RCA Player Diode and Transistor Reference Guide

The tables further down this page cross-reference RCA CED player diodes and transistors to their industry equivalent, NTE, TCE, ECG, Radio Shack, and Jameco counterparts. NTE Electronics is an electronic distributor that provides a wide range of IC's corresponding to specific manufacturer's part numbers. Most of the diodes and transistors in CED players are common parts in the electronics industry, and some can be obtained for as little as 4 cents each from Jameco Electronics.

RCA used a lot of different part numbers for these parts that were only slightly different from one another. The purpose for this was to achieve overall manufacturing specifications within an given tolerance range. But for purposes of repair, where only a single part is being replaced, a generic industry diode or transistor of the same type and package style as the original part will probably work just fine. This is why so many of the different RCA part numbers in the tables cross reference to the same industry standard part.

For general purpose diodes, there are only two replacement types required, the 1N4009 in the DO-35 package and the 1N4007 in the slightly larger DO-41 package. With light emitting diodes just about any LED in the 5mm T1.75 package can be substituted, so different colors and even blinking LEDs can be used. But varactor and zener diodes need to closely match the original part, so the capacitance effect or reference voltage of the replacement part is within specification. With general purpose transistors, there are again two primary industry standard substitutions, the PN2222 for most of the TO-92 package NPN transistors and the PN2907 for the corresponding PNP bipolar type. These two transistors are by far the most common, being used a number of times in any given player, while the more exotic transistors, like the programmable unijunction and hall effect latch types are used only once or twice.

The part numbers with an "X" in the replacement column have no cross reference data available period, while those marked N/A are listed in cross reference guides, but that distributor doesn't supply the part. Part numbers with linked text will open a PDF data sheet when clicked on.

Schematic Symbols and Functions:

RCA Player Diodes:

RCA Player Transistors:

* On January 19, 2001 NTE purchased ECG. I'm leaving the ECG replacements in the table, since with ECG having been around for so long, new old stock with ECG numbers will continue turning up for some time.