Xiegu x6100 Winlink Express Setup

March 5, 2022 Julian OH8STN Data comms, Digital Communications, Digital QRP, Education, Emergency Communications, Field Comms, Ham Radio, QRP, WinLink, Xiegu x6100 4

Hello Operators.
This is just a quick blog post showing you how I set up the Xiegu X6100 with Winlink Express. It really is very simple.

Before anything else, plug in the USB cable into the “DEV” USB-C socket of your x6100. When you turn the radio on, you’ll get two ports popping up in the ports section of the Windows Device manager. Make a note of those ports, and their speeds. At the moment I don’t understand the difference between the two different ports Serial A and Serial B. We will only be using one of them for Winlink Express.

The X6100 uses Icom rig control for communications between Winlink Express and itself. In Winlink Express choose “Icom Amateur Radios” as your radio. The Icom address doesn’t seem to matter. I didn’t change it from the ic-705 adress but it still worked fine. I chose “USB digital” for the mode. Even so, I still have to change the rig to USB-D manually, before starting a session.

For my setup the second serial port (Serial B) worked. The baud rate is 19200 with both RTS & DTR selected. Disable anything on the settings screen, not mentioned in this text. There’s also a diagram below.

Xiegu X6100 Winlink Express settings.

I suspect the push-to-talk port is what’s making most of you pull your hair out. It’s unlike any of the others Xiegu radios. Simply select CI-V, 19200 Baud with RTS & DTR selected. Finally, click update and you’re on your way.

If you are using VaraHF or VaraFM, you’ll have to select the correct audio device. Once the x6100 is plugged into your computer, a new audio device will appear in the Device manager. It is a generic “USB Audio Device”. If you like you can change it’s name to something logical, through device details. For now I’ll skip that.
ALC and Power output are found on the right hand side of the spectrum display while transmitting.

Select the correct device in VaraHF or VaraFM soundcard settings. Use the “Tune button” in Vara to adjust your outgoing audio gain. On the right hand side of the x6100 spectrum display , there is a meter showing ALC and Power output. Make certain your get your ALC as close to 100 as possible. On other rigs this setting is shown in the opposite manner. Lower ALC means cleaner signal on the IC-705 for example. On the X6100, G90 and X5105, a cleaner signal is represented by a higher ALC number. 0 ALC is crap, 100 ALC is perfect. I personally keep mine between 90-100. It is also important to point out, this is not a set it and forget it setting. It is dynamic! If you change bands, adjust your antenna, change antennas, have poor/different ground or any other weird variables, you’ll have to adjust in real time. So keep an eye on your ALC! After doing it a few times, it will become second nature.

HUOM! A cleaner signal is more easily decoded by stations we are communicating with!

When your audio device is set up, fire for effect, adjust as required. Now you are on your way.

60 meters
If you are testing on 60 meters and getting no response from your rig, it is because the 60 meter band edges are incorrectly set up on the x6100. Use a non WARC band for your Winlink Express testing during setup, and you should be ok!

This post was made possible by Xiegu.eu & Pileupdx.com.

Lots of effort goes into these posts. Researching each component, software application, pragmatic field testing. When you see these posts, the mistakes and blunders have already been filtered out. If you find any value in that, share this post and/or buy me a rootbeer.

73
Julian oh8stn
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/c/oh8stn
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4 Comments

  1. Thanks, as always for this Julian. The world is breathlessly awaiting your overal review of the 6100 and how it ‘ranks’ in the pantheon of portable communications field operations kit. The few youtube vid reviews I’ve seen of it stateside, I have to say, … don’t seem to be “feeling the love.”

  2. Hey- love your videos. I’m experimenting with my new x6100, and nothing I do budges the ALC off of 100. Setup per your article above, using the 1.1.4 firmware. Tried the Vara soundcard tune applet, windows sound settings etc. Have been able to connect to Winlink, but odd that I can’t seem to control ALC on the radio, within Vara, or in Windows.

  3. I just got my x6100 but it isn’t detected on my surface tablet nor my laptop. Both of which are usb c ports. I tried my desktop with usb A to usb C and it worked just fine.

    Where you able to connect it to your tablet using usb c to usb c?

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