The AM Forum

A Swan 500C can be set up for AM (actually the carrier & one sideband), but does it sound okay?

I need something to play with while I wait for parts for my class E/F to come in.

Yes, the Swan 500C (like many SSB transceivers) has the potential to be a super AM Transmitter.  I ran a 500C with the SSB filter replaced with a .01uF capacitor, unbalanced the modulator to produce the correct amount of carrier (about 35 watts) and ran it into a linear.  Had very nice sweet audio.  A monitor scope is a must to set it all up correctly.  I did use an external receiver with the 500C "Transmitter".
Good luck.  Pat WB9GKZ.

 i have used both Swan 350 (same as a 500) and Cygnet 270 on AM with a pin diode switch to bypass the filter on AM transmit. the front panel carrier balance control and lack of any ALC in those rigs makes them very good on AM with little effort. audio mods to the speech amp are the same as for any other boatanchor. another good way to do AM on the cheap.

I just recently acquired a Swine 240. Hmmm.....................

Yeah, I have my 270B set up for AM right now. According to the manual, best AM audio occurs when there's very little kick in the meter movement during voice peaks.  There are two downers though. As I mentioned in another post, a friend of mine who's a Swan nut (and has used them on AM) told me AM is kind of hard on the sweep tube final(s).  Also, the bandwidth of the receiver filter is only 2.7 kHz, so the audio on receive isn't the greatest.  This I can vouch for personally.

73,
Ellen - AF9J