[Hallicrafters] FPM-200 transistors

[Rocco Lardiere]

All,

I have been working on a recently acquired FPM-200 and have noticed the cross modulation on strong signals, no doubt due to the germanium transistors as noted by many others.

Does anyone have a recommendation for more modern substitutes for the following:

2N1742, 2N1743, 2N1744, and 2N1745?

The 2N1742 is the RX first RF amplifier.  Here are some of the spec's:

Germanium, P type

TO-9 case

VCE max = 20

hfe = 10 min (probably a lot more)

Noise figure @ 200 MHz = 5.5 dB

You can see that these are nothing to get excited about these days.  But I am not sure about tried and true substitutions for these transistors - hopefully, easy to obtain.  I can buy originals for semi-reasonable prices, but would prefer to update at least that first RF amplifier.  Of course, I do not want to modify the circuit boards in any way - these rigs are a real challenge to work on.  But the transistors plug in and are easy to exchange.

Any suggestions out there?  IAnybody know what the FPM-300 used for the front end, and how well it worked?

73,

Rocco N6KN