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Reviews For: Mirage B5016 G

Category: Amplifiers: RF Power - 6M/VHF/UHF+

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Review Summary For : Mirage B5016 G
Reviews: 16MSRP: $289.00
Description:
50 watt in 160 watt out 2 meter power amp.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00162.8
N0TTW Rating: 2005-01-23
Works like a charm Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My wife and I have been using this amp for 2 years and have found it working adequately for 2m SSB. It is a little non-linear for SSB. Works great for FM and CW.

It's been driven to full power, but now runs at 75% of full power (125 watts). Haven't had a problem...YET.

This amp was designed to be adjusted before using it with a radio. Even the manual says that. It's not like the newer amps. If you don't, it will sound horrible.
SWANMAN Rating: 2004-03-10
Not bad Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I pretty much run this amp about 75% of the time that I'm on 2-meters, and with the exception of the led burning out in the on/off switch I've never had a lick of trouble with it. Works great on SSB too!
ICOMDUDE Rating: 2003-12-13
GREAT amp! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Never had a problem with my 5+ year old amp. A real smoker on 2-meter SSB!
K1UHF Rating: 2003-07-23
Junk! Nasty on 2M SSB Time Owned: N.A.
Poorly made, poorly engineered.

I never had good reports on SSB using this amp. It measured very non-linear confirming the bad reports.

It had a SSB/FM switch on it which would make you think the amp was designed to work properly on SSB, wrong! It turns out the switch has NOTHING to do with switching between class C operation for FM or AB linear for SSB. The switch only changes the time delay on the RF sensed T/R switching. It should be labeled the delay switch, long or short.

The amp had the cheapest possible bias circuit. For another $2.00 worth of parts they could have added bias to provide linear operation.

I am glad the amp burned out after a couple of years. I replaced it with a Teletec amp and my reports have been excellent since. Get the Teletec if you want high performance and reliability. Stay away from phony SSB switches.
W2MSK Rating: 2002-04-07
JUNK! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Sorry to write this review but I have had the exact same experience as the previous reviewer. Turned the amp on one day, after several months of working correctly, never a problem with antenna or equipment and, blewie, it went up in smoke. Sent it back to Mirage, after 2 1/2 months finally got it back with a bill for $175! You guessed it, the finals shorted. Why? Always an SWR or 1.1-1.2. Very poor service on top of everything else. Stay away!
WB4CGA Rating: 2001-08-13
absolute junk! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased one of these amps to use mobile. Always wanted high power on 2 meters from my vechile. Worked Ok for a short while and I did not push it very hard, short transmissions and only used it when needed. Then purchased a second one for use in the house. One day a little after a year had passed the amp in the house went up in somke during a short qso. A friend familiar with these things said your power transistors shorted and he had more than one do that on him. Said mirage would fix it for about $175.00. I told him that this amp did not even have 2 hours of total trasmit time! Since I had it a little over a year, the warranty was expired. I put the thing in a closet and pulled the other out of the car. Can you quess the rest of the story! That right, it too went up in smoke with even less use than the first one. Paid $279.00 each for them and they both went into the trash dumpster. One other little point. The receive preamps are worthless. On the first amp I purchased it stopped working in a couple of weeks, not that it did any good. Never added any quieting to the FM signals, just made the S Meter read higher. Both wound up where they belong, in the trash dumpster.
I then discovered TE systems amps. If you want a good amp. I highly recommend them.

73 Pete