The whole point of radio backlights is to make the display visible in the
dark. I noticed that there is a trend towards blue LED's, and this is a
very bad idea. Degen's DE-1102 radio uses these, and also Radiolabs has a
modified ATS-909 that uses a blue backlight. Grundig also has a number of
products which appear to use blue backlighting or keyboard lighting. I
imagine pretty much all future portables will be like this.

I have a DE-1102 myself, and I find that the backlight is pretty much
useless, as although it does allow me to see the display, the blue light
kills my nightvision, and also the blue LED's used are rather dim compared
to traditional orange LED's that could be used. I find that other radios I
have had, with orange lighting, are much easier to read in a hurry. The
blue color is also closer to the black color of the LED lettering, which
doesn't help.

An example of this tomfoolery:
http://www.radiolabs.com/images/prod...thumb_mask.gif
I don't know what other manufacturers are doing this, but I really wish
they would stop. I guess this is what happens when design teams get
compromised by marketing.


---
swap "hotmail" and "com" to reply by email.

Why not white LEDs?

On Sat, 05 Jun 2004 08:14:38 GMT, Conan Ford
wrote:

The whole point of radio backlights is to make the display visible in the
dark. I noticed that there is a trend towards blue LED's, and this is a
very bad idea. Degen's DE-1102 radio uses these, and also Radiolabs has a
modified ATS-909 that uses a blue backlight. Grundig also has a number of
products which appear to use blue backlighting or keyboard lighting. I
imagine pretty much all future portables will be like this.

I have a DE-1102 myself, and I find that the backlight is pretty much
useless, as although it does allow me to see the display, the blue light
kills my nightvision, and also the blue LED's used are rather dim compared
to traditional orange LED's that could be used. I find that other radios I
have had, with orange lighting, are much easier to read in a hurry. The
blue color is also closer to the black color of the LED lettering, which
doesn't help.

An example of this tomfoolery:
http://www.radiolabs.com/images/prod...thumb_mask.gif
I don't know what other manufacturers are doing this, but I really wish
they would stop. I guess this is what happens when design teams get
compromised by marketing.


---
swap "hotmail" and "com" to reply by email.

In article 9,
ail says...
The whole point of radio backlights is to make the display visible in the
dark. I noticed that there is a trend towards blue LED's, and this is a
very bad idea. Degen's DE-1102 radio uses these, and also Radiolabs has a
modified ATS-909 that uses a blue backlight. Grundig also has a number of
products which appear to use blue backlighting or keyboard lighting. I
imagine pretty much all future portables will be like this.

I have a DE-1102 myself, and I find that the backlight is pretty much
useless, as although it does allow me to see the display, the blue light
kills my nightvision, and also the blue LED's used are rather dim compared
to traditional orange LED's that could be used. I find that other radios I
have had, with orange lighting, are much easier to read in a hurry. The
blue color is also closer to the black color of the LED lettering, which
doesn't help.

An example of this tomfoolery:
http://www.radiolabs.com/images/prod...thumb_mask.gif
I don't know what other manufacturers are doing this, but I really wish
they would stop. I guess this is what happens when design teams get
compromised by marketing.


---
swap "hotmail" and "com" to reply by email.


I kind of like it (the blue backlight) myself, and I just looked at all
the LEDs in my house, none of them is even close to "orange". I have a
couple of yellow ones and about 100 red ones, counting the three clocks
I have, but no orange.....

I don't remember ever having an orange LED...

Guess I don't get out much, or you're color blind maybe??

BDK

I don't remember ever having an orange LED...

Guess I don't get out much, or you're color blind maybe??


- This is what I was thinking.. Possibly Color deficient ??

(Diverd4777) wrote in news:20040605191456.23857.00000260
@mb-m18.aol.com:


I don't remember ever having an orange LED...

Guess I don't get out much, or you're color blind maybe??


- This is what I was thinking.. Possibly Color deficient ??


Sorry, I guess the proper name is amber...

Chomatically challenged

On 05 Jun 2004 23:14:56 GMT, (Diverd4777) wrote:


I don't remember ever having an orange LED...

Guess I don't get out much, or you're color blind maybe??


- This is what I was thinking.. Possibly Color deficient ??

I don't remember ever having an orange LED...

Guess I don't get out much, or you're color blind maybe??


- This is what I was thinking.. Possibly Color deficient ??


Even though it's not shortwave, my 9000XLT Scanner is orange, and I do like the
blue on my 398. ;-)


~^Monitoring The Spectrum^~
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/*SUPER-DELUXE Mod- DRIVEN*394/*Modded*398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+HowellSW
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
500ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Long-Wire
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*
~OptimusCTR-111Cassettte Recorder~
~Radio Shack 2Speed VOX#43-476~
~Ramsey Speech Scrambler~

"Conan Ford" wrote in message
3.159...
The whole point of radio backlights is to make the display visible in the
dark. I noticed that there is a trend towards blue LED's, and this is a
very bad idea. Degen's DE-1102 radio uses these, and also Radiolabs has a
modified ATS-909 that uses a blue backlight. Grundig also has a number of
products which appear to use blue backlighting or keyboard lighting. I
imagine pretty much all future portables will be like this.

