[Boatanchors] 2013 myth

[Gerry Steffens]

I can live on both sides of the fence on these unique black caps.

I have a collection of about 300 radios.  I have a 1936 Allwave 23 E.H.
Scott that has never had any work done to it except when I put an
appropriate fuse in the B+.  It still has its original wet electrolytics
that bubble a little out the vents when used for a longer period of time.

Since I also collect Hallicrafters, another example is the lowly S-38E.  To
acquire one of each version, I picked up four units initially.  These to go
with my 1961 Christmas present from my folks which I have retained.  My
original and one of the others has all original caps including some of the
myth or legend topic caps.  Both work very well.  The additional good radio
still has all Halli tubes to boot.  The other three have all BBs bad.

I wonder if there are good batches and bad batches of these nasty caps?

None-the-less, I have only fully recapped two radios in 45 years of having
the old radio disease, but have many fully functioning E.H. Scott, McMurdo
Silver, Hallicrafters, National, Heath and, oh, yeah let's not forget the
Zenith Transoceanics and their clones.

As stated above, I think there are good production runs and bad production
runs of these caps.  There you have it, another of my opinions masquerading
as fact.

I had an uncle that worked for Sprague long ago.  His comment when I was
starting out with this disease (early 1960s) was that if a capacitor is made
well, properly sealed, kept away from temperature extremes (both hot and
cold) and protected from extreme voltage spikes, the caps should outlast us
all.  He continued, but unfortunately, too many manufacturers don't adhere
to the temperature thing very well by installing them under poorly
ventilated chassis and more.

OK, enough, rant ended.  Thanks for the opportunity.

Cheers,
Gerry

Radio Historian,
Collecting E.H. Scott, McMurdo Silver, Hallicrafters, National,
Zenith Transoceanic, & any other interesting radios & classic
Oldsmobiles - Collection stands about 300 radios, 5 Olds.