One fail factor I failed to mention is the voltage rating. Around the time the first 40-channel radios reached the age of 15 or so we observed a pattern. Electrolytic caps with the lowest voltage rating seemed to fail first. Came to call this the "Ten Volt Blues". This led to the practice of replacing just a handful of parts that experience shows will usually cause trouble first. No surprise, the voltage rating on those parts would be 6, 8, 10 or 16 Volts. Someone who wants to avoid predictable faults without recapping can aim for just those alone.
Or they could for the last 20 years or so. Eventually a radio gets old enough that half measures won't do the whole job. But for the first 20 or 30 years you could get away with it. A radio that's 40 years old just gets riskier.
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Or they could for the last 20 years or so. Eventually a radio gets old enough that half measures won't do the whole job. But for the first 20 or 30 years you could get away with it. A radio that's 40 years old just gets riskier.
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