Not so fast with dismissing the diode though. There is another trick they have hiding up their sleeves, they can also act as a switch. It shouldn’t come as too much of a shock, after all a quick ...

The problem of making a single antenna transceiver is not for the faint-hearted RF engineer, as while diode switches seem on paper to deliver the goods, they can be extremely difficult to get ...

They're known as "thyristors" and a variety of types, including Shockley Diodes, exist. Thyristors are chiefly used as switches to control power supplies -- often in electrical utility systems.