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From: mstach@ihu1m.UUCP (Dan Hoelker)
Newsgroups: net.ham-radio
Subject: Re: Electronics wearing out
Message-ID: <458@ihu1m.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 10-Jun-85 18:49:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihu1m.458
Posted: Mon Jun 10 18:49:17 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Jun-85 05:08:57 EDT
References: <11251@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 41

> I have been hearing and reading disturbing things about electronic
> components simply "wearing out" from use, or circuit designs which
> use batteries for volatile ROMs and which will become useless after
> some period of time unless deliberately maintained. The former
> example includes a recent net.audio posting about the laser assembly
> in a CD player having to be replaced after 5 years or so of use, and the
> latter includes the control programming for the ICOM (and other brands)
> of shortwave receivers and amateur equipment, wherein an on-board
> battery must stay alive to keep a ROM programmed to keep the radio in
> operable condition.
> 
> .
> .
> .
> 
> Regards,
> Will Martin
> 
> USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin     or   ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA

I don't think anything lasts forever.  The "forever" LEDs that were mentioned
in the above article also wear out after a given amount of use.  Fortunately
this is about 250,000 hours (~30 years), longer than most people
would keep something ( except radio amateurs. :-) ).  I would assume
the CD laser life is rated in hours also, with 5 years probably being
the "average" based on some study of how often Joe Average uses his.
Losing all programmability when a  battery goes dead does sound like
a design flaw.  As far as I know my Yaesu 2M only loses its memory
when the battery goes.  But I sure like the feature that I can turn off
the radio without losing the memory, so it seems like a small price
to pay.

You also have to remember that manufacturers make a tradeoff between
reliability and cost, with cost usually being much more important
to the manufacturer.  A part that lasts longer may be significantly
more expensive, especially when talking in millions of units.  When
it comes to the bottom line, the cheaper part wins.

				Dan Hoelker
				KA9MHK
				ihu1m!mstach