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write your own review of the Swan 100MX series.
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K5SBR
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 12, 2011 10:11
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A workhorse!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've been using a 100MXA since 1980. For 15 of those years, it lived on my 25 foot sailboat and went to C6A and all along the Gulf Coast from Texas. It doesn't mind low supply voltage. Smartest thing I ever did was remove the speaker and put a 250 Hz. bandwidth 455 kHz. passband tuner above the noise blanker; uses the dial light switch for in-out. With the DBM front end, the 100MXA is bullet-proof. It was good for over 100 QSO's in the 2011 10 meter contest in a few hours; weeding out DX between the KW's. Use it every day and would recommend it highly. Simple, servicable, great quality. Now I've got two.
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W3BR
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Rating: 4/5
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May 26, 2011 04:48
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Sturdy old rig
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Got this unit and power supply for $50.00 at a club auction. As a new Ham I had my doubts but I was looking to get on the air ASAP. I have worked Croatia, Peru, Ireland and many US stations with good reports. I use an Antron 99 for 10,15 M, a 5/8 dipole for 20 M and a slinky mounted vertically on 2" pvc for 40/80M. I added a tuner and it helped immensely The only issue is maual tuning and no modern features. But it is a keeper and I will use for backup or mobile when I get a better rig
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KH6JRM
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Rating: 3/5
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Apr 5, 2007 17:38
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good, basic rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've had the Swan 100MXA since 1981. Nothing fancy here...just a good basic rig that's fun to
use. I use the old swan as a back-up rig and for
the Hawaii Island afternoon net on 40 meters. I've
used the rig mobile a few times where it does an
acceptable job. This old swan can't compare to the
newer transceivers on the market today, but it's
still fun to use for ragchews.
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ON6AB
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Rating: 5/5
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May 17, 2006 05:30
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Quality
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I bought this rig almost a month ago from the first owner who had it for over 25 years. It looks and works like new. I wonder what a new (plastic) rig will look like 25 years from now...
The inside looks very neat and it is put together with great care. All quality components.
The VFO is rock steady and as said before in a previous review, it doesn't seem to drift at all.
The receiver is very sensitive on all bands. I can not pull anything out of the noise on my Icom 746PRO that I can't hear on the Swan.
True, on 40 and 80 it gets overloaded quite easily. However, addition of a 12dB switchable attenuator (activated by the light switch) solves this problem completely (to my surprise).
Although the sound is good, the build-in speaker is not powerfull enough and an external loudspeaker is a usefull addition.
Another advantage of this rig is that you still can play around in it. Doing so, I added an 8 pole AF CW filter which fits neatly on the carrier pcb.
I ended up with a very IMD free, very sensitive, very CW capable, very fun-to-use rig.
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KA2AYR
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Rating: 4/5
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May 4, 2005 21:20
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Very Nice Basic Radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I still have my Swan 100MX with power supply and antenna tuner. I got it from a friend 26 years ago and it was my first "modern" rig. The radio works well, but has some drift. Only had one problem ever and replacing the PIN diodes in the RF switching with SK or NTE replacements fixed it (remember when we could actually fix these things and get parts that worked?)! Mine still works and is a great rig to get back to basics with.
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WA2DTW
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 14, 2004 20:29
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Compact, reliable, rugged
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This was the radio that got me back into active hamdom in the late 1970's after a long period of inactivity. It is one of the first of the all-solid state tranceivers. It has a small footprint, and a warm glow from the dial. It was rock-stable, and I always received good audio reports. Although I used it as a base-station, it is well-suited to mobile operation.
What a shame that this excellent company no longer is around to make amateur products!
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KB0PGO
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 14, 2004 19:02
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Fun and practical
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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As a radio repairman and a ham I have always loved this radio. It is basically a Atlas 350xl design with an improved VFO system. It also has a hardwired chassis which does not give the problems that all the plug in modules have in the Atlas radio. It is a simple, small, and practical radio for portable use. It operates well although it has none of the bells and whistles that a modern radio has. It is just a fun and easy radio to operate - what else can one say!
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WA0ROI
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 15, 2003 02:23
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Noise-Blanker?
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I really liked this radio because of its simplicity .. the last of the REAL radios? The only problem I ever experienced in operation was the noise blanker .. I'd even thought of looking to see if there were any wires on the noise-blanker switch! This problem was consistent on the 3 I owned over the years. Other than that .. good audio, etc. Great radio, but not for mobile. The later version of this radio (Astro-150) by Swan and Cubic was the same re: the noise blanker .. EXCEPT FOR ONE. I had one Swan 150 in which the noise blanker worked fine. Over all, a great radio for someone that wants a classic but doesn't have much room. I believe that final transistors are no longer available (so I've heard) so take care.
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GW4JPC
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 7, 2003 16:34
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Tough & Simple to Use.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought one new in April 1980 as a stop gap when I was rebuilding my main station rig.I was very happy with the HF band performance (10-15-20) but less so with 40 as the receiver was overwhelmed by strong signals.Perhaps with a mobile antenna the sig levels would be less of a problem for the front end.
Transmit audio was good used with a Shure 444 mic,gaining many unsolicited compliments.
Build quality was excellent, far better than the Far Eastern competition.Very solid with good quality PCBs (real thick Mil Spec looking glass fibre boards).
The PA protection was not up to todays standards and the Motorola MRF455s were expensive so care had to be taken in the SWR presented to the rig by the antenna system.
They are rare in the UK but would be an ideal mobile or second rig if you can live with out the WARC bands and most of 10 meters.I seem to remember that it only covered 28.00 to 28.53MHz as supplied from the dealer.
The mechanical tuning read out was good,very easy to reset to a given frequency.
All in all a very solid little rig.
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K7JUB
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 6, 2002 19:28
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Mobile Bliss
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I have been running a 100MXA mobile and portable for a year now. There are only two things I need to fix/add to make it better. I need to fix the RIT circuit which only shifts down, and add a Clear Speak speaker with its DSP filtering to help control the noise while mobile. The radio normally resides in my Dodge Ramcharger and is rugged enough to withstand off road driving. As noted in other reviews it is very simple to operate by feel. I have also dragged it along on a couple of business trips as carry on luggage and it has performed flawlessly on the road. I have purchased a smaller rig to carry along on trips since 9/11 (a Patcomm 9000), but it was only because the airlines have been limiting the amount of carry on luggage. I like American radios, and except for one dual band portable, everything I own is American made. The Swan 100MX is a great low maintenance radio that would have most likely evolved had Swan/Cubic survived. It would be nice to have the WARC bands, but 20 meter SSB is normally all I run mobile. So.. If you find a good deal on one of these, snap it up!
PS: I could buy 5 or more of these for the cost of one those mobile rice boxes....
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