Ah! The smell of good old vacuum tubes!

I just bought a Swan 500 from a very nice fellow on Craig's list.  I got it with the power supply and a nice D104 Mic. I am really looking forward to see if, and how well it works. I have not played with tubes since I re-cap'ed a Zenith Transoceanic receiver some 5 years ago.

It looks just like the pictures below though it is plain Jane, not the 500C. Here are the particulars on this old workhorse:

 THE SWAN 500

Introduced in 1967 as a deluxe version of the 350, the 500 offered 480 watts PEP-SSB power. The 500C, which was first sold in 1968, offered the same power output but had a 2.7 Kc bandpass for both transmit and receive, 50 db sideband suppression, and grid block CW keying. Pictured here is a deluxe version of the 500C, the SS16, complete with the 16 pole crystal filter. The 500CX was the final version of this series, and it offered the following improvements in 1970. New AGC circuit with faster attack and controlled decay, amplified automatic gain control (AAGC), 25 kc and 100 kc crystal calibrator, carrier suppression exceeding 60db, improved product detector, and increased AF gain with less distortion. A review of the 500C appears in the April 1969 issue of CQ.

Frequency Ranges

• 80 meters 3.5 to 4 mc
• 40 meters 7.0 to 7.450 mc
• 20 meters 14.0 to 14.450 mc
• 15 meters 21.0 to 21.450 mc
• 10 meters 28.0 to 29.7 mc

Power Input

• Single Sideband, Suppressed Carrier:
  520 watts PEP, minimum all bands
• CW:
  360 watts, dc input all bands
• AM: (single sideband with carrier)
  125 watts dc input all bands

Distortion

• Distortion products down more than 30db

Unwanted Sideband Suppression

• Unwanted sideband down more than 50db

Carrier Suppression

• Carrier suppression greater than 60db

Receiver Sensitivity

• Less than 0.5 microvolt at 50 ohms impedance for signal-plus-noise to noise ratio of 10db

Transmitter Output

• Wide range Pi-network output matches antennas essencially resistive from 15 to 500 ohms impedance, with coarse and fine load adjustment.

Vacuum Tube Complement

• V1 6EW6 vfo amplifier
• V2 12BE6 transmitter mixer
• V3 6GK6 driver
• V4 6LQ6 PA
• V5 6LQ6 PA
• V6 12BZ6 receiver rf amplifier
• V7 12BE6 receiver mixer
• V8 6EW6 first IF amplifier
• V9 12BA6 second IF amplifier
• V10 12AX7 product detector / receive audio
• V11 6BN8 AGC amplifier / rectifier
• V12 6GK6 audio amplifier
• V13 6JH8 balanced modulator
• V15 12AX7 mic. amplifier / transmit audio
• V17 12BA6 100kc crystal calibrator

Power Requirments

• Filiments: 12.6 volts, 5.5 amps, ac or dc
• Relay: 12 volts dc, 250 ma.
• Bias: -110 volts dc, 100ma
• Medium voltage: 275 volts dc, 150 ma
• High voltage: 800 volts dc, 550 ma. peak transmit
• Recommended supplys: 14-117 12 volt dc supply, 117X basic ac supply, 117XC matching ac supply / speaker, 14-C dc converter (for 117-X).

Dimensions and weight

• 5.5 inches high by 13 inches wide by 11 inches deep
• weight 17.25 pounds 

I really hope it looks like this when I plug it in... 

 
 and not like this...

 Fingers crossed. Updates to follow!