[Elecraft] K2 vs K3 re: final COST

[Augie Hansen]

>>> ... which had a brass plaque
>>> which read "... in this lab in 1953 (or whatever
>>> the correct year was), the first transistor
>>> IC was invented".   Wow - time marches on!
>> 1959, IIRC. 
>
> Actually, the transistor was "born" in the Labs in late 1947. It 
> became available at an affordable price to kids like me (and grownups, 
> too) by the early 1950s when Raytheon produced the CK722. I bought my 
> first one at the tender age of nine to build transistor projects that 
> appeared in articles in Popular Electronics and other magazines of the 
> day.

I hate having to correct my own email responses, but I missed an 
important detail in the original post: It refers to the first transistor 
"IC." So the correction indicating 1959 is right. I recall a side trip 
tour of Bell Labs at Murray Hill in early 1961 when I was trying to 
decide where to go for an EE degree program. One of the  labs we toured 
was involved in perfecting integrated circuit design and fabrication 
techniques, and we were told that they had been working on this project 
for few years. The primary goal of that particular project was to 
improve the high frequency performance of the devices.

Gus Hansen
KB0YH