[Boatanchors] Swan - Drake

[Terry O'Neill]

I couldn't find any info on Herb Johnson's call while
he lived in Ohio. He had the call W7GRA while in AZ &
W6QKI while in CA. One of the old, old timer's may
know.


Here's an interesting link: It has links to photos
showing Barry Goldwater's Corvette Stingray being
outfitted with a Swantenna & a SW-400 at the Swan
factory in CA. Also a photo of Herb Johnson & the Swan
staff outside the factory.

http://www.geocities.com/latemod97/swangang.html

The Drake factory is just off Ohio Rt 123, just South
of Dayton Ohio. I used to live & work nearby. They
quit making ham & shortwave gear a while back. The R8B
receiver may have been their last effort in the
shortwave category. They manufacture satellite & cable
TV stuff now. Bob Drake's call was W8CYE. Drake's
service manager, Bill Frost,WD8DFP, still gives talks
at the Dayton Hamfest. 

As an aside, many ham equipment pioneers came from the
midwestern U.S. Besides Drake & Herb Johnson (Swan)
there was now SK Al Kahn,K4FW, from South Bend, IN.
Mr.Kahn started Electro - Voice in 1930. The name
actually came from Knute Rockne who coined the term
when Mr. Kahn set up a PA system for the coach so that
his players could here him better on the practice
field. Mr. Kahn went on to co-found Ten-Tec. 

Also Bill Halligan (Hallicrafters) from Chicago,
Heathkit, Benton Harbor, MI, Edgar Johnson (E.F.
Johnson)Waseca, MN, Multi products (Multi-Elmac), Oak
Park, MI, Astatic, (famous D-104 mics) Youngstown, OH.

These are a few I remember.

I'm sure I'm leaving some out.



Terry
W8EJO


--- Michael Harley <mickh at bribie.net.au> wrote:

> Hi Guys,
> Thanks for your collective answering my Question on
> the Swan -Drake connection. I have two Swan 350's
> (but only one power supply since I blew up the main
> transformer in the other one) I converted my first
> 350 over to a pair of 8950's instead of the original
> 6HF5's about 25 years ago so have had a long history
> with Swan.
> I was looking at a Drake picture web site the other
> day and came across a photo of the Drake R-4C and
> was taken by just how close they looked with the
> horizontal line drawn across between the top and
> bottom of the face and how it dipped down in a "U"
> shape around the main tuning dial.
>  I spoke to Barry Goldwater (Callsign lost in the
> foggy past now) back in the 1960's when he was
> running for the US Presidency on my Swam 350 but
> never exchanged cards due to being mobile at the
> time.
> Thanks for your help guys and keep the filaments
> glowing.
>     73's,Michael Harley
> Curator "The Wireless Shack"
> Caboolture Historical Society,
> Brisbane Australia
> -- 
> This message has been scanned for viruses and is
> believed to be clean.
> 
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> ** List Administrator - Duane Fischer, W8DBF/W9WZE
> **
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> $$ For vintage radio info, see the HCI web site $$
> http://www.w9wze.org
> 
> 



 
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