When I went to the Digirig Mobile Store from the link I was presented with four different flavors of the interface. Thanks to the forum, which is the first place one should go to when looking solutions to problems, I was able to learn that the G90 works with the Logic Levels (default) configuration. This was the only relevant information that seemed to be missing from this excellent (as usual) video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us in the best spirit of Elmerism.
Digirig rocks, a good and responsive Ham owner. Signalink works, but would never buy another after their ridiculous price hike from about $80 to $165! That's just taking advantage, this one works as well if not better at about half the price, and it's much smaller. If you order from his site, he has more options...
Hi Mike. As the digital modes become more popular the "how to" videos are becoming much better and more specific regarding the setup. Your video is right up there at the top of the heap. Your video is a very clear, start to finish, step by step presentation. Seven tree.
Thanks for this video Mike. I was using Omnirig but was not having much luck with it, like a delay in transmitting. At any rate, Flrig did the trick and I'm ready for some portabl FT-8.
One update for users of Firmware 1.79 on the G90. Changing from MIC to LINE IN doesn't send the output to the digirig / computer like on version 1.78 and below. You have to change modes from USB to U-D and then the digirig /software will be able to decode the signal. Most of the videos on RU-vid use the older firmware versions and this has caused some frustration that it still doesn't work after going through everything else step by step.
Fantastic video, I already had a home brew audio interface using audio transformers to isolate the PC from the radio. I guess Digirig is similar. Just bought a min DIN plug for a few bucks is all that it cost me. Using your setup getting on FT8 was dead easy and got into the USA on 10Watts with EFHW.
Thanks for doing this video Mike. I have been considering going digital with my G90 but didn't want to get that hockey puck thing. This is a lot easier. Hope to connect with you on ft8 someday
This looks quite useful, I'm trying to do digital modes w/ my G90 using a Sabrent usb sound card and I'm having all sorts of difficulty getting it to work reliably. My antenna is a Wolf River Coil I typically just throw on a mag mount on top of my vehicle while parked. So far I have gotten people to hear me one time, I'm having trouble figuring out what my issue is. Most days receive is quite good, unable to get ahold of anyone to tell me what my transmit sounds like.
don't forget to list your current radio firmware, because every time the G90 gets a version upgrade, the cheat sheets for the functions will have parts that no longer applies, and so the procedure to find a setting may not be the same if your radio's firmware version is not the same as yours. Otherwise fantastic video, thanks for the go kit idea as well. 73 de KN4GEI
Mike; You need to do an updated version of this using a Macintosh. I used a Mac mini and I couldn't believe how easy it was to get everything up and running.
Title is wrong it isn’t fast and easy. Trying to do xiegu G90, to Digirig to HRD. Two digirigs and 3 months later still not working get error can’t read frequencies. Don’t silicon labs anywhere.
Mike I have watched your video on the digirig set up just like you said work maybe 30 minutes and it quit working I contacted Digirig about it come to find out where it says USB by the frequency it should say U-D once I said that on my Radio frequency it went to work with no problem I've have made lot of contacts with it doing a fine job now I have always noticed on some videos that people do . That something is left out that us newbies do not understand I am new to this and appreciate all the help from the videos I see but sometimes stuff is left out that we don't understand thank you for your videos and keep up the good work just wanted to let you know that was my problem that i didn't have that checked by the frequency .Where it says SSB it has to be U-D but on my ft891 it says D-U a big difference between the two Radios the FT-891 is so hard to set up but the g90 is a dream 73s and a big 10.4 . have a blessed day . KQ4AHR
@@peterpankonin6993 it's on the mod button where you go to CW AM FM and SSB at it looks like a V-D but it U-D that will set it where it will transmit just make sure you have everything else set and your off to the races. Now this is for the ( Digirig) setup but if your using the program cable and the 8 pin cable it is for it to I have a video with Lacey on RU-vid don't tell us a clean everything they leave stuff out and we newbies we get messed up 73 KQ4AHR
@@Tommy-K4BWN Hi Tommy, I didn't find the U-D mode, but everything seems to be working fine. I ran FT8 for about two hours this afternoon and contacted S Africa and Portugal on 20m at 15w.
@@peterpankonin6993 well it looks like V-D are you running the it with the Digirig I did good till I got the Digirig then it stopped transmiting but was told to put the mode in D-U but it's backwards on my g90
I would love this rig. I like that it has a bit more punch for field day and winter field day. But I just can’t see myself buying another rig withough 6 meters. What a great price though!
Mike I had sent you a text earlier about my G90 radio on using the digirig it not working with my G90 radio. My problem was I upgraded my firmware to 1.79 but it now shows the U-D and also has the L-D on the mode so when you up grade the firmware to 1.79 it changes a lot of stuff on G90 . Just wanted to let you know that was my problem the Digirig is working really good . 73 KQ4AHR
Digirig will work without using FLdigi. In WSJT select Xiegu G90 as radio and setup as you would set up any other radio. Also the Baud rate for the Digirig is 19200 no matter what is shown in device manager properties. Please correct your information and save us some hair pulling.
