"Phil Nelson" wrote in message
...
I think the designers were using the best materials &
technology available at the time. And they never imagined
that people might be using or restoring these devices
several decades beyond their expected service life. Most
radios were considered appliances. Contemporary
electronics, even cars for that matter, are not designed to
remain in use forever. I remember when my Dad bought a
Mercury in 1965, his one and only new car. What would the
salesman have said if Dad had asked how that car might be
running some 40-odd years later? Dad is still alive, bless
his heart, but the car perished decades ago.

:-)

Phil Nelson

My memory is that the problems with the BBs began
showing up pretty soon after manufacture. For instance,
Hammarlund used them in SP-600 receivers made in the mid
1950's but the military was replacing them in mass with disc
ceramics by the late 1950's, so something must have changed
pretty rapidly. However, they were still being advertised in
the early 1960's so, perhaps, the problem was cured and it
was only the early versions that were bad.


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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA