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Reviews For: Swan 350C

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : Swan 350C
Reviews: 8MSRP: 350.00
Description:
A 350 watt transciver covering 80 through 10 meters.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0084.3
N9QID Rating: 2024-07-07
Fun to use. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Swan 350C is an interesting radio to use. I have had it long enough to make over 200 contacts with it so far. The output is enough more (200 to 250 depending on the band) than the normal 100 watts most radios put out to get through a pileup when you want to. This is a definite advantage on those days when conditions are less than optimal. Interestingly enough the manual instructs the operator to tune for max output, and not to cut the output way back as it would damage the tubes. Yes, it has lots of tubes. Tuning is straight forward, not hard to do, but needs to be done quickly. A cooling fan is a must have.
It is difficult for me to use it for CW, but on SSB I have had people tell me how nice and clear the audio sounds to them. It is an easy radio to listen to as well but has no selectable filtering to help with close stations.
The person who was having trouble with "splattering" may have been in between AM and SSB as this is controlled with a knob you rotate, instead of a switch. This is definitely different than modern rigs, and it can get you into trouble. It is best to check your output on a scope, or at least listen to it with headphones on a receiver with no antenna connected before you go too far.
In review, no cutting power way back, no noise blanker, no selectable filtering, no AGC control, weird switching between AM/SSB, no fan when it came from the factory, thus the radio is OK.
So, if you want experience HF like it was 50 years ago, get one of these and have fun.
AD4DQ Rating: 2022-03-12
A beast of a radio. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I own 2 of these and wow they can put out the power with the 6LQ6 tubes. I use 6MJ6 with 300 watts out. They have a very low noise floor and I love to operate this rig all the time. No drifting at all after warm up. A blast to operate and work DX. They have the best sounding receive of any radio as well. Not all this white noise and scratchy high pitch audio with no body like new radios and some other tube radios.
WB6JZL Rating: 2022-02-23
I'm still using mine Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought my 350C at Henry Radio in Anaheim when I was a teenager in the late 60's. Bagged groceries for the money at a local market. I still run mine as my main rig. One time, a fellow ham friend of mine and I drove to the Swan factory in Oceanside and knocked on the door. The person there invited us in and gave us a factory tour. I got to see where and how my radio was made. I'm still running the same 6LQ6's in it and it's working fine. I did go off the air for 29 years but cleaned it up a couple of years ago (mostly rotary switches needed cleaning) and tested the electrolytics before powering it up on a dim bulb tester. No problems at all. What HAS changed is all of the digital noise in my area. Though I'm rural, there's all kinds of it and it's not coming from my house (it goes away during a power failure when I'm on my Generac). I need to track it down but it's been very difficult to locate.
K7DAA Rating: 2014-08-25
Great old rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I got my 350C as a 16th birthday present from my grandfather, who was never a ham, but who understood my radio passion. It was a great rig that was rock solid, and didn't drift at all after a decent warm up.

The only thing I ever really missed was the lack of an RIT, which would have allowed me to better follow the others that either drifted badly, or those who could never quite figure how to zero beat an SSB signal!
KC5EJT Rating: 2008-08-09
GREAT Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This radio is a great example of efficient design using 1960's technology, something the average guy could afford. Some very clever design techniques. But no, it doesn't compete with todays radios, and you do have to TUNE it and it won't splatter or cause TVI.

A VERY solid design with NO technical issues except VFO drift with age. Most guys tackle this the wrong way, it's frequently a problem with the VFO bandswitch, it just needs cleaned.

The one I got has the reverse Sideband option installed, but I can't imagine I would ever use it.

Excellent receive selectivity, not as good as collins, or a modern DSP rig, but fantastic selectivity and sensitivity for a 60's vintage radio.

Appliance operators, and CBer's won't like it but it's a great vintage radio for real HAMS. And they can be had pretty cheap on Ebay these days.
K5TUE Rating: 2006-10-30
doesn't compete today Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Bought one of these about 20 years ago, it drifted badly, had poor filtering on tx and rx, and as I recall, only did CW and normal SSB (no reverse SSB).

I had to run an inline filter to keep it from 'wrecking' all the electronics in my house, including my alarm system. I earned my 'WATTS' award running this radio. (WATTS=Worked all Televisions, Telephones, and Stereos)

Also, ops who were 30 kc above or below me would qsy to my freq just to tell me (sometimes nicely, sometimes not) that I was splattering badly. Yes, I 'may' have improperly tuned it now and then, and yes, it 'may' have had some technical issues, but hey, modern radios dont do this crap! And talk about wide receive...NO filtering whatsoever! Traded it off, never looked back.

Interesting boat anchor, but dont put it on the air.
WB0FDJ Rating: 2006-04-04
Solid, basic, dependable Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
From 1972-73 a 350 was the club station for K0UDL, NW Mo State University's ARC, courtesy of one of our members,(K0TR). It's not a fancy radio, but it was built like a tank and had that crystal clear audio quality that the OT's will recall. Running a dipole at (maybe) 20 feet, we logged a lot of time on the 350. As I recall ours didn't have either a CW sidetone or any signficant filters. No matter, for SSB ragchews it was a definite winner. This was the jeep of radios; no frills, but you always got where you wanted to go with a minimum of fuss.
WA6IPD Rating: 2005-05-11
A great radio in the 60s a great radio today. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Swan 350C was one of the best in its day, 350 watts 80-10 meters. The above photo is my Swan which I purchased new in the late 60s, I picked it up at the factory in Oceanside CA. The cost was $350.00 with the matching 117XC power supply and it was as small as some of todays rigs. They used television sweep tubes as finals and some amateurs had problems burning them up during tune-up, but I never had that problem and the original tubes are still in mine. The 60s was a very exciting time in amateur radio for many of us, up until the 350 I like others had built all my receivers and transmitters but now I was working stations I could only dream about working on amplitude modulation. Each night I ran phone patches for the men in Antarctica and when we went to the moon I ran patches for the men on the recovery ships in the Pacific, the 350 opened the world to us at a cost everyone could afford. Its a great radio, reliable, fun to use and played an important part in the history of amateur radio.