Mike Knudsen wrote:
In article , "Kevin, VE1TV"
writes:

I'm really surprised that no one has observed that smoke is actually the
reason radios work at all. I recall being taught that once the smoke is
released, the radio usually stops working. I'm pretty sure the smoke is
contained inside those little glass bottles...

No, glass bottles are unique in that they don't run on smoke, unlike their
sorry-state and disintegrated-circuit replacements, which are notorious for
losing their smoke at just the wrong moment.

In BA radios, the smoke is held within the transformers and resistors, and
sometimes the 'lytic caps. I've been there when it escaped.

"In a vacuum, noone can smell your smoke ... " --Mike K.

I'd always thought that with glowbottle gear, the smoke had to be
present, but kept out of the glowbottles. I suspect that's why so
many hams smoked, and how so many older rigs ended up with that golden
brown color distributed so evenly: they've supplied the magic smoke.

--
Another of my pet peeves is the use of random special characters in names,
e.g. SQL*Forms. I pronounce that one "squeal splat forms" - sort of sounds
like roadkill, doesn't it?
-- Charlie Gibbs