CK722 transistor

[John Adams-2]

I once broke a leg off my ck722, I was a teenager and couldn't afford to buy another one, so
I peeled the blue metal cover off and some gooey stuff, and there was a smaller, silver metal
cased transistor inside.  It's leads were long enough and I used that.
I really enjoy my K3.
John.
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[wayne burdick]

I obtained a CK722 when I was about 9 years old. It was the first  
electronic part I ordered. The only place I could think of to get one  
was Heathkit, and somehow I managed to talk them into sending me one  
as a replacement part.

It was a few years later that I ordered my second part: a disc  
capacitor. From Digikey! (This was about 1970.) Unfortunately, they  
sent me the wrong part -- a monstrous, oil-filled electrolytic.

Wayne
N6KR

On May 26, 2011, at 2:45 PM, John Adams wrote:

> I once broke a leg off my ck722, I was a teenager....
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[Leigh L. Klotz Jr WA5ZNU]

John Adams-2 wrote

I peeled the blue metal cover off and some gooey stuff, and there was a smaller, silver metal
cased transistor inside.

Photos?  Here you go: http://ck722museum.com/page6.html

The site has internal broken links, but if you look at the URL and replace the geocities address with ck722museum.com the links are there.

Leigh/WA5ZNU

[Joe Malloy]

Gee, I think it was just before I was licensed (in 1964) that I
ordered my very first KC722 -- from PolyPaks in Lynn, MA, if I recall.
 It arrived with one lead missing, so I wrote (you couldn't afford to
call back then, at least at the age of 16) and received another, in
good shape.  Then, a few years later, I built a keyer/multivibrator
circuit from the Handbook and need some Fairchild ICs -- they had a
office neaby and I called -- took a while to find whoever could
"authorize" the sale -- and then drove to pick them up.  It clearly
wasn't a retail operation!  (That was when I lived on Long Island, ca.
1968.)

The good old days!

73,

Joe, W2RBA

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 6:12 PM, Wayne Burdick <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I obtained a CK722 when I was about 9 years old. It was the first
> electronic part I ordered. The only place I could think of to get one
> was Heathkit, and somehow I managed to talk them into sending me one
> as a replacement part.
>
> It was a few years later that I ordered my second part: a disc
> capacitor. From Digikey! (This was about 1970.) Unfortunately, they
> sent me the wrong part -- a monstrous, oil-filled electrolytic.
>
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
> On May 26, 2011, at 2:45 PM, John Adams wrote:
>
>> I once broke a leg off my ck722, I was a teenager....
> ______________________________________________________________
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>

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[Bob-2]

They got my first order correct.  I'm taxing old dormant gray matter. But what
was their first sales?

If I have it all correct the founders started out selling a PCB and parts kit
for a design of a keyer
that was in QST, called Digikey. It used Motorola MC 700 series RTL logic on an
about 1.5 inch
square.PCB.   Being the Pack Rat I am I'm sure it is still here somewhere

May Elecraft's growth be as great!!   I think it is well on its way.

73,
Bob
K2TK  ex KN2TKR (1956) & K2TKR



On 5/26/2011 6:12 PM, Wayne Burdick wrote:

> I obtained a CK722 when I was about 9 years old. It was the first
> electronic part I ordered. The only place I could think of to get one
> was Heathkit, and somehow I managed to talk them into sending me one
> as a replacement part.
>
> It was a few years later that I ordered my second part: a disc
> capacitor. From Digikey! (This was about 1970.) Unfortunately, they
> sent me the wrong part -- a monstrous, oil-filled electrolytic.
>
> Wayne
> N6KR
>

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[k6dgw]

9 years old, eh?  Apparently savvy engineers show their talents early
:-)  My grandmother bought one for me when I was 13, $10 or so I think,
I built a crystal radio using it as the audio amp, and she was so
impressed.  Grandma always told me I was a genius.  Mom, Dad, and Life
... not so much.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2011 Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2011
- www.cqp.org

On 5/26/2011 3:12 PM, Wayne Burdick wrote:
> I obtained a CK722 when I was about 9 years old. It was the first
> electronic part I ordered. The only place I could think of to get one
> was Heathkit, and somehow I managed to talk them into sending me one
> as a replacement part.
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[Ralph Parker]

Sometime back in the '50s, I built an RF powered CW monitor called
"Snortin' Morten" with a CK722. I remember sticking a wire into the PA cage
(DX-35? Viking II?) to sample the RF. Not the smoothest note in the world.
I think I built it from a schematic in CQ (editor was Wayne Green), but
can't find it anywhere in my back issues.

Everything I know about transistors (and it ain't much), I learned from a
CK722. They're still a mystery to me.

Ralph, VE7XF

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[SABorns]

I purchased my first CK-722 in the mid 50's when the price dropped from  
about $15.50 to $7.50. Shortly afterward the price dropped again to $4.50. I  
used it in the audio stage of a BC band receiver. Exciting stuff in those  
days.
 
Steve K8IDN
 
Steven  Bornstein K8IDN
475 E. North Broadway
Columbus, Ohio 43214
614  263-5819
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[Alan Bloom]

John Adams-2 wrote:
>
> I peeled the blue metal cover off and some gooey stuff, and there was a
> smaller, silver metal cased transistor inside.

I think the gooey stuff was heat sink compound.   Before the planar
process was invented for making transistors and ICs, the junctions were
formed by diffusing dopants from opposite sides of the semiconductor
chip.  That is, the chip itself was the base and the collector and
emitter were diffused in from opposite sides.

