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Reviews For: Swan 350

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

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Review Summary For : Swan 350
Reviews: 7MSRP: 400.00
Description:
This is the Original 350 WITH THE WHITE FACED DIAL
Produced from 1964 to Summer of 1965
SSB 400W PEP INPUT (325W PEP OUTPUT)
CW 320W DC INPUT (250W CW OUTPUT)
AM SSB with Carrier 125W DC input
16 tubes and 5 bands 80,40,20,15,10 METERS
6GK6 DRIVER 6HF5 FINALS
Audio derived Automatic Gain Control
Audio derived Automatic Level Control
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.pcs.mb.ca/~standard/350.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0074.3
F6EFM Rating: 2010-08-28
Great transceiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Great transceiver since first month 1967.
That is the second "juce" of SWAN350 with one crystal filter 5.174 Khz in lieu 5 quartz and one blue band on dial.
Curiously 2N706 VFO oscillator is located ou a very small circuit board directly on back cover .
6HF5 P.A. , 6GK6 driver , output is 200 watts RF CW and 100 watts AM.
One minor mod. just to decrease AGC treshold at 6BN8 diode pin2 = 2v in lieu 20v.
That is all ...audio is better .
Very minor mod is adding 2200 ohms in parallel rear side S/Meter potentiometer and 3300 ohms in parallel carrier potentiometer front side just more easy to adjust.
That rest excellent transceiver and I utilise it for fun with ceramic microphone .
Reports are very goods.
First problem is switched VFO need to have clean contacts.
I have put PAPST 12x12 cm low speed fan just up P.A. tubes !!! if not after one half hour you can put a pan for eggs ...
Receive is very good even on 40 meters evening , I heard lot of DX stations in middle broadcast .
S/Meter have very strong coil engine but aluminium needle broke .
I have replace it by modern meter with genuine SWAN mark , no difference look !! .
Power supply is from the French import 1965/1969 , same look but very massive : 16 Kgs ...able to supply 2 transceivers .. , just replaced HV capacitors.
It look almost brand new 43 years later !!! and work great...
Remember : it was before petrol crisis !!!
73 F6EFM@YAHOO.FR
KC4NYK Rating: 2010-03-05
Caution - Men Working! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Human Error that is.

We are all guilty of not reading the instructions when getting new gadgets, gizmos and yes, even complex pieces of communications equipment. And, in fact, it's really a positive commentary on our design and engineering traditions, where things are intuitive enough that it is even possible. Of course there are limits to everything and a fair amount of "anecdotal expertise" out there.

So when one gets into the realm of boat anchors where documentation is either minimal or totally lacking, old wives tales are bound to exist and the cautions and advice of the original manufacturers may not be public knowledge.

That is certainly the case with the Swan 350 which I saw at a recent Hamfest and was highly cautioned against buying for the above stated reasons in some of the previous remarks. So I thought i incumbent on me to set at least part of the records straight after obtaining a copy of the original Operation and Maintenance Manual by quoting the manufactures directions in tuning up the Swan 350 for transmitting to wit::

"Precise tuning of a single sideband signal is very important. Do not be satisfied to merely tune until the voice can be understood, but take the time of setting the dial to the exact spot where the voice sounds natural. Above all, avoid the habit of of tuning so the voice is pitched higher than normal. This is an unfortunate habit practiced by quite a few operators. If you tune so that that the voice is higher than normal pitch, you will then transmit off frequency, and your voice will then sound lower than normal pitch to the other stations. They will probably retune so that you sound normal. If you keep this up you will both "waltz" all over the band . . . and someone will no doubt be accused of frequency drift."

So I rest my case with the conclusion that ALL older tube rigs need some time to warm up before becoming stable and that is the first thing you read in their documentation if you are fortunate enough to have that for your associated rig. But let's not keep repeating "urban myths" when there very well mat be more probable and even obvious causes for various rig "characteristics" and "personalities". B^)

That's my 2c worth.

Rob Thomas, KC4NYK
Industrial Designer
Proud Owner of a Swan 350
(400 Watts!! Holy Chrikkies mate!)
KD5FX Rating: 2010-02-12
3drifty! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just can't believe everyone else is giving these a 5! There's no way! they got the nick name of 3drifty instead of 350 for a reason! I've only messed with one of these, it was AWFUL! I've tried to talk to a few on the air, you follow them around the band and it's OK.
W9CHP Rating: 2008-11-15
Great radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had one of these several years ago and loved it. It sat right beside my Drake TR3 and I had just as much enjoyment out of operationg either one. I have a question, I'm looking to buy another 350 on ebay and wonder if my Heathkit HP23 power supply is up to running the 350? Thanx. 73
W4YJ Rating: 2007-11-30
Great old rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My dad bought me one of these way back in 1965 when I was 15 as my first HF rig. I sure wish I had that rig today! I bought a Swan 350 and PS at a hamfest for 50.00 couple of years ago for nostalgic reasons and never expected it to even turn on. Was I surprised when it worked! Just a simple alignment and a couple of new 6HF5 finals and I have had a blast with this old timer. I get fantastic audio reports and after about a 30 min warm up there is NO drift. The receive is as good as some of the newer rigs and the transmit audio is superb. Just a fun old rig to run once in a while. Sure brings back some wonderful memories of DX a long time ago. I recently stripped the paint off the rig and PS cases and spray painted them with black krinkle paint, the baked it for about 5 mins in a 350 degree oven. Man what a beautiful finish! Looks better than factory! Now I have something to be really proud of. They both sit proudly on my operating table today and I really enjoy using them.
73s, W4SEF
VK2FVIC Rating: 2007-06-09
good HF radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have two of these beasts, one is stock standard, the other has the sideband kit (i.e switchable from lsb/usb). It also has the optional marker for tuning.

That radio won't tx, but I havea full set of tubes for it, one day i will get around to replacing them.

I have another "parts" radio that I bought on ebay and imported it from the USA, when it arrived I expected nothing more than parts, but it actually fired up and after a little play, the old girlworks a treat.

Needless to say, no on air use for me yet, way too much output, I have tested it into a dummy load and the power supply has the usual "capacitor hum" of these old things.

I just love turning it on, watching the valves light up and drifting back to another place and time.............

That is what these old radios are all about !!

73 from Downunder

Anthony
Erik Rating: 2007-04-13
Great Boatanchor Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The original version of the Swan 350 in its standard form is a great radio. I covered the adjusting holes in the vfo cover. I also use a 3" muffin fan for temperature stabillity.
The drift in my 350 is standard 1khz for the first 30 minutes, the width of 3 qso's.
After that it quits drifting.

The white face dial registers in 5khz increments. There are 2 seprate lines just off center on the glass one for USB and one for LSB. It is helpful reminder of which side of the carrier frequency you are on especially at the band edges.

Dial tracking is exceptional and linear with the top of the 10 15 and 40m bands adjusted from the botton of the cabinet, allong with the 20 and 80 meter band sharing the same trimmer.

The bottom of the 10, 15 and 40m bands are adjusted from the top of the cabinet.

This may cause confusion and create a tracking issue,that could be mistaken for a drift issue.

Some other neat differences in the early model Swan 350 is the use of tapped coils and fixed capacitors in the VFO.

If you have an alignment issue with the VFO you just change the capacitors.

The 350 also has a 3khz 4 pole crystal bandpass filter made up of 4 carefully selected and resonated individual crystals with the 5th crystal acting as a shunt. This was a very time consuming and expensive process.

They bought a very large quantity of crystals and tested them one at a time to find ones that will match and resonate in every early 350 made.

It was worth it. Oh what a filter. The filter shape looks like a right triangle. The shunt crystal pushes the filter skirt away from the carrier frequency.

This gives a very steep slope and high rejection on the carrier side,And a more gentle slope on the sideband side.

Man what a sound. too bad they don't make them like that any more.

It sounds better that the 2.7k 8 pole capsulated filter they switched to in the later Models.

The early 350 uses the 117-C power supply with the 3x5, 3.2 ohm, 3W communications speaker.
this offers a very nice 300hz to 3000hz audio range. It significantly reduces any crackle and hiss to a faint woosh. QSO'S are much easier to listen to. the 6h5f finals have a solid 325W
PEP output.

If you use an external noise filter you will need to add resistance to the audio output coil. Plugging something into the jack takes the 3.2 ohm speaker out of the circut, leaving the secondary winding wide open. Following the suggestion in the factory instructions for the cw monitor mod (don't need to complete the mod).

I added 27 ohms to the black ground and 330k to the green lead of the secondary so it is loaded at all times like the later Swans.