Much to my surprise the old Swan came to life with no smoke, no flame. In fact, no drama at all. After applying power, there was a tense 30 to 40 seconds when the S-meter pegged all the way to the right. But slowly, The needle began to move to left and the audio came up. The old familiar smell of old transformers, warm dust, and tubes heating up filled the air.
The first order of business: test the receive and tuning circuits. Starting with the band switch in the "28" setting (10 meters), I turned the dial. Not many signals found here but everything felt ok. On down the band switch I went. It was late in the evening. When the band switch hit the 40 and 80 meter bands I hit pay dirt. The squeal of the BFO against the strong AM shortwave broadcast stations, the familiar dah-dit-dit of Morse Code, and SSB phone - men who sounded first like the chipmunks and then like a deep baritone as I turned the dial - all came booming in.
So far so good. The old Swan spread her wings and brought the world into my small ham shack. Feeling a sense of both relief and satisfaction, I thought that was enough for the night. I hit the power switch and turned the old girl off. I swear it looked like she winked at me as her lights went out.
Next update: Will she talk?
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