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Very valuable comment. If this isn't all, or even most, of the beta units then it may indeed be a loose heat sink or variance in manufacturing tolerance. This can be far more easily (and cheaply) addressed than a population wide issue.

It may also be the case that the thermal limit is currently set more conservatively than it needs to be. When every hardware unit is rare, costly and yet vital to gathering beta data, the choice to go extra conservative on thermal limits to prevent damage to scarce hardware deployed in the field seems logical.

It's sad Art Bell isn't around to test it out, he loved radio technology I'm sure he would have gotten a kick out of it :(

It can also be that it fails not due to absolute excessive temperature value, but rather after some heating-cooling cycles.

Hot summer is like 3-4 months over there, so about 100 very-hot-cold cycles per year.

Let’s see if it withstands that.