The chip was suspended inside the case in "mid air", held up by the
three leads.  Since air is a lousy thermal conductor, they would fill up
the inside of the case with heat sink compound to conduct the heat from
the chip to the case.

With modern transistors, both the emitter and base are diffused from the
same side so the chip can be laid flat on the case header.  (That's why
the collector is almost always connected to the case of a metal-can
transistor.)  Among other advantages, that method gives excellent
thermal conduction to the case.

Al N1AL


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[Phil Hystad-3]

Wow.  I have not even thought about the CK722 for many decades.  It brings back many memories of my childhood fascination with electronics and those little projects you would read about in various magazines of the day.  I think it was the CK722 that introduced me to the fact that transistors came in PNP and NPN style.  I remember buying parts for a new project that needed the CK722 at United Radio in San Jose California sometime around 1958 I am guessing.  My mom drove me to United Radio, I was only about 11 years old and I did not drive.  I remember that they did not have a CK722 in stock but the guy in the store said that they had an equivalent transistor and it was NPN and he asked me if I knew how to change the circuit wiring for NPN.  At that time, I had no idea what NPN meant as I only did PNP projects for some reason and I didn't really even know what PNP meant.  I can't remember if I ever did that project, I just remember that I did not know how to rewire the circuit
 for NPN and I did not buy the CK722 that day.

phil, K7PEH

On May 26, 2011, at 8:49 PM, [hidden email] wrote:

> I purchased my first CK-722 in the mid 50's when the price dropped from  
> about $15.50 to $7.50. Shortly afterward the price dropped again to $4.50. I  
> used it in the audio stage of a BC band receiver. Exciting stuff in those  
> days.
>
> Steve K8IDN
>

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[Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ]

Let's let this OT thread rest for now in the interest of limiting email
overload. :-)

73,
Eric
Elecraft list modulator

On 5/26/2011 10:22 PM, Phil Hystad wrote:
> Wow.  I have not even thought about the CK722 for many decades...
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[Bill K9YEQ]

Lee,

I don't think I saved any, but I had a silver cased tall but square unit
which I remember as the CK722.  I remember it well because of the expense
and how careful I had to be.  I could be mistaken as I also used a ?2n384?
device as well.  

Bill
K9YEQ


-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Leigh L. Klotz Jr
WA5ZNU
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 5:35 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] CK722 transistor


John Adams-2 wrote:
>
> I peeled the blue metal cover off and some gooey stuff, and there was
> a smaller, silver metal cased transistor inside.
>

Photos?  Here you go: http://ck722museum.com/page6.html

The site has internal broken links, but if you look at the URL and replace
the geocities address with ck722museum.com the links are there.

Leigh/WA5ZNU


--
View this message in context:
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Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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[Ken Alexander-2]

Hi Folks,
I have several straight keys and paddles for sale, originally owned by a ham friend who passed away recently.
1.  Bencher chrome straight key, model RJ-2 -- $90Photo:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenaimages/5766548153/in/photostream
2.  Vibroplex straight key, chrome base -- $150Photo:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenaimages/5766547933/in/photostream
3.  Russian Military straight key with hinged cover -- $30Photos:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenaimages/5766548359/in/photostreamand   http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenaimages/5766548459/in/photostream
4.  Chinese Military straight key, Model DJG-K4 -- $50Photo:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenaimages/5766548043/in/photostream
5.  Hi-Mound Paddles, Model MK-706 -- $100Photo:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenaimages/5766548235/in/photostream
6.  Nye paddles, Model SSK-001 -- $75Photo:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenaimages/5767093252/in/photostream
Note:  Prices include shipping anywhere in North America.  I will ship overseas, but contact me first because shipping will cost a little more.  All are in very good condition (photos are of the actual units for sale and were taken this evening).
Please contact me off list if you are interested.
Many thanks,
Ken AlexanderVE3HLS

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[ke9uw]

I bought my first, 3 of them from Allied Radio in the late '50s. I made a three stage IF strip amplifier with them. As I remember, they were packaged in thin plastic tubes with a plastic cork, skinny, taller than they were wide and with long leads...maybe an inch long. They were a buck each.
Memories.
The IF amp worked...pretty well...

[ke9uw]

My first power transistor was a 2N35. We had to check them out from the EE storeroom for the lab of an EE course at the U of Illinois, Urbana. I forget what the exercise was about, it went well, but I mostly remember the plastic box the transistor came in and the sheet I had to "sign" for it.

[ronCK722]

Hi John,

Sometime around 1952-53, CK722s were $3.50 each. A lot of money for an 11 year old who was just weaning himself off vacuum tubes. I broke a Base lead off my last remaining CK722 and decided "Why not? You have nothing to lose." and cut it open. Much to my surprise, I discovered this perfect tiny silver hermetic transistor inside. Since then, it was a joy to cut new ones open so I could enjoy my favorite hobby of building 2 and 3 transistor regenerative AM receivers in ball point pens and tiny swimmer's ear plug cases.

I didn't find the reason until today, 60 years later. It was a way for Raytheon to sell their less-than-perfect hearing aid transistors.

My other favorite CK722 story - I'm no longer sure whether I'd lived or dreamed this - a year later I was at a Boy Scout exibition with my last two burned out CK722s in my pocket, There was a breadboard radio with two CK722s mounted in Fanestock clips. Since CK722's were like an expensive drug habit, I swapped mine for his, hoping he had others. In reality, I went on to enjoy a 40 year career as a physicist and analog medical equipment designer. If he's real, I often thank him and sadly wonder if I'd derailed his career path and he became an auto mechanic or Greek Mythology major.