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write your own review of the SGC SG-500 Smart Power Cube.
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KF6IKC
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 1, 2008 21:22
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Great amp!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Great amplifier. I use one for base operations powered from a Mean Well 100 amp 14vdc switching P/S. Makes for a very small setup. The power supply is 12"x 3.5" x 5" and only weighs 8 lbs. I do not use any of the "auto" functions so I can not comment on those. I have the remote unit and switch bands that way. And key the amp via the radio. I like the unit so much that I just bought another one for a back up. It seems there have been 3-4 "updates" in the history of these amps. From the auto function switches to final transistors used. One of the units I own has the Motorola MRF-454 and was built in 1996. The other unit uses MRF-458's and was built in 1998. I am told the newer units use Toshiba 2SC2290's. Motorola no longer makes transistors.
The unit with the 454's makes more output then the one with the 458's.
When driving the unit(s) per the manual...ie...turning up the drive to just before the attenuator kicks in yeilds about 800 watts PEP with the 454's. The 458 unit gives me just under 700 watts PEP.
I only drive them with about 40 watts and get 600+ watts out on just about all the bands.
Overall I am VERY happy with the SG-500. Easy to use. Lots of built in protection. Good output. And built VERY well.
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K3GK
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 11, 2007 17:35
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Additional documentation
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I'm very pleased with my purchase. If you purchase the domestic version and follow the test protocol be aware that both the RF sensing circuit and the auto band switching are disabled. I run mobile, with a 100 amp/hr battery and a solar panel to keep the battery near 14 volts, which is necessary to achieve 500 watts out. My Yaesu FT-857D uses the CAT port for an adequate PTT without an interface. Local field strength reports give 2 S units over my FT-857D running 100 watts. The antenna is a Tarheel 100 and that adds another S unit at least over a small screwdriver. Great for contests and mobile Dxing using one 20 watt solar panel. Well crafted and self protected, you will soon be very fond of the little amp. SGC customer service is formulated and self protecting as sometimes happens with a mature product line. I owned a Ten-Tec Hercules and this amp performs as well in a slightly smaller footprint. As for the customer service, as stated in other reviews I miss the southern hospitality, but the engineering competence of the product more than makes up for it.
George/ K3GK
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EI6DP
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 24, 2007 06:52
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Great Service
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Time owned: months
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Hello Brethren,
My SG500 arrived today from R&L Electronics. I must say that in today's world of the "fast buck mentality" R&L are a rare company. Their service was exceptional, courteous and fast. The SG500 was very well packed and more importantly the price was right.
Regarding my opinion of the SG500, well, what can I say. It is a very solid block of top quality American engineering, built for the real world, as is all SGC equipment.
WELL DONE to all at R&L
73
Gerald EI6DP
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KB7UED
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Rating: 5/5
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May 16, 2006 13:21
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Great amp!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I read the reviews before buying this amp for over a year. I found that those who were unhappy either had high SWR. Low voltage or amperage, or some other install issue. I have had nothing but great reports from the day I hooked it up. It has withstood heat and cold, rough riding in the cars, and is easy to hook up and transparent to operate. You simply will not do better in a 500 watt stand alone amp. I don't even mention when it is on or off, as it does not "sound" like an amp. Of course, I usually have better luck with this sort of thing than most. Like the SG-2000, if you want lots of knobs to fool with, or to micro manage your radio with tens of worthless settings, then this isn't the amp for you. However, IF YOU JUST WANT TO GET OUT QRO-style, then this is the one. No noises, no loud fans, and no hassle. Just feed it to a match with enough volts and amps and you will play with the big dogs! I would buy another in a minute!
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KC8HXO
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 8, 2006 15:07
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Outstanding unit!!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I think it performs exactly AS ADVERTISED. (Many of the things people have "marked it down" for in their review are explained in the manual.) It runs a cool 500W+ all day here on any band you would like. Put it along the MFJ ALS-XXX amps, and you will know which one is built to last. Enough said.
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XV2PS
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 7, 2006 04:36
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excellent on manual
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Bought it 1,350 US incl. cooling fan in Singapore, and brought it in Vietnam.
first view: heavy, solid, cooling fan could be betterly shaped with less space taken.
Brought home between an IC 718 and a Log periodic 7el.
First test on a 100AH battery: 12.6V gave only 400 watts voltage down to 10.6V.
I bought EP 850 regulated power from Manson. 40 amps continuous, 50 peak. I put them in parallel (shop garanteed it could be done).
Bang! 500w sharp with 75w drive on digital, just before attenuator switches on.
All on automatic mode, the delay was not really on pushing the PTT, but at releasing it. It cuts part of the reply I get. But with the PTT control on manual: perfect at begining and at end.
On SSB: 75w drive OK, but 100w drive makes the peak quite often at 500w (on ssb!) without attenuator on. Could be shooting near as a 700w? And with a clean signal.
Comments:
all connections being on front panel is a bit messy for a base station. Cables even hide part of leds...
Power connection might have been put near the side to avoid this. Coax sockets might have been better in the back. But Ok, for mobile, the current setting is better.
