Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: SGC SG-237 "Mini" Smartuner

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : SGC SG-237 "Mini" Smartuner
Reviews: 41MSRP: $339.99
Description:
Antenna Coupler
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.sgcworld.com/products/sg237/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00414.4
KF5GTX Rating: 2013-11-02
Fantastic tuner! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My elmer suggested purchasing this tuner for my Hustler 5BTV. Once we got it installed and operational, we tuned it on each band and found that it allows my Hustler 5BTV to operate on 160m, 30m, 12m and works very well.

I still need to build the control box for it so I can control it in the shack, but it is a GREAT tuner for the money in my QTH.
VK3WHO Rating: 2011-03-31
very efficient mobile operation Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought two of these units, one for us on my van and the other to setup at a friend place. The tuner works well on all frequencies from 7Mhz up on a 9 foot whip antenna although it sometimes refuse to auto tune. At 80 meters, the tuner isn't very efficient and can get quite warm when using an IC7000 for extended periods on SSB. I used this setup when traveling across Australia and it worked well. It allowed me to able to communicate back home on most night while being mobile over a distance of 2000 Km. It also relieved the monotony of traveling across central Australia where the roads are dead straight for 1000Km through the desert. As I mentioned before, my only complaint was that it some times locked up on 80, 40 and 30 meter where it wouldn't start to auto tune although the VSWR was bad enough to considerably reduce the power out of the IC7000. To work around this I moved the frequency past where you wanted to go so it would start to auto tuning and then bring it back..

To have the unit fixed in place in a home location on the roof was difficult to install, the main reason was to find a suitable earth.. This is pointed out several time in the documentation. The radio, a TS440 was located in the attic and would start operating erratically due to the large amount of RF not finding a suitable earthed point. It seems that this tuner suffered this problem a lot more than co-axial type antenna tuners that I have used in the past. I have tried using the tin roof in conjunction with the earth and decoupling the tuner from the radio with some improvement although it still isn't perfect.

The other problem with this tuner it will not tune with the power out of FT 817ND which makes a little disappointed as this is not a cheap tuner especially in Australia where they add extra 50% to the price . The FT817ND reduces power when a VSWR match is not found and the SG237 I found is only nominally rated at 3 Watt minimum input and usually required 5 Watts or more. I am now using a power supplied modified LDG IT-100 for this purposes and it works well.

In concluding, the tuner works well in mobile situation and seems to be very efficient on 7Mhz and above, is difficult to install if you can't find a very good earth in a home location and doesn't work with QRP radios.


KK5JY Rating: 2010-11-15
Extremely faithful. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have one mounted in the bed of my truck for my mobile whip. It's not always fast, but it always finds a solution at 40m or better with my bed-mounted SS whip. It has done well with 80m solutions with slightly longer whips. I have used mobile whips from 6' through 30' without complaint. I did many contests mobile when I was apartment-bound. SSB, RTTY, CW, and this little tuner endured them all, in summer, winter, rain or shine.

I have also used this tuner with dipoles, although if you use a balanced antenna, choke the cable. SGC says that's not necessary, but I have had the experience of others with feedline radiation. Choked the feedline at the tuner and problem solved. Wrap its 9' cable on a toroid or use a prefab choke like you can get from DX Engineering.

Like it's big brother, the 230, this tuner needs a button or jumper of some kind that will allow you to force it to forget all of its memorized tuning solutions. This would make moving from one antenna type to anther easier if they have similar impedance characteristics. The "reset" on the SmartLock does NOT erase memories, it just sets the relays to "neutral." I have had less trouble with the 237 than with the 230 in this respect, so this tuner probably gets a 4.7. But it endured all my mobile use, and has matched (within reason) all my requests to tune unloaded whips, so I give it a 5.0.

I have also used it with an attic dipole and it tunes to 1.1:1 on all bands. Maybe I'm just lucky, but that's pretty awesome for a random-length (probably not even balanced) attic wire dipole.

Make sure you understand SGC's power limits for this unit when connecting to your 100W radio. I have not damaged one yet, but I have pushed it a little hard. If you want to go 100W RTTY in contests, you might want to think about going up to a 230 or 235.