Well if you shave your head you won't have any hair to pull! Hmm, I'm gonna have to try this. I feel I did and it never worked for me. Time to go pull what little hair I have 🤣
I could toss the Mike with my G90. It has never been used. In the 10 months I’ve had the radio it has never been used for anything but digital. I have settled on the same setup that you are using. But, every once and a while I would like to kick up the power a bit. I have a XPA125B but have not figured out how to bring it into the mix since both it and the Digirig need to utilize the G90 ACC port do you have suggestions! I’d like to compete with the guys with monster beams…
This looks good but I got scared when you plugged the Serial cable in to the data port on the control head. I plugged a cable in there one time and it immediately "Bricked" my G90. I had the power off but still hooked up . I had to do the entire Firmware Update to get it back to life. Now I an afraid to plug anything in that port.
Good afternoon, I followed your directions, yet I'm unable to get WJST to properly interface, keep getting the "rig control error". I've tried every possible combination, no cigar. Any suggestions would be helpful, please
I can get our G90 to connect and get a green light for the radio but no transmit. Also the screen on the G90 goes blank. Have to disconnect power to reboot the radio.
I finally got my G90 with Digirig up and running with WSJT-X however I'm having an issue with the ALC. I am unable to adjust it. I can move the slider up and down and it hovers right around 25. I've played with the Line In and Line Out on the radio. I've messed with all of the volume sliders in sound settings in windows. Nothing I do makes a difference. I'm able to transmit at the selected power output but again, just stays at 25 ish. Any ideas?
Youre using a very interesting DB9 cable for the xiegu g90 headunit, as i have problems with the original cable and a second one and also they are too big for my project, can you please provide me a link or something to your datacable? that would be awesome! thanks! 73
Mike, my selecting fake it under split mode it put an S in the little green circle next to the band selection drop down. I think you want this set to none - no split mode. Just got my G90. Had this all working the other day. Shortened my provided cable and no input audio. Can't figure it out to save my life. What firmware version are you running. I updated to 1.79b03. Perhaps I need to roll it back to the 1.78 it came with??
Nope. I want it set to fake it. If you don't have good shielded cables you're going to get all kinds of audio issues. Exactly like you just described. One day it works, the next it doesn't. Frustrating as all get out. I did a video on some good ones that I recommend but unfortunately they don't make a USB-C version. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-a7MPa3NCj3A.html. I doubt it's a firmware issue but I think I'm on 1.78. I saw no reason to do the newest update.
Oh-Emm-Gee!!!!! I cannot believe how utterly non-user-friendly is the process for simply connecting my G90 to my 'puter. All the gadgeteria required, all the extra, confusing software requiring a PhD to correctly charm into functioning. I thought just plug in what came with the radio and CE-19, wave a few wires around and done. No! no simple find for a program so the radio display can show up on my computer. That's all I really wanted, was a larger display for my eyes. Wow...
Absolutely first class video for this application. However, there is one one tiny place where he could’ve improved on this video…. At the part where he said the radio locked up and would not work. Instead of getting Flrig going, he may have tried using a medical syringe with a long needle and given the G90 a hard stabbing injection of epinephrine in heart of the radio. 😂 😂😂
Never could get it to work. FLRIG always says "check serial port connection." I open conflig > transceiver, press update, and set it to the com port I see in device manager. Same problem. I tried installing the latest com port drivers, same thing. 😞
Question for you. I’m trying to do the same setup just one difference. Trying to use Linux Mint for my OS. I get transmit all the time on the G90. Anyway you can try to do a video of serving up using latest Linux mint and the 73Linux from km4ack?
It automates the contact making process to eliminate any and all personal interaction with the other station. Perfect for the introvert, or when you just don't feel like talking but you still want to make contacts. Really really good for weak signal work. Think WSPR but the contacts actually count.
Not enough appreciation for the favorite movie reference 🙂 Of course, most of my brain is taken up by movie quotes and old song lyrics, lol. 73 de K9ZF
Are you sure that you want your ALC so high? High ALC should be an indication that it's clipping your audio to prevent splattering. HamRadioDX and TO have a segment about it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dOXbvKNu0c4.html On a side note, it's awesome that you're doing FT8 more - we had a QSO last week on 17m FT8 while I was doing POTA in Hawaii.
On the G90, the closer you are to zero the more you are over driving the signal. If you're running the current firmware, the manual actually says that ALC 100 is under driving the signal and ALC 0 is over driving it. You can tell this is the case because he had his radio set to 15 watts. At 100 ALC he was only pushing around 13 watts. After adjusting the ALC he was able to achieve full power. Mike is an OG when it comes to the G90. Pretty sure they're going to name the next version G90M. Maybe OG90M? Who knows?
What Norrin said. And heck yeah on the Hawaii POTA!! I needed HI hunted so bad too. Now all I need is to hunt AK and I'll have all 50 states hunted! Thanks so much for being out there!
Do you have the digirig/flrig/g90 setup instructions for Mac? I'm a couple days away from going through the mac process and hoping the settings translate well @@hamradiotube
@@hamradiotube I dislike Windows as well, but this is what the vast majority of people use. How about basing your tutorials on Ubuntu? That is the future.
Forget the FlDigi program ... just set up the WSJT radio settings for Xiegu G90 - your com port - 19200 baud - 8 bits - one stop bit - and select cat. It should work fine.
@@hamradiotube I have noticed the WSJT-X software become unstable a few times and lock up as well. I wonder if there is a fix or update that will help. Everything else runs as expected.
Ok Mike I have done everything your video says and the chap you reference. I still get a com error. If I could send pictures here would send you shots of my settings and the errors. I guess some mates are just lucky.
Thank you! I'd have never guessed I needed to put the G90 in U-D mode to use the Digirig. I'm so used to running my home station radio in USB for digital modes, I assumed setting the G90 to use the ACC line input was all that was needed.
I've been using the XGGcomms Digimode-4 cable for a couple years. One USB to the PC and two connections to the G90, just like this. Works with FLRig, sets up as a "IC-7100" and done. Just set WSJT-X to look at FLRig for control. It's been great. For those who didn't know like me, the "Fake It" split setting makes your PC output a tone at one frequency and the radio moves its output up or down to put the tone on the right "segment". It can get weird at the edges of the 3kHz space. This makes your output power consistent. I learned this by scratching my head for a few hours. All that said the digirig is much cheaper and you don't have to wait for it to come from the UK. P.S. Love the into, particularly the Walley World shirt lol We have the Marty Moose eggnog glasses for Xmas time!
well look at that. Learn something new every day. I honestly don't know why I started using Fake It, but it's worked for me for all these years. Eggnog is gross but I'd drink out of a Marty Moose glass for sure.
Loved the opening, Mike! One quick reminder for G90 users, remember to disconnect the serial cable on the side of the radio head when powering up rig or it will go into Programming Mode and you will need to reboot the radio without that cable connected. Bonehead me has done that too many times. 😆
Great video Mike! I also use the digirig with my G90, works great. All digital modes, including Vara/Winlink. Digirig works great with my Windows 10 laptop and my Windows 11 pc.
I noticed you have both of your sound decided set to “left” and most others have it set to “mono”. Is there a reason for that or is that just what works for you?
My wife, my son, and I are all new to Amateur Radio, but learning as fast as we can. I want us to be able to communicate using SSB, CW, FT8. I purchased a Yaesu FTDX10 for our main radio and have been having fun learning with it. I want to buy a second cheaper radio for the three of us to use (when two of us want to work simultaneously for POTA and such) and am considering the G90. I see that I would need something like a Digirig to connect/interface a laptops to the G90 for CAT and FT8. Is the Digirig type component also need with the FTDX10 or does that radio include the laptop interface?
Great instructional video. I have 2 G90's. One I run with the XPA-125 amp in my shack for FT8 and the other one is for portable use with a Digimode-4 for digital. I have to use the CE19 in the shack since I haven't found another way to run the amp with the radio yet. I did just get a Digirig for testing with a Baofeng HT but I might buy the cables for the G90 as well. I had some issues with the amp early on and Radioddity replaced it under warranty right away. They advised, with the amp, to keep the ALC between 20 and 80 and those setting seem to work well for that setup. Thanks for what you do. Jack K5FIT
Thanks for making this video it was a great help! Just wondering what logging software do you use with this? I have tried HRD log book and have gone over all the settings in forwarding the log from JTDX to HRD log but can't get it to communicate and work? Thanks George Alberta Canada eh
Canada Eh? lol. Um, am I using a log in this?? I assume you're on Windows. I'm actually a Mac guy so I may not be able to help you. I don't use the windows computer to log. I email the .adif from WSJT-X to myself and import it into my logging software called Aether, but it's only for Mac. Maybe try WSJT-X instead of JTDX?? I honestly don't know the difference though. I'm sure it will work. Often in my life I have to struggle for a couple days only to realize its some stupid setting that I didn't set properly.
Me again; unfortunately, I spoke too soon. After exhausting every option I've found online, I still need help getting the FLRig, Digirig & WSJT to work. Please advise
Telling me it isn't working doesn't help me help you. What specifically isn't working. Did you watch every second of this video from start to finish or were you skipping around? IF you follow every step in this video it should work for you. Unless you're on Winblows 11, then I can't help you.
Hey Mike, or anyone, what's the ribbon cable called that connects the head to the body? I need that so bad. The cable that came with it keeps bending the connector that came with it making the connection come lose inside. I have to keep re-soldering the connector inside. N9MOE