Hardware such as power switch, access plugs, fan connection, manual/automatic switch might have been replaced by something looking higher quality.
Leds: always red. Why not green, and keep the red ones for the alerts or problems? Then no need to read all the time.
Once on 10M SSB, I kept the manual filter selected for the band under. It ran the unit down, drawing fairly more than 100 amps. This could be a serious problem....
All in all, it seems to be solid stuff and well delivering its 500W, and probably peaking over in ssb. In automatic mode, you get some delays on PTT, but with manual setting, all is fine.
It is at least a 4.5 to 5 rate.
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G0CGL
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 16, 2005 06:40
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Has some points to be aware of
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The RSGB magazine 'RADCOM' often features equipment reviews by Peter Hart G3SJX. Such is the quality of his articles that they are world-reknowned. It came as a shock that the December 05 issue contains a Peter Hart review of the SG-500 that is actually a desciption of features and measurements of two-tone SSB performance and power output and nothing more. It is certainly not a typical Hart review and tells nothing of what one can expect when using the amplifier. I thought therefore to write of my experience with it:
I have had my SG-500 since 1997 and it has all this time been in the back of my 4x4 and has had to endure 80000 miles of travelling, some of which was true 'off-road'. In this 8 year period it has had times of daily operation for weeks on end and lengthy times of no operation at all, sometimes for several months. It's had cold, heat, condensation, vibration etc - it has always performed faultlessly.
Faultlessly doesn't mean it isn't without it's quirks. Without the supplementary fan, more than 1 hour's normal send-receive SSB operation can lead to thermal cut-out. Automatic operation with RF sensing isn't perfect and I have developed a habit of transmitting a short 'ahh' before speaking my intended sentence so that my first word isn't cut-off. It can be over-sensitive to an imperfect, but otherwise reasonable, SWR that causes the safety cut-out to trip.
On the other hand it has it's plus points. More than 500 watts on every band with low input drive which gives the battery source for the transceiver longer life before discharge. I run my amplifier on a deep cycle marine battery and the SG-500 will keep going well into the battery's discharge state, down to 10 volts in fact.
If I written this review in 1997 I would have rated it 5 despite the quirks because, whilst it is important to know about them they don't really detract from the overall performance. However I have rated it 4 because whilst it was good value for money in 1997, here in the UK the price has risen 30% since then. Considering that radio equipment generally has fallen in price, that the exchange rate is favourable to imports from USA and that it's competition (ALS-500) is nearly £500 cheaper, at the price today it cannot be considered good value anymore. Which is a shame because overall it is a superb amplifier especially for mobile or portable operation.
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N4QT
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 8, 2005 05:23
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Great Amp!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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My SG-500 is a little over two months old now. It is a trouble free amp. It is totaly microprocessor controlled and all solid state. I am getting excellent audio reports and breaking pileups almost as well as I did with my now sold Alpha 87A. Once it is set up you can forget it. 50 watts of drive from my PROIII gives me a solid 500+ watts on all HF bands. This amp has been around for at least 10 years.It is a bit expensive if you add the fan kit which the amp really needs but is very well built. You get what you pay for and this amp is worth the extra expense.
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N4RAP
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 2, 2005 14:54
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Mine is Great
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I beleive, that when you find a good thing...you need two or three of them. Works great, but don't try that with a girlfriend or a wife. I had one in my truck for the last 7 years and it has never malfunctioned. I installed my home made fans and it takes a likin' and keeps on tickin'. I can transmit on the coax alone or the coax and the antenna mount alone or the car frame or the dirt under my car and it protects itself!!! I costs a lot but has a 5 year warranty and that's got to be worth something!
I liked it so well that I bought another one to use at the base station. the second one developed a "brain tumor" of some sort after about two months of operation. It kept on shutting off, just as soon as you would key the mike. I sent it back and it was fixed in about 3 weeks. SGC said that some component in the brain had gone bad and the amplifier was shutting itself down for protection against the imaginary and non-existent final transistor problem. Anyway it was a quick and simple and Free fix and it has worked without anymore problems for the last 6 years. I put it in my Lexus about 4 months ago and its still going strong.
Even though I had a small problem...I would not hesitate to buy another one. If one of mine were to get struck by lightning or blow up today...I would buy anoter Smartcube tomorrow and would not take any substitues.
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KG5JJ
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 7, 2003 00:18
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Solid, but no QSK
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is a well built amp, but no QSK (semi break-in only). For the price charged for the SG-500 and the PS-50 recommended supply (which HAS to be supplemented with either another parallel PS-50 or a marine battery for worry free 500 watt CW) it should come with QSK standard. Even selecting the filter banks manually would be an acceptable trade-off if it would allow QSK.
The amp is well-protected from operating faults, and I suspect that the auto-filter select, and all the sensing/switching protection circuitry probably negate any fast T/R switching for QSK.
This is an otherwise rock-solid amplifier that may be placed out of the way under the bench, to leave room for more goodies on it.
73 KG5JJ (Mike)
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