General Electric Germanium Transistor Advertisement
November 1953 QST

"If you're not using transistors already, chances are you'll consider them for amplifiers and oscillators in future circuits." So says the line in an advertisement for General Electric vacuum-sealed transistors in a 1953 edition of QST magazine. To say the claim was prescient is an understatement. A lot of people resisted the switch to transistors for many years - especially hobbyists who had grown accustomed to working with vacuum tubes. Maybe GE figured pitching the newfangled devices as being "vacuum-sealed" would help the hardliners soften their opposition to them. Not mentioned in the ad is that these three transistors - the 2N43, 2N44, and 2N45 - are all germanium-based. It wasn't until May of 1954 that Texas Instruments (TI) announced the commercial availability of grown-junction silicon transistors.

General Electric Advertisement

• They're brand-new ...

• space-misers ...

• long-lived, with stable performance ...

G-E Vacuum-Sealed Transistors

Colpitts Oscillator using a G-E junction transistor. Note extreme simplicity of circuit.

Best Yet For Your Compact New Rig!

If you're not using transistors already, chances are you'll consider them for amplifiers and oscillators in future circuits. And G.E. has ready for you a new, better product - vacuum-sealed junction transistors, with all-welded metal construction.

Tiny But Tough! Look at the picture! G.E.'s new transistors are under 1/2 inch wide, with a seated height even less. Yet power ratings are up to 3 times those of other types ... the new construction make possible a collector dissipation of 150 mw.

Advantages: G-E vacuum-sealed transistors are moisture-proof ... free from solder-flux contamination ... operate perfectly at all temperatures from hard-frozen ice to boiling water ... will outlast your equipment, with stable performance right on through their life.

See Your G-E Tube Distributor for facts and prices. Radio amateurs with G.E. helped design these new transistors - added assurance they will meet ham needs for maximum space-saving and circuit simplicity! General Electric Company, Tube Department, Schenectady 5, N. Y.

2N43 with high gain

2N44 with medium-to-high gain

2N45 with medium gain

Be Sure to Nominate Your Candidate for the 1953 Edison Award!

Only those amateurs will be eligible whose names are submitted to the judges by letter. Terms of the Award were published on this page in September. Your letter may win the trophy and gift for a friend who has rendered important service ... and your cooperation will help build wider recognition of the valuable work which all amateurs are doing in the public interest.

Electronic Tubes of All Types for the Radio Amateur

General Electric

1878 -1953

75 Years of Electrical Progress

Diamond Anniversary

Posted March 22, 2023
(updated from original post on 1/9/2017)