Part of our The Xiegu G90: The Complete Guide.
The G90 is a budget radio and it occasionally acts like one, but most of the complaints I see online are either fixable in five minutes or aren’t really problems, they’re just the tradeoffs that come with a 20 watt QRP radio. Here’s what I’ve actually run into.
Receiver Overload on Strong Signals
Parked next to a strong local station or during a big contest weekend, the G90’s front end can show its budget roots with some overload artifacts. Backing off RF gain helps more than people expect, and it’s the first thing I check before assuming anything’s actually broken.
Tuner Not Finding a Match
Usually this isn’t a radio problem, it’s an antenna problem. If the tuner can’t find a reasonable match, I check the antenna and counterpoise length before touching anything on the radio itself. Nine times out of ten it’s a wire that’s too short or a missing ground reference.
Firmware Quirks
Like most radios in this category, occasional firmware updates fix small annoyances rather than major bugs. Worth checking Xiegu’s site before a big trip so you’re not troubleshooting a known, already-fixed issue in the field.
Battery Voltage Sag Under Load
Cheaper battery packs can sag enough under transmit current to cause odd behavior or shutdowns. Since I switched to a proper LiFePO4 pack sized for the radio’s actual draw, this stopped being an issue entirely. If you’re seeing weird resets mid-transmission, check your power source before you check the radio.
“20 Watts Isn’t Enough” Isn’t a Radio Problem
This one comes up constantly and it’s not a defect, it’s physics interacting with expectations. Right now, an active solar cycle makes 20 watts perform well above what it would during weaker conditions. If contacts feel harder to make than they used to, it’s worth checking band conditions and the solar cycle trend before blaming the radio.