[Elecraft] A trip into Yesteryear

[Roy Morris]

When I read about the radios of yesterday, I just had to say a few words.  I love my K2 and K3 radios, but they work flawlessly.  Sometimes its just plain fun tinkering with a radio to make it work better.  About 47 years ago I had a Swan SW-240.  That radio was built like a battleship, looked great and worked well for a 1962 entry into the "state-of-the-art" single sideband world.  It cost $495 back then, but that was cheap considering the KWM-2 was $1150.  Those who had the money and wanted the KWM-2 had to put their names on a dealer waiting list.  The SW-240 became an instant success even though it only had three bands.  It was not "rock stable" like the K3 is today, but back in the 60s nobody became irritated with slight VFO drift with SSB emmision because the receiver VFOs were drifting along with the transmitter VFOs.  They usually drifted in the same direction, but if not you would simply keep your hand on the VFO knob.  I wanted to revisit the Swan SW-240 so I bought another one last week.  Thank goodness the tubes were all good because retubing would cost all the gold in Fort Knox.  The radio had not been used in many years, so I powered it up with a Variac.  I put it on the air and the VFO drifted very fast.  I opened the VFO compartment and resoldered all the 47 year old connections.  That did the trick.  This old radio works as well today as it then.  It works well on all three bands, and I get great audio reports with an Astatic D-104 mic.  I am now going to see if I can get a Swan SW-175 single bander on the air.  These "Oldie Goldies" are a lot of fun, and they DO take you back to yesteryear!  Roy Morris  W4WFB