The original manufacturer of the 2SC1969 was Mitsubishi. A semiconductor like that usually has a product life of a few years before it's superseded with something new and better. Then it gets discontinued.
But this transistor generated a steady stream of demand for about 25 years. Mitsubishi just kept running the "cookie cutter" for that part. Since product quality is a statistical thing, the more you make of that one part, the lower the failure rate becomes. This build quality made it a durable part you could abuse a lot before it would fail. And if you only abused it some, it was last for years just the same.
And then the European Union and their lead-free rule came along in the early 2000s. Says you can't sell an electronic product in a EU country if it has lead solder. Just one problem. Every electronic component you every saw or knew about had some lead either in it, or on the outside of it to improve solderablility.
Every electronic parts manufacturer had to decide which parts were worth redesigning as a lead-free part. And which ones were not worth that investment. The 2SC1969 did not make the cut, and was dropped forever.
By Mitsubishi. They would recommend you use their RF MOSFET parts in your new-design radio. Bipolar RF power transistors were considered obsolete by then.
Like any impossible-to-find thing, counterfeits proliferated. And a handful of legitimate factories made their own versions. Eleflow and HuaGao are legitimate. When they aren't counterfeits marked as such. These legitimate transistors are decades away from having the statistical-quality status the Mitsubishi part did. If HuaGao still makes the 2SC1969 ten years from now, it will probably be a tougher, more reliable part. Not holding my breath for that.
In 1978 and 1979 when the 2SC1969 first showed up in Uniden-built Cobra/President/Teaberry/RatShack CB radios, it had a reputation for breaking down those first couple of years. The older part the factories had used the years before was the 2SC1307. It was common practice to use one of those to replace a 1969 when someone blew up their final transistor. It was thought to be more reliable.
But they discontinued the 1307, and that stopped being an option. By then enough years had passed that the 1969 had become more reliable. Decades later, the 1969 had become the reliable, hard-to-poof final.
Until lead free.
Technology evolves. Sometimes faster than at other times. But it never stops evolving.
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