[Elecraft] K3 Break in with an amp question

[Augie "Gus" Hansen]

On 3/17/2012 9:20 AM, WILLIS COOKE wrote:
> My advice is to try it with the K3 only and put the Amp aside for the moment.  I reviewed the SGC web site to find out about the amp which I have never heard of.  It sure looks like it may have been manufactured for the CB market, but of course, I am not sure by only looking at the SGC advertising.  They make no mention of ham radio or CB, but the do talk a lot about the Base Station, a term that no experienced ham would use.

The amp that Don mentioned is the SGC SmartPowerCube, which is a 
very good ham radio power amp. I used one for almost a decade in my 
shack (base station, if you will) and occasionally portable, though 
never mobile. The amp is solidly constructed, auto senses the 
frequency and does band/filter selection on the fly, and protects 
itself from abuse extremely well. The SGC product line was designed 
for the hostile marine environment. The amp is definitely not a CB 
brick.

The SG-500 works very well on SSB as well as digital modes, but it 
was not designed for full break-in CW. I had toyed with the idea of 
modifying the keying circuit for QSK by using fast vacuum relay 
switching, but dropped that plan when Elecraft announced the KPA500. 
(I sold the SG-500 to a friend who has little interest in CW and a 
need for more power in his mobile station, and it has served him 
well for several years.)

73,
Gus Hansen
KB0YH