches to the same hardware. This is already a substantial part of the attraction. A new radio provides plenty to learn; alternative firmware adds another whole set of things to investigate. I’ve been playing with the OpenX6X00 web interface, getting to grips with logging and generally finding excuses to press more buttons. The prospect of standalone FT8 on the beach remains a major draw. That outing is still ahead of me, but the garden contacts have done nothing to reduce my enthusiasm. Wavelog Wavelog is now installed on a new Raspberry Pi 5 and working fine. Getting there meant doing a fresh installation rather than simply using my existing setup, which was sitting on another Pi in a drawer. A small radio project had therefore become a radio-and-server project. Entirely predictable, really. The important result is that the X6100 can now log directly to my Wavelog installation. I’ve tried the logging, and it works a treat. What started as another item on the setup list is now a working part of the station. There is something particularly satisfying about this arrangement: the little radio on the desk, the logbook running on a Pi and the two talking to each other. My former IT life was never going to let that opportunity pass. For now, this is the local setup at home. How I want to handle the logbook when I take the radio out is another part of the portable experiment, but the fresh installation is done and the connection is working. Connected One accessory I can confirm from actual use is the StarTech US1GC30B2 USB-C-to-Ethernet adapter. It worked perfectly with the X6100. I’d looked at a Delock adapter, but finding one at a sensible UK price proved difficult. The StarTech has an ASIX chipset and turned out to be a successful choice. There was a pleasing bit of familiarity there: I’d previously used a StarTech USB audio device in my G90 panadapter setup. Another small box earning its place in the collection. Mine Of course, it needed a personalised boot screen. The first one worked wonderfully. There is now another: a warm, geometric radio shack inspired by Paul Klee, with M7XOM across the top. An 800 × 480 patchwork of antennas, screens and colour to greet me when I switch it on. Entirely unnecessary. Very satisfying. A little radio shack inside the little radio. The personalised M7XOM boot screen in use. Next The next question is what antenna to take beyond the garden. A magnetic loop is tempting. I’ve never really explored them, and we’ve been discussing commercial options and a possible homebrew version using a traditional air-spaced variable capacitor. ATU-100 clones have also entered the conversation. There is plenty to investigate before I settle on the travelling antenna arrangement. For now, the radio has made its first contacts, Wavelog is working on the new Pi, and I have two alternative firmwares to keep me occupied. The Flex remains at the heart of the home station, the G90 is staying, and the X6100 is making a very good case for being the one I pick up on the way out. Five watts in the garden was a very good start.