From: furr@pilot.njin.net (Grover Furr) Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc Subject: Swan Users' Group and Net Keywords: Swan Net Date: 5 Nov 91 12:04:22 GMT Organization: Montclair State College, Upper Montclair, NJ Lines: 12 This is a reposted notice about the Swan Users' Group and Net, Sundays 2100Z on 14.250 MHz. For more information about the Users' Group, send SASE to me at 121 Oakland Terrace, Newark, NJ 07106, or send an email message to me at: furr@pilot.njin.net 73, Grover Furr aa2gp From: furr@pilot.njin.net (Grover Furr) Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc Subject: Swan Users' Net and Group Keywords: Swan Date: 20 Dec 91 18:35:28 GMT Organization: Montclair State College, Upper Montclair, NJ Lines: 226 SWAN NEWS Dear Folks: I was licensed as a novice in January, but kept too busy to set up a shack til summer. My first rig, bought early in June, was and is my Swan 500C, with a simple MFJ tuner and a multiband dipole with the center up about 30 feet (one end is only about 11 feet off the ground -- I wanted to get on the air fast)! I had great fun for two months with the Swan -- made lots of DX contacts as well -- but I burned out the finals in a month. The manual wasn't much help for a non-electronics person like me. I was blowing the 10 a. fuses on the plug to the power supply a couple a week, and my signal was visibly going weak. I could hardly hear on 10m and 15m; I had a hum in the audio with ear- phones; the meter was way off. The manual didn't even tell me how to turn the power up and down! I was afraid to "neutralize" or try any of the fearsome-sounding "tuneup" procedures in the manual. I didn't even really know how to "zero-beat" it. Obviously, I needed a users' group. I wrote ARRL, and was told they knew of no Swan group or net. They did send me a printout of modifications and articles on Swans from the bibliography From Beverages to Oscar, but practically nothing on the 500C. I wrote CQ Magazine and they kindly sent me the 1969 product review on the 500C, but it turned out to be little more than a promotional piece of description. In August the second pair of finals were shot, and I decided to try to form a Swan Users' group. I put an ad in QST to appear in the October issue. I also sent letters to any address in QST for '91 that looked like it had anything to do with Swan. The result of this search is more than I had hoped for. I found out that there was already a Swan Users' Group in exist- ence, and a Users' Net as well. This is the first and most impor- tant of the bits of useful information in the list below. Other facts follow in no specific order. 1. SWAN USERS' NET AND GROUP Sundays, 2 PM Pacific Time (NOT 2100 Z), 14.250 MHz. Net Control: Dean Lang WA9AZK 3256 East, Bell Oaks Circle Sandy, UT 84092 There are hams acting as East Coast Net Controls as well (I can't hear Dean with my rig and antenna -- maybe you will). The net is a place to exchange modifications, buy & sell requests, swaps. There is a newsletter. One of the net members, Monte Rouska, sent me the back issues. Only 4 have come out so far; the job has rested pretty much on Dean's shoulders. More are planned. They have useful technical information. Please send Dean $2.00 for the next several issues. And offer to help out if you can. If you want back issues, send me a 9x12 SASE with 3 stamps on it and I'll xerox them for you for free and send them along. IMPORTANT! If YOU have service, modification, or repair suggestions, jot them down and send them in to Dean for inclusion in future newsletters. I have gotten several by mail and email. 2. SWAN SERVICE BY A SWAN FACTORY TECHNICIAN John Bruchey 490 Verde Drive Oceanside, CA 92057. Phone: (619) 757-4717. "Doctor John" serviced Swan equipment during the years Swan was making it. He still works for Cubic Corp., Swan's parent company. But he continues to service Swan equipment! I spoke to him by phone several times, described my 500C's problems, and finally sent it off to him in early October. He fixed all its problems, made several important modifications, tuned it, and sent it back. It wasn't cheap -- I spent $212.00, including UPS shipping both ways and (another) new set of finals, matched this time. My rig runs great on all its bands now. On the whole it was worth it. If I had any technical knowledge, as many of you doubtless do, I could have done some of it myself. Also, my set had some fairly serious problems. "Dr John" is the name given him by the folks on the Swan Net. He knows these sets backwards and forwards, and deserves the title. 