Early Friday morning, July 24, 2020
My XYL was tied up with continued education classes today, and so I spent part of the afternoon working to repair the speaker cable for the Swan 350 that recently arrived.
On the original Swan 350, the speaker audio from the rig exited via the Cinch Jones connector from the power supply. The audio ended at the speaker connection. For some reason, a previous owner routed the audio outside the original signal path on a shield coaxial cable. My guess is that it reduced speaker hum, which was an issue with some Swan rigs, depending largely on how the wires in the power supply cable were arranged. At any rate, someone had cut the audio cable that permanently connected the power supply and rig. I should have installed a plug to allow the two units to be separated; if I have a chance I’ll do that cable with a longer one, and I’ll install an RCA jack on the rear of the Swan 350.
The old Swan worked great on receive, and I tell you, even static crashes sound good on the old rig. The Jackson gear drive on the VFO is stiff, and I think I’ll need to remove it and lube it to free it up. The center knob slips in some areas where the drive binds.
The biggest issue so far is that the Swan shows no sign of life on transmit. I haven’t removed the covers to check high voltage on the output tubes or a visual scan for something amiss, but hope to in the next few days. The problem could be something simple.
SB-102 JUNKER. Years ago I bought a junky looking Heathkit SB-102 on eBay, along with the SB-600 speaker and power supply. I remembered putting it in a cabinet in the barn several years ago, and I finally took time to go out and look for it. Well, it was right where I left it.
The intent was to get a parts rig, but the truth is I’m not sure what it is other than rather rough looking. My son and I brought it upstairs to Studio C this evening, so one day soon I’ll put it on the bench and see if there are signs of life.
Something I’m going to need to find is a tube tester. The old Knight tester I had was destroyed when our cellar flooded several years back.
Hello, eBay?? hi hi!
73 es CUL … de KY4Z …. SK … SK …. (dit dit) …