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SG-500 SmartPowerCube


Did use a friends once, so can't really say much about it except that it was certainly convenient. He did say that paying attention to the antenna was a 'must-do' thingy! Didn't particularly 'like' mismatches.
He was 'into' SGC stuff for a while, had the tuner and antenna thing they offered (mobile). I can definitely say that the tuner would load some 'odd' things, but the resulting performance of those 'odd' antennas wasn't the greatest in the world. He went back to the 'old style' mobile setup and was happier with it. Nothing to do with how SGC stuff performed, but how he used it, sort of.
- 'Doc

(if you try it and don't like it, I would be happy to take it off your hands. Wouldn't charge you much at all!)
[that ain't gonna work, but it's worth trying, huh?]
 
I haven't used it personally but have talkded to a few guys that have. They said they work well but the install was critical. The price was just too much for me when I was buying a mobile amp, so I went with the Ameritron ALS-500m. Now Ameritron has their 1KW amp for about the same price as that power cube. Something to think about...
 
I use the Ameritron with a Hi-Q 4/80...works great. The Ameritron is smaller than the power cube which was important to me. The remote control head works just fine, although the meter is a little goofy. The meter isn't a power meter, it's an ammeter to monitor transistor collector current. I have no idea if it's accurate, and it's certainly not useful. At least it tells you if the amp is working.

One thing I've found is that the amp is very sensitive on 40/80 meters to SWR. Anything close to 1.5 SWR and it trips the SWR protection. The guys that I've talked to that use the SGC power cube tell me the same thing. So before considering an amp, make sure you have the ability to get as low an SWR as you can.

Adding a cap hat to the antenna also helped get the current up and away from the base of the antenna, which helped on 80 meters to prevent the amp from tripping the load fault protection.

I guess the thing to think about before adding power (especially for the lower bands) is that you need to make sure your entire installation is already very good, and then there might be some troubleshooting aftward to get it all working properly.

Have fun, and let us know what you end up doing!!
 
Mole, thanks. my HiQ 5/160 is already 1.0-1.3 on 75/80. I do use a shunt coil which was a major PIA, but definately seems worth all the effort from the reports i get from others. There are days though that my signal is barely above the noise so i wanted a little extra push. Even though i drive a suburban remote head space is at a premium with mics, heads and the AVmap G5 and still keep everything within safe driver reach & away from airbag deployment zones. That all being said, the ALS 500 MRC is alot cheaper per watts gained than the cube, but also still a pain having to switch bands. We'll see what the ole bonus is this year.
 
If you want auto bandswitching for the ALS-500, you can always purchase the ARI-500 accessory. It's only $120 and reads the band info from your rig and auto switches: Ameritron

BTW, what radio are you going to use with the amp?
 
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OK, so that 7000 antenna controller also has the amp relay you'll need. Too bad you lose the CIV port on the radio, though. I guess you can always buy Icom's pricey CIV buss if you really need CIV for more than one device.
 
mole,
this is why i want the SGC 500. Here is a little excerp from Welcome to KØBG's Web Site
My current amp is the SGC SG500. It has much better fault protection than any currently available mobile amp. Probably its best feature is automatic band selection (it also has RF keying which I don't use). Having a built-in CPU to do this for you is a godsend. No matter how you do it, no matter how careful you are, sooner or later you'll transmit into the wrong bandpass filter with predictable results. Use the automatic feature, and that just can't happen. By the way, the SG500 is the only (legacy) mobile amplifier which can be keyed directly by an Icom 706 or 7000(y) $$$$
He is also the one who offerd advice on mounting and tunning my HiQ antenna.(y)
 
On the ALS-500m, if you key it on a band other than the one you have it switched to, it trips the fault protection immediately. I've only done this once and it worked flawlessly. The manual outlines how it works. BTW, the remote head is only about the size of a deck of cards.

Also this statement:
By the way, the SG500 is the only (legacy) mobile amplifier which can be keyed directly by an Icom 706 or 7000
Click to expand...
is not correct. You just need something like this:
Relay in the Cable for Icom
which is exactly what I use for my 706.
 

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