R: [Elecraft] ROHS COMPLIANT?

[N2EY at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/4/06 2:49:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
paolo.gramigna at controllo.it writes:


> Well, consider that in your car there are
> probably 30 grams of lead due to the Pcboards in your car stereo, and maybe
> 20 kilos of lead due to the battery. And if you buy an hybrid car, then you
> will have maybe 200 kilos of lead, cadmium, and what else you name in heavy
> metals; but thanks to the ROHS you will have been spared the 30 grams in
> your stereo....
> 
> Does that make sense?
> 

The difference is that the lead in the batteries is very likely to be 
recycled, while the lead in the solder is not. There's so much lead in a battery, and 
it's so concentrated, that it's easy and economical to recover. The opposite 
is true for the solder.

The whole lead-solder-in-electronics thing is due, ironically, to the 
relatively short life cycle of many electronic devices these days. I don't know about 
Europe, but here in the USA many people consider a 5 year old computer to be 
all but useless. I have found many completely working computers on the trash, 
discarded simply because they were old. Latest find was a 400 MHz PII Dell 
desktop, with 17" Dell monitor, 13 gb HD, 256 mb memory, Win2000, NIC, etc. Its 
next stop was the dumpster. How much lead is in that thing, I do not know.

The ironic thing is that amateur radio equipment tends to have much longer 
useful life spans. Many 20-30+ year old ham rigs are perfectly usable today, 
particularly for non-critical applications. Even junked ham rigs are valuable for 
their parts, to restore others.  

btw, we have a similar problem with white-tail deer here. Back on New Years 
Day 2001 I bagged a doe on PA Route 202. Over $5000 damage to the Honda 
Odyssey. Fortunately nobody but the deer was hurt. We're overrun with them but the 
"Bambi factor" limits hunting.

73 de Jim, N2EY