Topband: Any experience with 2N3553?

[Martin Kratoska]

The 2N3553 is a brutal 7 watt device in a TO-39 metal package. Chris 
Trask, N7ZMY mentioned some unparalleled IM characterics

'... The BFQ19 (made by NXP née Philips) and the NE46134 (made by NEC) 
are both highly popular within the CATV industry, and are virtually 
identical in terms of linearity. They compare favourably to the 2N5109 
in terms of linearity, though they pale in camparison with the 2N3553 
(as do all the others)...'.

See 
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~christrask/Bipolar%20Transistor%20Evaluation.pdf

2N3553 is often mentioned in transmitting applications but I was unable 
to find some other details like IM, noise and gain characteristics in 
high DR preamps for receiving purposes. Any experience?

73,
Martin, OK1RR