[sdiy] The vagaries of identifying parts scavanged...

[aankrom]

 Desoldering a part from a circuit board is only half the job. Well 
 except when you remove parts that you already KNOW what they are.

 I always like finding the odd FET. Lately I have been finding 2SK202's. 
 Wonder how they'd perform with audio... Anyway, I was taking apart a 
 tape deck with several "1212's" & "1202's", my immediate thought was 
 some sort of pre-biased transistor (and I was right), but to really know 
 what you have, it's good to hunt for a datasheet. But alls I have is a 
 number. What prefix to start with? Well I usually just start with the 
 numbers using datasheetcatalog.com. But you can get a heap of hits that 
 way. You can try to guess 2SC or even something like "KTC". Today I 
 discovered a new prefix to try: "SRC", made my Auk.

 I used to throw out pre-biased transistors, until I began to find them 
 in schematics for projects I wanted to build. Fortunately for me, "throw 
 out" means I just chuck 'em in a big coffee can instead of a little 
 plastic drawer.

 Sometimes to identify parts I have to resort to looking them up in my 
 old hardcopy NTE book or my VERY old hardcopy SK book. (Came in real 
 handy for a bunch of RCA "Dynascan" parts beginning with "307-" 'What? 
 It's just a 4030? a 4016? a CA3130?...')

 AA