[Swan] Cooling of thy Swan

[Ken, WA2LBI]

Peter,

I have a Swan 500cx and use an outboard fan sitting on top of the rig directly
above the finals. Since hot air rises I have the fan oriented to draw the hot
air out of, not blow air into, the chassis. The fan has a thin foam strip on
the surfaces that contact the cabinet so the finish is protected. My WM-1500
watt meter sits on top of the rig directly in front of the fan so it (the fan)
is barely visible from the operating position.

The fan is a 12VDC computer type, approximately 5" square, and is run at reduced
speed via a dropping resistor. That keeps down the racket (jet turbine sound!)
but moves enough air to keep the rig cool. The power is obtained from a 12VDC
supply that runs ancillary items around the shack such as meter lights, etc.
You could also obtain the power from the filament line. Another common solution
is to use two 120VAC fans in series. In that case you could put one on a second
rig.

I haven't checked the size but there are some rather small 12VDC fans may fit on
the rear screen of the 500cx final cage. I would try to mount two of them side
by side oriented to pull the air out and run them in series at 12VDC. If that
worked it would be invisible from the front of the rig.

Good luck and keep us posted on the solution you select.

Ken, WA2LBI
wa2lbi@arrl.net



Quoting Peter Veach <n9qzd@spbbs.com>:

> I have been giving some thought to mounting cooling fans to all of my
> Swans. I feel the benefit would be a far more stable radio, not to
> mention longer life. Before I start this, I was wondering if you folks
> have some input as to how you have done this, what kind of fans have
> you tried, and how are you powering the fan.
>
> Thanks for any input. I think this is a worth while topic. Proper
> cooling should improve the performance of these beauty's.
>
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