Greg Mayman wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 -=> Roy J. Tellason said to Greg Mayman
 -=> about "*BIG* TRANSISTORS" on 12-25-03  04:06.....

 GM> It's time to set up for some DC tests with a power supply and
 GM> resistors, and see if they act like NPN transistors.

 RJT> Don't need a power supply and resistors -- testing with an ohmmeter is
 RJT> quite enough.

 GM> DC tests can show you which is collector and which emiter -- the
 GM> base-emiter usually shows a reverse breakdown of about 6-8 volts,
 GM> the collector-base junction is a lot higher. There aren't many
 GM> ohmmeters that can check these aspects.

No,  but the cases I show in my ECG book here that are stud-mounted
transistors all seem to have pretty much the same pin connections,  and in
particular these units do _not_ have a collector terminal that's isolated
from the case -- it's quite obvious which of the three terminals connects
to the case,  if the C-E distinction is in fact what you were referring to
there.

 GM> And with DC tests you can measure the current gain of the
 GM> transistor, which you can't do with an ohmmeter...

True,  but gain isn't that much of an issue with power devices.

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