Back in the late 60s the Swan company built a transceiver that was meant to be used on the 10-meter ham band. Problem with 10 meters was that when the band opened, nobody knew to call CQ. CB, a megahertz below, had lots of local traffic whether the band was open or not. Swan marketed the model "1011" with a receive-only band for CB. The idea was to listen for skip on the CB side, then move up to 10 meters and call CQ when you heard distant 27 MHz stations.
Big mistake. Swan underestimated the widespread resentment of hams, still pi$$ed about losing what had been "their" 11-meter band in 1959. The Swan 1011 sold like a turd in the punchbowl at a wedding.
Swan dropped it.
A savvy entrepreneur named Sam I. Lewis saw how easy it was to disable the lockout that made the radio receive-only on 11 meters and hired Swan to make this radio with his brand name printed on it. Wasn't hard to predict how well a 100-Watt radio that had 27 MHz in it would sell. His initials "SIL" became the name "Siltronix". More Siltronix products made by Swan followed, as well as the more-familiar "Palomar" stuff made in a different facility in Escondido.
Since those days, the use of unattended beacon transmitters has been made legal on 10 meters. Nowadays you need only listen for a distant beacon to know when conditions may be favorable to call CQ on ten meters.
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