I went online a few days ago and looked for some odd RF transistors, but instead I was shocked. Almost all of the parts I’ve been using are through hole parts, like transistors in a TO-92 package with wire leads. I looked at a few distributors such as Mouser, Avnet, Arrow, Digikey, Newark. I found that most of them are not stocking transistors with wire leads, they stock only the SOT-23 surface mount packages. I tried to find the J310, but the only thing at Mouser was the MMBTJ310, which is the same as the J310 but in that teeny tiny package with short tiny tabs. The store I found was Futurlec, and the prices were higher. I just figure that soon the only parts we can buy will be surface mount parts.
So I ordered from Mouser a tape reel of a thousand 2N3904s, which used to be very common, but now they have none in stock. They are back ordered and will take 6 weeks. That’s half way through November. But by ordering a thousand, the price is less than 4 cents apiece, so they’re not that expensive. Besides they may stop selling them, and then I’ll have to buy from eBay, where the prices might be 5 or more times higher.
Update – I checked eBay and found one seller who must be the absolute worst ripoff when it comes to parts. The seller wants $24.99 for a single (very common) transistor, which costs less than ten cents from other sellers.
I just received an order update from Mouser, says some capacitors I ordered won’t be in stock until the middle of January. Every through hole part seems to be a vanishing or extinct species. Bummer!
Update Oct 14 – I searched for MPSA13 which is a common Darlington NPN transistor and I couldn’t find any available at most distributors except Mouser, which wanted $0.18 each. Wow, that’s a lot. I finally found them at Futurlec.com for $0.06 apiece, 1/3 of what Mouser wanted. I bought a bunch, so they’ll be there in the future. No future plans means no parts!
