[Elecraft] K3: 630m amplifiers

[Mike Morrow]

Don wrote:

> Those first point contact transistors such as the CK722 were rather 
>'finicky'.

Point-contact transistors could be variable in terms of electrical characteristics, but mechanically they were a lot better than mythology presents.  Regardless, the famous 1953 Raytheon CK722 was *not* a point-contact transistor.  It was a Germanium junction transistor.  It is very unlikely that anyone here ever worked with point-contact transistors...they disappeared quickly after the junction transistor appeared in 1951.

Alan wrote:

>> Reminds me of comments I heard hams make about transistors during the 
>> tube-to-transistor transition 50 years ago.

They were late talking about it then.  I don't recall that argument having much strength left by 1965.  The Raytheon SBE-33 HF ham transceiver came out 52 years ago, followed by the SBE-34 two years later.  They were all transistor except for driver and finals and were very successful ham rigs.  And the most successful military tactical VHF-FM sets of all time...the AN/VRC-12 series and AN/PRC-25, all transistor except for finals, were fully developed by 1961...and remained in some US service until 2008!!!

Mike / KK5F