Xiegu X1M: Availability and Pricing

Ed of Import Communications passed along this update on the X1M.

"Import Communications has sealed the deal to be the only distributor for this company for North America. Twelve radios are on the way and 100 have been ordered for May 1 delivery. Orders for these will be accepted on my web site this weekend, as I find time to get the information posted. The factory suggest a retail price of $329. The introductory price for the first 100 will be $299 with free shipping."

Also, Ed is investigating an option for a tuner/battery pack unit for use with the X1M - much like the old Index Labs QRP Companion.

Ed also clarified that BG8HT (that I discussed here) is one of the designers of the Xiegu radios.

And before I could finish the post I see that Ed has started updating his site for the Xiegu radios.

Xiegu X1M: Videos

Operating the X1M...

Operating the X1M v2.01...

X1MKII (X1N) Receiving Test Video

A video the X1MKII (aka the X1N)...

Xiegu X1M: Ed Update

Interesting news about the kit vs. built options:

"Twelve radios, 2 kits and 10 wired, have been shipped from the factory to my office in China. They have been forwarded to the US and hopefully they will arrive next week. The kits are not kits as we usually think of them. There is very little difference in the kit and wired costs, leading me to believe a kit only requires installing the boards, screws, knobs and etc. No actual wiring.

I had not planned for the existence of this radio to be made public until I had a chance to test it myself but the cat was let out of the bag by a friend of mine. I have been working for over a month with the factory for an exclusive US distributorship for their products. This has been somewhat of a chore because no one at the factory speaks English and their production output appears to be very slow right now. Hopefully this will all work out soon.

I have already ordered an additional 50 radios but I don't know how soon they can be produced. It took two weeks to get the first dozen made. 

If I have time this weekend I will put a notification list on my web site so that anyone interested will be notified when stock is available. If at all possible, I will try to have some of these for sale at Dayton. I will at leasthave one displayed there.

Regards, 

Ed Griffin
Import Communications

www.importcommunications.com"

Xiegu X1M: X1MKII

So we have the X1M which is listed as the v2.01 edition on the manufacturer's web page. And Sparky has pictures and specs of X1MKII.

I'm making an assumption based on the name and the fact that he has pictures of the X1M and X1MKII together that they are both Xiegu rigs. It should be no surprise that the naming conventions are creating some confusion - at least for me. (As I go deeper down the rabbit hole, I'm less convinced this is true -keep reading.)

My Google-Fu leads me to this Chinese forum and 49 pages of comments about the X1MKII. I read lots of the pages - too many excited, but irrelevant posts - to make information gathering easy A circuit diagram from the first post.

BG8HT, who is posting this information, has a blog. Here are some specs from a later post including a note about the model being X1N (tentative). Then I see on his blog where the name changes from the X1N to the X1MKII.

Released some details of the parameters:
Model: X1N (tentative)
transceiver Frequency range: 0.5 ~ 30MHz
contain all WAC-band, the amateur bands assurance indicators optimal;
Mode: SSB / CW / NFM / AM / RTTY / the FSK
output power: 8W @ 12.5V
internal standing wave detection, power detection / protection
Output Power 1 ~ 10W ​​continuously adjustable
built-in automatic key, pre-amplifier, pre-fader with AGC, ALC, NB, RIT, SPL.MEM commonly used functions such as digitized FM launch
external ATU interface, audio input and output ports, external PTT control, CI-V interface
receiver sensitivity: better than 0.3uV (available)
transmitter spurious @ harmonics rejection: better than-45dBc (amateur band)

In trying to decipher the translations, BG8HT may have bought the X1M as a kit. I can't tell if he is just testing it and reporting his findings or if he has a closer relationship to Xiegu. I'm even fuzzier on what is going on with the X1MKII. Now I'm wondering if it is even a Xiegu project.

Import Communications: 20W HF Transciever

Ed of Import Communications sent the spec sheet for the Xiegu 20W HF Transceiver. (Again, like the X1M, I'm calling it the Xiegu for the moment.) He says that the specs could change before final production. Until he gets the samples to test, he can't say what suggestions for changes he might make.

Xiegu X1M: Import Communications Update and More

Some more details about the 5W QRP HF radio that Ed at Import Communications will be selling...

The 5W HF radio is the X1M from The Valley Association Chongqing Science and Technology Co., Ltd. (Thanks to Neil for pointing me in this direct.) The company URL as well as an image on their web page incorporates the word "Xiegu." YO9IRF calls the radio the Xiegu X1M, so I may go with that until someone corrects me. That's a lot better than The Valley Association Chongqing Science and Technology X1M or TVACST X1M for short.

Ed adds:

I have ordered 10 fully assembled and 2 in kit form. These have been shipped and should arrive soon. I have not seen the kits but believe them to only be a "hardware type" assembly. I won't suggest any modifications until after my units arrive and are tested.

A round-up of links about the radio - plenty of pics and videos:

X1M_QRP-Transceiver Yahoo Group
YO9IRF Blog
Sparky's Blog