The Swan 350 Transceiver

by Ramon Gandia, AL7X

Back in 1966, I was plugging along in College, but by then things had gotten easier. The first year of college can be very challenging, but by this time I was starting to be a Junior, and I knew I was going to make it (I graduated BSEE). This left time for hobbies, and I dreamed again of Ham Radio.

But surely, being a college kid, albeit with a Car, and a salary from my part time work at WAWA, still did not really make a room sized station practical.

A college buddy of mine, at the W9ODD college ham club, introduced me to Amateur Electronic Supply (now Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) - a new store in the North Side of Milwaukee, This place was indeed a real toy store, packed with hams and all sorts of radios and goodies. The owner then (retired now, but still alive), was Terry W9DIA. He demoed me a Swan 350. I was hooked ... I loved it! And for good reason, this rig was everything he said it was, an much more.

It was compact, simple, and powerful in performance and in its 350 watts of Single Sideband and CW Morse code. It kept me company in college, and when I came to Alaska in 1967, it came with me and I made DXCC with it. DXCC means that I not only talked to 100 different countries, but got the confirming QSL cards to show for it - almost as much a challenge as the radio contact itself.

Oh, it had its aggravations ... if you are a ham, or know about such things you will see that it has no RIT (receive incremental tuning), and the headphone jack and the telegraph key jack are in the back panel: most inconvenient. But it was rugged! I never burnt a tube out in it, and it worked every time I turned it on. This rig would still be competitive today!

Last revised September 6, 2021

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