Indeed. I've got a stash of a couple of hundred OC and 2N germanium transistors I'm going to dump on eBay when the prices get silly again. As in £15 a transistor silly ![Smiley :)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xsmiley.gif.pagespeed.ic.R8GFI-pF6f.png)
I actually remember in the early 1980s my mother worked in a radio repair shop and they were retro fitting silicon transistors to some radios because the germanium ones were snuffing it. They were crap then as they are now!
If you ever find any lots that you wouldn't mind letting go at less silly prices, shoot me a PM.
characterizing them is quite frustrating, but they DO sell. Just gotta find some low leakage ones (I do build guitar pedals, if it isnt obvious by now haha!)
I elieve it. I cant imagine how low the lifespan of germanium transistors must have been in hot environments with lots of vibration.
Chara
I'll list some on ebay shortly and post here. I've designed a semi-automatic rig for characterising them as I've got so many. I haven't tested it yet. Basically it's a hard reference voltage (lm317) set at 9.000v and a few resistors which are selected from a batch of 5% ones that set the collector current and base current accurately. The base is open circuit by default but a computer controlled relay closes to connect the base current. My UT-61E is connected to the PC and a python script controls the relay and reads the voltages form the meter. All you do is plug a transistor in, press enter, it waits for the quiescent state to settle, measures the leakage then the relay closes and it measures the gain. The gain is adjusted against the leakage current as well. Out pops two values, write them on the bag, stick on ebay. Goto 1.
Whole rig is battery powered to avoid ripple, transients etc.