A little pricey for a tuner that can only endure 40W continuous, but it is also perfect for my mobile application, mounted outside the cab of the vehicle. The entire base plate is the "ground" side of the antenna connection so it is easy to bond to a flat vehicle surface.
N6KZB Rating: 2010-09-03
SGC 237 & random wire Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Needed to create a portable "all-band" antenna. Was willing to accept a compromise. The SGC-237 is feeding 55 foot of multi-strand #18 Ga. wire. The tuner is mounted on a second floor balconey. I use an additonal 25 foot of RG-8x coax and 2-stranded wire to extend the DC. The "end fed" wire runs towards the upper portion of the property and is tied off with an insulator to a 20 foot piece of top rail, tied to the property fence. The tuner and wire are about 30 feet off the ground. I use 3 counterpoise wires, above ground, each of differing lengths, and at differing angles. Longest 60 foot, mid size 35 foot, short one 18 foot. This seems to allow the tuner to find a match from 80-10 meters. I run an ICOM 7600 into it, and tune in AM mode when needed. The memories hang in pretty good to minimise re-tune solutions. It works. I did have an RFI issue on 30 meters, which I solved with a 30 meter counterpise wire from the radio ground lug, around the base board. Operating from a second story location is never ideal for grounding. I would recommend this "coupler", it is working as advertised.
N5VJA Rating: 2010-03-08
WOW! Perfect! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have tried to find something this will not load up and failed! G5RVjr, Rain gutter, CB vertical antenna on 40 meters and still making euro contacts.

Worth every penny!
KK8ZZ Rating: 2009-11-09
Great with fixed Vertical Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Works very well with a Zero-Five 43 foot antenna... you'll have to protect it from rain and snow, but other than that, it's a GREAT bargain used ! Just remember you need to supply 12v to it to let it operate... a little 4.5 amp 12 v battery in a Tupperware container and a 12V solar "trickle charger" was enough to keep mine operating 24/7/365 ... and you won't need the tune-lock thingy if you're using it at home... speedy tune !
N3NJ Rating: 2009-06-15
LOVE IT! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have my smartuner mounted at the base of a 135' inverted L antenna and I can tune 160 thru 10 with no problems and I get great signal reports. I did take the time to install at least 8 ground radials in addition to an 8' ground rod. The unit is about 50' away from my house and shack. The vertical portion of the antenna is about 30' high. I am very pleased and I highly recommend this tuner. 73, Mark N3NJ.
K3ROJ Rating: 2009-03-22
Solved my antenna problems Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had used a Cushcraft R8 vertical for 5 years but wanted to experience 80 and 160 meters for a change. Asked HRO in Delaware what would be a good tuner to try with different antenna wires etc. Right away they mentioned the 237 and said it is their best seller for mobiles and fixed stations. Just experimenting with a total of 210 feet in a closed horizonal loop type antenna which fit in my back yard, it is amazing how many stations I can now work around the world. Since the tuner is located in a shed 60 feet from the house, I was able to have 12 volts for it and a good earth ground. It has worked without any problems now for over a year and stations on 160 meters are surprised I am only using medium power. One advantage of a closed loop is the lack of noise and can hear stations which others in my area cannot hear at all. Am now using the tuner and antenna with my new Flex Radio 5000A.
KP4DAC Rating: 2009-03-20
Better than Icom AH-4 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just replaced my home base old Icom AH-4 after it broke with the SGC-237. What a difference!!!. With 30ft of wire wrapped around a palm tree I was able to tune down to 1.5MHz. I did my first 1000 miles contact on 160 meters, reporting 59. Not bad for 100watts Icom 706MKIIG. After you tune all the bands first time it recalls the tuning settings in one second. Strongly recommend the SGC-237 over the AH-4.

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by KP4DAC on 2007-02-18

I have been using the Icom AH-4 antenna tuner with the IC706MKIIG on my plane and planes that I ferry to Europe. But had problems with the AH-4 below 7Mhz with a 16ft wire from tail to cockpit. I just replaced the AH-4 with the SG-237 and right away I was able to transmit down to 2.7MHZ with 1:1 SWR. The SG-237 also works very well in all the other bands. It takes a little bit long on the first tune but once it has it in memory is pretty quick recalling the settings. I have an AH-4 at home with 35ft of wire and it works perfectly. But after trying three AH-4 on planes I found that the SG-237 is the way to go for short wire antennas.
N1BBR Rating: 2009-01-30
An awesome little tuner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I think I've been playing with tuners for 30 years. My first rig was a WWII PT-boat 3-piece set.
I've been cranken/switchen rollers and caps ever since. My spare parts bins are full to the brim with tuners and tuner parts. But the purchase of this little unit, SGC's SG-237 brings me into a new arena of haming.
It is MHO that most commercially manufactured tuners today are a really designed to handle optimum antenna parameters. This is especially true of the in-board units. RF Engineers may like to make things robust, but the marketing manager disagrees. He wants to spit out stuff thats as cheap as possible for the best ROI.

With these types of compromised units, one antenna after another plays as a compromised station, where one or maybe two of your favored bands is un-matchable.
But now with the SG-237......
Currently I'm running a 130' doublet fed by 68' of 450 ladder.
I've put the 237 through its paces on 160, 80, 40, 30 and 20, and It's found an SWR of < 3:1 every where. Once it learns its settings, your ready to play without reaching for a roller-crank or switch.

Now I want to play with it on some other antenna configs. The delta-loop, and then a long wire, and then a hybred dx half-square. It will be fun to see the different propogation characteristics of these configs now that I don't have to focus so much on matching.

Thanks SGC....for the new toy! :^)