I have a DE-1102 myself, and I find that the backlight is pretty much
useless, as although it does allow me to see the display, the blue light
kills my nightvision, and also the blue LED's used are rather dim compared
to traditional orange LED's that could be used. I find that other radios
I
have had, with orange lighting, are much easier to read in a hurry. The
blue color is also closer to the black color of the LED lettering, which
doesn't help.

An example of this tomfoolery:

http://www.radiolabs.com/images/prod...thumb_mask.gif
I don't know what other manufacturers are doing this, but I really wish
they would stop. I guess this is what happens when design teams get
compromised by marketing.


---
swap "hotmail" and "com" to reply by email.

I have the KA-1102 and I kinda like the blue backlight. I too don't think
it is as optically affective as amber backlighting, but it sure looks neet
:-)

Perhaps a radio manufacturer needs to do what The Ford Motor Company is
going to do about backlighting. On the 2005 Musang, there is going to be a
color configurable backlight for the dash instruments. You will be able to
adjust it via a control button to mix and match color tones to create up to
as many as 125 different colors of backlights. LOL....

So.... How about it ???? A 7600gr or YB-400 with mix and match backlighting
up to 125 colors ???

Michael

"Michael" wrote in message et...
"Conan Ford" wrote in message
3.159...
The whole point of radio backlights is to make the display visible in the
dark. I noticed that there is a trend towards blue LED's, and this is a
very bad idea. Degen's DE-1102 radio uses these, and also Radiolabs has a
modified ATS-909 that uses a blue backlight. Grundig also has a number of
products which appear to use blue backlighting or keyboard lighting. I
imagine pretty much all future portables will be like this.

I have a DE-1102 myself, and I find that the backlight is pretty much
useless, as although it does allow me to see the display, the blue light
kills my nightvision, and also the blue LED's used are rather dim compared
to traditional orange LED's that could be used. I find that other radios
I
have had, with orange lighting, are much easier to read in a hurry. The
blue color is also closer to the black color of the LED lettering, which
doesn't help.

An example of this tomfoolery:

http://www.radiolabs.com/images/prod...thumb_mask.gif
I don't know what other manufacturers are doing this, but I really wish
they would stop. I guess this is what happens when design teams get
compromised by marketing.


---
swap "hotmail" and "com" to reply by email.

I have the KA-1102 and I kinda like the blue backlight. I too don't think
it is as optically affective as amber backlighting, but it sure looks neet
:-)

Perhaps a radio manufacturer needs to do what The Ford Motor Company is
going to do about backlighting. On the 2005 Musang, there is going to be a
color configurable backlight for the dash instruments. You will be able to
adjust it via a control button to mix and match color tones to create up to
as many as 125 different colors of backlights. LOL....

So.... How about it ???? A 7600gr or YB-400 with mix and match backlighting
up to 125 colors ???

Michael

Michael - Kiss your Radio's Battery Life Good Bye ! ~ RHF

..

Agreed, I did a DX-390 with nice BRIGHT- blue but lettering looked fuzzy at
that end of the spectrum to me.

Orange is best,
Remember high brightness LED have a narrow beam's and you dont have much
room to work with
Cut the lens off the LED + wet sand as close to the chip's as possible..
This gets the beam wide and diffused for better illumination in the LCD
display.
Tie in at the audio IC with a series resistor
I wish they would make radios and scanners with a motion sensor
illumination.

-Joe

"RHF" wrote in message
om...
"Michael" wrote in message
et...
"Conan Ford" wrote in message
3.159...
The whole point of radio backlights is to make the display visible in
the
dark. I noticed that there is a trend towards blue LED's, and this is
a
very bad idea. Degen's DE-1102 radio uses these, and also Radiolabs
has a
modified ATS-909 that uses a blue backlight. Grundig also has a
number of
products which appear to use blue backlighting or keyboard lighting.
I
imagine pretty much all future portables will be like this.

I have a DE-1102 myself, and I find that the backlight is pretty much
useless, as although it does allow me to see the display, the blue
light
kills my nightvision, and also the blue LED's used are rather dim
compared
to traditional orange LED's that could be used. I find that other
radios
I
have had, with orange lighting, are much easier to read in a hurry.
The
blue color is also closer to the black color of the LED lettering,
which
doesn't help.

An example of this tomfoolery:


http://www.radiolabs.com/images/prod...thumb_mask.gif
I don't know what other manufacturers are doing this, but I really
wish
they would stop. I guess this is what happens when design teams get
compromised by marketing.


---
swap "hotmail" and "com" to reply by email.

I have the KA-1102 and I kinda like the blue backlight. I too don't
think
it is as optically affective as amber backlighting, but it sure looks
neet
:-)

Perhaps a radio manufacturer needs to do what The Ford Motor Company is
going to do about backlighting. On the 2005 Musang, there is going to
be a
color configurable backlight for the dash instruments. You will be able
to
adjust it via a control button to mix and match color tones to create up
to
as many as 125 different colors of backlights. LOL....

So.... How about it ???? A 7600gr or YB-400 with mix and match
backlighting
up to 125 colors ???

Michael

Michael - Kiss your Radio's Battery Life Good Bye ! ~ RHF

.