3. Swan Manuals Service Bulletins, etc. Original Swan manuals for all Swan equipment, together with original Swan modification sheets, can be got from: Brock Publications P.O. Box 5004 Oceanside, CA 92082. Grace Brock is retired from Swan/Cubic Corp., and is the official source for all Swan, Siltronix, Atlas and Cubic/Astro manuals and other publications. There are several different manuals for each model, depending on the different factory modi- fications. She is a fine person. Get your manuals from her. 5. AUDIO FILTERS My 500C definitely needs an audio filter. I've gotten a lot of information about three of them, one of which (the Heathkit) is recently no longer available. I have heard good reports about both the Autek QF-1 active audio filter, and Ed Wetherhold's passive audio filter (discussed in the '91 ARRL Handbook, and available from Ed in kit form). Edmund Hajjar, K1MMI, wrote me and said the Autek works great on his 500C. 6. LIST OF ARTICLES ON SWAN EQUIPMENT IN HAM MAGAZINES The ARRL has sent me a list of all articles in QST,73,CQ, and Ham Radio concerning Swan equipment. I assume it's taken from the computerized version of From Beverages to Oscar: A Bibliogra- phy. It is in the latest issue of Dean's Swan Newsletter; write him for it and send $1.00. 7. DIGITAL FREQUENCY DISPLAY FOR SWANS AVAILABLE Herb Johnson W6QKI, founder of Swan year ago, now runs Atlas Radio and sells Digital Frequency displays for many old radios. The one for the Swans is $199. Address for further information: Atlas Radio Co. 1556 Lower Lake Ct. Box 670 Cardiff, CA 92007 Phone: (619) 944-9622. Thanks to Ed Hajjar K1MMI and Stanley Parker WA6EDM for this information. 8. SWANS LIKE IT WARM There are lots of jokes about the Swan "Two-Drifty" and "Three-Drifty," and my 500C drifts plenty, too. Dr John says that warming it up for 45 minutes or so before using it basically stops the drift. 9. WHERE TO BUY TUBES No doubt there are many good places in major cities locally, as there are around here. I have bought brand-new 6LQ6 tubes (Phillips) for $17.50 apiece locally. Some mail order places are a few dollars cheaper, some a few dollars more. Here is a list of places whose price lists I wrote away for this summer, and which advertise the tubes in my 500C. C&N Electronics, 6104 Egg Lake Rd., Hugo MN 55038. 800-421-9397; 612-429-9397. Steinmetz Electronics, 7519 Maplewood Av, Hammond IN 46324. (219) 931-9316. Kirby,298 West Carmel Dr., Carme IN 46032 Antique Electronic Supply,6221 S. Maple Av., Tempe AZ 85283. (602) 820-5411. Fala Electronics, POB 1376, Milwaukee WI 53201. These are just the places I have got price lists from. There are a number of other firms that advertise in the ham magazines. Get their price lists and compare. Don't forget to include ship- ping costs; they vary considerably. Try places that advertise to BUY tubes; they may sell as well. Try electronic supply houses; several in my area carry new tubes. 10. MISCELLANEOUS 1. Several respondents wanted to know about modifying Swan rigs for MARS use or the WARC bands. I have no info on this. Contact John Bruchey. 2. Many respondents asked me how to locate various pieces of Swan equipment. The Swan Net folks discuss this all the time. If you're serious, you might want to write Dean Lang to ask him for a copy of the full list of Swan Net check-ins to date, and send a letter to all of them. Or, ask Herb Johnson of Atlas Radio. Or, write Cubic Corp. in San Diego. Or, call up John Bruchey. New hams are often intimidated by the cost of new transceiv- ers. They should be encouraged, and helped, to find and put into use excellent older equipment. Swan transceivers are recommended as good, inexpensive "first rigs" in both Doug DeMaw's fine Help For New Hams and in the ARRL Operating Manual. There should be more information about how to obtain older equipment and put it into use. Also, as I have found, you learn more about radio and electronics, and appreciate the hobby more fully, when you begin with an older rig that is not all "automatic." I plan to send the address of everyone who responds to Dean, Net Control/ Founder of the Swan Users' Group. I plan to help out to build this group and net into an even more valuable resource for the use of all Swan owners. Please pass this information along to everyone you know who has Swan equipment. 73, * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Grover C. Furr Home: 121 Oakland Terrace Work: English Department Newark, NJ 07106 Montclair State College ARS AA2GP Upper Montclair, NJ 07043 email: furr@pilot.njin.net furr@apollo.montclair.edu * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *