One ZTX327 left - Taking it steady!

The old Marconi RC-690 PA board had one remaining ZTX327 transistor on it. I have very carefully removed this (not easy on public safety grade equipment designed for shock and vibration immunity), taking care to ensure it doesnt get too hot. On my component tester, the freshly removed device reads a base voltage of 723mV and beta 52.

Testing... Testing...

The removed transistor from the transverter reads 714mV and beta 85. Oddly, this read much higher on the first pass, but then stabilised at 85. I suspect that is down to the tester. But, it seems both transistors are functional. The 1N4148 diode in thermal contact also tested out fine. I can only think that the problem is the bias voltage. I shall replace the 1k8 resistor at R15 with a potentiometer and slowly increase the bias, watching the current drawn as it goes.