NTE "Equivalent" Transistors and Diodes

[Aleph Null]

I'm curious what the general opinion is of NTE parts. It's the only brand I can easily source locally, so it would be nice if it was a reliable option. Sometimes all I need is a couple of diodes or a single transistor. I'd rather not have to make such a small mail order.

My hang up is they use a completely different system of part numbers from anyone else. There is a resource for finding the "equivalent" part (http://www.nteinc.com/index.php), but the datasheets are sometimes formatted in such a way that it's difficult for me to tell how comparable a component is. For example, the resource recommends an NTE109 as a work-alike for a 1N60P. It lists VF at IF= 200mA. Every datasheet for 1N60P lists VF at IF=1mA. I'm not sophisticated enough electronically to know how these measurements compare.

Does anyone else have experience with NTE equivalents? Have you found the reference to be reliable, or should I take it with a grain of salt?

[thesmokingman]

my local guy in Wichita carried NTE ... go in and ask for a common NPN silicon transistor of any gain range and end up getting handed the NTE123AP every single time ... that led to some frustration in early builds

[somnif]

If its a part with a very specific purpose, the NTE equiv will probably just be the same part re-labelled.

If its a relatively generic purpose part, you will probably get the cheapest "close enough" re-labelled.

For example I've gotten NTE's LM308 equiv which really was a re-labeled mil-surplus 308. I've gotten NTE's MN3007 equiv which is just that.

But if you need something like, an MPSA18 or 2n5089, you're just gonna get whatever tranny they have that is somewhere in the ballpark.

2N5088 = BC549 = BC337 = 2n3904, even though you probably wouldn't use a 5088 in place of a 3904 in our touchy audio circuits, the fact is you COULD and things would still work. Might sound like crap, but it would function, and that's all NTE really worries about.

http://elecurls.tripod.com/nte.htm

I'm in the same boat that all my local electronics store carries is NTE (more or less). Sometimes this is fun as you can occasionally get some really goofy obscure parts on the cheap (like my metal can LM308s or the aforementioned MN3007), but 90% of the time they're over priced and underspecified.

I just hit up Arrow for most of that stuff these days.

[Aleph Null]

Thanks guys. This seems to be in line with my experience. I don't ever plan on using NTE stuff, but it will occasionally do in a pinch. Just need to measure the parts whenever possible.