[Boatanchors] [Swan] SWAN 250C six meter rig question

Thu Apr 15 07:48:33 EDT 2010

In the 60's there wasnt much that didnt drift on any band, especially tube 
VFO's. In 1960 I decided to go SSB on HF and sold off the Viking I and 122 
VFO which was fine on AM and tolerable on CW.

Drake and Heath did well with the PTO, and after several tries the later 
NCX-5 MK II's were OK. A couple of low production companies such as Cosmos 
and Eldico came and went. And of course there was always the C word (-;

I must have had one of the few HT-37's in 1963 that was very stable and 
later went to a CE 100V and 200V in 64 which I kept into around 1988 when I 
went with a pair of Drake C Lines. Before all that I had a couple of Command 
set VFO's feeding various CE 10A, 10B, 20A and Lakeshores for HF thru UHF. 
Receivers were a Drake 2B (ugh), and a pair of 75A4's of which I still have 
and use one.

Carl
KM1H

> At one time in different phases of my amateur adventures, I built an EICO 
> 753 (Seven drifty three)  It was n't a bad rig except for the damned 
> drift. Much later, I aquired a Swan 250.  It had "good ears, but it NEVER 
> STOPPED drifting!  AWFUL thing.  How do you operate with a rig like that? 
> If you left the room for a moment, the station had drifted away before you 
> came back for sure!  I vote the 250 the worst drifter I have EVER used! 
> Needless to say, I sold the damned thing.
>
> 73,
>
> Sandy W5TVW
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Carl" <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>
> To: "Barrie Smith" <barrie at centric.net>; <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 8:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] [Swan] SWAN 250C six meter rig question
>
>
>> Just be thankful that Eico didnt produce a 6M version of the 753!
>>
>> At least the later Too Drifty production runs were a little bit better. I
>> still hear a few on the band.
>>
>> Carl
>> KM1H
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Barrie Smith" <barrie at centric.net>
>> To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 8:45 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] [Swan] SWAN 250C six meter rig question
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Carl:
>>>
>>> I used a Swan 250 for a number of years.  That was not "Drift", is was 
>>> an
>>> early, and commendable, attempt at band scanning.
>>>
>>> 73, Barrie, W7ALW
>>>
>>>> It also had the well deserved nickname Swan Too Drifty.
>>>>
>>>> Carl
>>>> KM1H
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>> From: <N4ch at aol.com>
>>>> To: <swan at mailman.qth.net>; <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 6:55 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] [Swan] SWAN 250C six meter rig question
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Hello All,
>>>>>
>>>>> Regarding the query about the Swan 250's VFO  frequency:   The
>>>>> "original"
>>>>> Swan 250 had an IF at 10.7 MHz, and  was single conversion.   The
>>>>> injection
>>>>> was low side, meaning  that for 50.0 MHz operation, the VFO injection
>>>>> was
>>>>> at
>>>>> 39.3 MHz.    The VFO itself ran at one third of this frequency
>>>>> (subsequent
>>>>> tuned circuitry  picked off the third harmonic of the VFO itself),
>>>>> meaning
>>>>> that at a transceive  frequency of 50.0 MHz, the VFO itself was 
>>>>> running
>>>>> on
>>>>> 13.1 MHz.    There's some info on all this in a product review of the
>>>>> Swan
>>>>> 250
>>>>> in the July,  1967 issue of CQ Magazine.   There's also a similar
>>>>> write-up
>>>>> of the  subsequent 250-C in another CQ review; see the August, 1969
>>>>> issue
>>>>> for
>>>>> that.   Also note that in the later 250-C there was another important
>>>>> change (besides the obvious receiver front-end changes, mechanical 
>>>>> dial
>>>>> "bandset" for the VFO, addition of the meter's receiver "S" meter
>>>>> function,
>>>>> etc.).........the 250-C's IF got moved to 10.9 MHz instead of the
>>>>> original
>>>>> 10.7.
>>>>>  This means that in the 250-C, the VFO injection is 200 KHz  lower 
>>>>> than
>>>>> it
>>>>> was in the 250 (at Fo = 50.0 MHz, the injection is at 39.1 MHz,  which
>>>>> means that the VFO itself is running at 13.033333 MHz now).    ALL the
>>>>> Swan
>>>>> tube-type rigs (350, 500, 700, the 250 series, all the  "Cygnets", 
>>>>> etc.)
>>>>> remained single-conversion; the VFO injection was always either  above
>>>>> or
>>>>> below the
>>>>> IF, with the difference always being the IF frequency  itself.
>>>>>
>>>>> 73, Herman, N4CH.
>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
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>>
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>> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>>
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
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