Tom- I'm honored. I'm not the first guy posting reviews with new gear. I try to do a realistic and honest look at our equipment. I know what's important to us. If a piece of gear is no good, you'll hear it from me! Brands don't matter.... good performance does. 73's Bob
I am on the fence with the Xiegu XPA125B. I bought the IC-705 new, great rig. Thought I wanted 100 watts, so I bought the XPA125B. I could NEVER get the XPA125B to engage on anything tuner or amp. It would only show HIGH SWR and do nothing else. So HRO is sending me another NEW XPA after only 6 days, this from the time I ordered it, shipping and trying to get it to engage. HRO acknowledged there has been a few problems with these and are sending me the replacement and then I send the original XPA back. HRO is first class for sure. Well maybe I will have the replacement by the middle of next week. Time will tell if this XPA125B is a Winner or Loser.
That amp has now been replaced by the Xiegu XPA-125B..It's a lot smaller, I have video's of this video on my RU-vid channel with the X5105 and the updated amplifier..I hope you don't mind me posting this information..73 de Wayne 2e0bvj...(I do beta testing for Xiegu the manufacturer)
Hey Bob, do you know if the 125b model has the same sort of high power behavior (125-150w)? btw...I have a G90 as my first HF rig but need power for my base station.
I don't know. I think they tightened up the bandpass-filters too on the B. The B is also a direct mate to the G90 SDR by them. The A model is a general use amp.
Hi, thanks for the review. Have been looking at the Xiegu X5101 QRP rig with some option for situations when more power is needed. Can you verify whether the XPA 125 talks correctly with the X5101? I would assume so as this is the same manufacturer. Also, does it come with all necessary cables to connect with the X5101 rig? Thanks again for your review! 73 de Ondrej, ok2top
I know it interfaces with the smaller horizontal Xiegu (108), but don't have confirmation on the 5101. I would imagine that the interface is exactly the same. the amp does come with cables..the multi pin DIN interface.
I have a X5105 and a XPA125. I was lucky I was able to fix my X5105 however if you are not that lucky and out of warranty you are out of luck. No support in the US and not even a response from Xiegu. I like my X5105 and XPA125 but I had a X1M, X108 and G90 each was a disappointment especially for the tuning encoder and push buttons. I also have a KX3, PX3 and PXA100 and if it wouldn't be for the support in t he US my preference would go to the X5105 + XPA125 and external pan-adapter. I really like the fact that the Xiegu has way less cabling between the units compared tot he Elecraft. But I won't sell either.
@@robertnagy2163 Hi Bob, i have a elad fdm duo, how have you connected the elad to the xiegu xpa 125b, i have the elad extio interface that was given to me with the radio, did you use that, any info would be helpfull. Thanks M0TXP
@@paddym0txp294 Paddy- Sadly, I sold the Elad a few years ago and bought the Anan 7000 DLE II. I forgot how I had it interfaced! It for sure did not do band switching. It does work really well though.
Bob, Thanks for the nice review. The original XPA 125 DOES NOT meet FCC specs. The harmonics are only down 39 DB and FCC requires the harmonics to be down a minimum of 43 DB. The new XPA 125B's harmonics are down 50 DB and has passed FCC approval. Moving on......Based on what you said about CW in your review, this would not make a great CW amp for me. My code is not great but I don't want truncated code. I am guessing this is a great amp for SSB but not semi breakin for CW. Given time, MAYBE they can improve on this issue. Looks like a fair price for a 100 plus watt HF amp which includes an onboard ATU. Did you say that on the DIN plug there are a set of contacts that when shorted the amp will key? Brarry
I was going to start barking about spurious emissions. That seems to be ignored by most inexpensive Chinese makers. If it's truly approved for amateur use then we've got something here. You have to watch that. I've been seeing ads for radios with "fcc approved" only to find it's approved under part 15 as an unintended emitter.
Do you realise that you already talk each other right now with almost no expenses at all? Why on earth pay for these staff when you can spend it for your family? Wake up people! Please.
Because when there is a big problem and electricity, your cell phone and computer do not work, you will ask a Ham Radio operator what is going on in the world.
