PINs are my choice, and I added diode T-R switching to my old Henry 3K Premier many years ago for that reason. They worked well and never failed; however, I heard a lot of people say they do fail in lightning-prone areas, from lightning transients. That never happened to me, but I'm in L.A., where lightning almost never happens.
In my case, the PIN switch was made complex because I built a 2-output power supply to make them really sing: Used high reverse voltage for max isolation, and then a lot of forward current for min attenuation. The Henry couldn't provide any of that, so my "PIN diode T-R switch project" became a big power supply with diodes as accessories, so to speak.
I bought the RF chokes and coupling/blocking capacitors from Apex Electronics, an electronics surplus house in L.A., but I see that pretty appropriate parts are available today from RF Parts Company
http://www.rfparts.comI used two varieties of Unitrode/Microsemi PINs, selected for optimum performance in pass and shunt switch modes. Probably that was overkill, but the diodes were available.
There hasn't been a lot published on this in the "big" periodicals. I wrote up my project, with schematics and photos, and submitted it to the League for publication in QST and they declined it, suggesting they put it in QEX (the experimenter's mag) instead. I declined that, because I wanted it to have better circulation in the public domain. That may have been a foible, since it never got published at all!
Let me know if you'd like the schematic for what I built, and I can FAX or scan and e-mail it to you. It goes back several years, but worked reliably.
WB2WIK/6
